It took a tiebreaker to separate the two giants, but on April 30, Din Lillen finally defeated Ian Nepomnyacci to become the new champion, the successor to Magnus Carlsen, who refused to defend the title. Became world chess champion. It was a fireworks-filled matchup with many deciding matches, but in the end he ended up in the fourth and final Rapid his tiebreaker. There, the Chinese grandmaster won the black piece and won the highest honor in the chess competition.
Ding Liren had to make multiple comebacks to win matches he wasn’t even supposed to be in. His grit-filled Cinderella run, losing his four World Championship finals in various formats, contrasts sharply with the streak vying for this very crown. Nepomniacchi is currently Din’s most likely challenger in the next cycle, as Carlsen is unlikely to make an updated title unless a major format change is made.
Carlsen’s absence made this “best of the rest” match completely unpredictable and turned out to be a far more open and fireworks-filled affair than one involving the Norwegian phenomenon. Experimenting with cool openings and novel ideas, their flaws and psychological weaknesses allowed them to open and decide 6 out of 14 total games in the Classics portion. That’s as many as Carlsen’s four World Championship title defenses combined between 2014 and 2021.
Ding Liren had a tough start to the match. After losing the second game to the white pieces and losing the fifth and seventh games, they had to fight back over and over again to push the series to the tiebreaker. There, three draws followed by the decisive Game 18. This was a dramatic 68-move affair, where Nepomniachtchi proved powerless to stop his opponent’s passed pawn, and faced with the possibility of multiple new queens arriving on the board, he resigned. Did.
Carlsen soon took to Twitter to congratulate his successor and join the rest of the chess world’s chorus.
Related: World Chess Championship 2023: Schedule, Players, Stories
At the 2021 World Chess Championship in Dubai, after a disastrous attempt on Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniacchi collapsed after a strong first half of the match. title again. Strong tournament runs elsewhere (and other devastating losses in the 2021 World Rapid and 2022 World Fischer Random championship finals) saw him considered a slight favorite heading into the event on form .
China’s highest-rated male chess player was ranked second in the world rankings heading into this year, but it appeared his lack of competitiveness during the pandemic may have overturned his opportunities. rice field. First, he missed the chance to compete for an invitation to his Candidates Tournament, the event that determines challengers for the World Championship, as he failed to secure a visa for his event on the relevant FIDE circuit.
Then, after Sergey Karjakin’s pro-war outburst led to a spectacular banishment from the field for building a disrespectful game, the uninvited top-rated player would have to As long as additional invites are available. A recent high-level game. Ding Liren wasn’t, but he eventually had to make it through a domestic marathon to make the count.
The narrow escape continued in Madrid as the 2023 Candidates tournament turned out to be an event like no other. Only the winner of an eight-player round-robin event is usually celebrated and earns the right to challenge the title holder. However, Magnus Carlsen declined his sixth defense. So, Dinglielen’s runner-up finish gave him the chance to compete for the World Championship title against event winner and former challenger and No. 3-ranked Ian Nepomniacchi. Earlier this year, they exchanged places during the build-up leading up to the game.
It remains to be seen how (or if) FIDE, the world chess federation, will reform the game format for the future. It’s already known that the 2024 contenders tournament will be similar to this year’s affair, with eight of the world’s best players pitting each other against each other in a double round-robin format, with the winner earning the right to challenge Ding Liren. increase.
As the loser of the World Championship, Nepomniacchi is already confirmed for the event and has an unprecedented, improbable and unwanted three-peat chance in qualifying matches. In 2023 he won the FIDE Circuit, in 2023 Chess he Worlds in the top 3 in his Cup, in 2023 he finished in the FIDE Grand in the top 2 in his Swiss Tournament, and in January 2024 he was the highest rated. A qualified player joins him.
