World Chess Championship 2023 Countdown!

Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Ding Liren

The World Chess Championship 2023 is an upcoming chess match to determine the new World Chess Champion. The match will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 7 April to 1 May 2023 at the St Regis Astana Hotel.

This is the first FIDE World Chess Championship since 1993, in which neither of the participants is the reigning world champion, nor the highest rated player in the FIDE rating list. The 1993 event featured defending champion Garry Kasparov and official challenger Nigel Short break away from FIDE and play under the auspices of the newly formed “Professional Chess Association”. The reformulated FIDE championship match featured the player who lost to the official challenger, an aging Anatoly Karpov, and then #18th ranked Jan Timman.

Things are not so bad this time around with the match being contested by the #2 and #3 ranked players in the world. But the controversy lies in the fact that challenger Ding Liren did not rightfully qualify to compete for the throne. In fact, he trailed Ian Nepomniachtchi by a full point and a half in the previous candidates tournament and was only able to clinch a distant 2nd place spot, only half a point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov, with a last-round victory against the Hikaru. Why did this happen? It is because the reigning champion, Magnus Carlsen, who has held the title since 2013, has decided to relinquish it due to a lack of motivation, while he continues to compete steadily in other regular chess events.

"The conclusion is very simple that I am not motivated to play another match," the five-time world champion said on his podcast, The Magnus Effect.

But while most of the chess world is surely disappointed that Magnus Carlsen will not be defending his title, we should at least be looking forward to an interesting encounter between two great players. The head to head record in classical games between these two is very close, with Ding trailing by a single game (Ian beat Ding 3-2 with 8 draws). If you include rapid/exhibition games, the score is significantly tilted in Ian’s favour. (13-9 with 17 draws) Here is one of their more recent encounters. A rapid game played in July of 2020.

Nepomniachtchi, Ian vs Ding, Liren: Chess24 Legends of Chess, 2020

Nepo chooses the Scotch Game. A classic opening that dates back to the 18th century. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 (Schmidt Variation) 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 Play develops normally until Nepo plays 9.h4, a relatively rare line that has the idea of controlling the g5 square, to perhaps place a bishop there, and also facilitating quick development of the kingside rook, but with the drawback of making it unlikely that kingside castling will be possible.

9…f6 10.Rh3 White sacrifices a pawn for dynamic compensation

fxe5 11.Bg5 Nf6 12.Re3 d6? This logical looking move, which protects the loose e-pawn, and strengthens the center, is a mistake as it weakens the pawn on c6

13.Qf3 e4 This move tempos the white queen and defends the pawn on c6, but creates new weaknesses in the form of overextended Black central pawns

14.Qd1 d5 15.Nc3 Bb7 16.cxd5 cxd5?? Now Black’s king is in serious danger.

Black needed to accept the loss of a pawn with a difficult, but possibly still defensible, position. (analysis: 16…0-0-0 17.Rxe4 Qf7 18.Re2 Bc5)

Analysis diagram

17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bb5+ Bc6 20.Rxe4+ Be7 21.Qd5! Exploiting the pin to add another piece into the attack, regaining the piece whilst up a pawn and continuing to put Black’s king under pressure.

21…Rd8 22.Bxc6+ Kf8 23.Qc4 Bd6 24.Rd1 g6 25.Rd3 Kg7 26.Rf3 Qxb2 27.Rf7+ Kh6 28.g4 Qb1+ 29.Ke2 Bb4 30.Rd4 Rhe8+ 31.Kf3 Qh1+ 32.Kg3 Qg1+ 33.Kh3 Re3+ 34.fxe3 Qxe3 35.Bf3! and here Black resigns due to the threat of impending mate.

A great game by Ian Nepomniachtchi!