Meet AI cameras tracking Gukesh & Liren's eyes

DURING the initial games of the World Chess Championship, the boffins in charge of the broadcast had an idea.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

D Gukesh had this habit of closing his eyes when the games were on so they wanted to put out a niche statistic to the watching world.

They called it 'focus flow'. "Total time spent with eyes closed during the game." A two-member team came up with it. It was given the go-ahead. A day later, this particular graphic was aired.

How did FIDE plan, dot the i's and cross the t's and execute everything within a 24-hour window? The short answer? AI cameras.

The long answer? Here's Lennart Ootes, one of the five taking care of the broadcast at this year's final between Gukesh and Liren. "It (focus flow) wasn't part of the original plan," he says. "We decided to do it on the fly.