Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren became world chess champion on Sunday by defeating Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi in a rapid-game playoff in the final in Astana.
After the 7-7 at the end of the regular matches, everything was going to be decided today, with quick matches and Blitz on the show, with Ding surprising the opponent’s favoritism and thus succeeding the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
In the capital of Kazakhstan, the clash between Ding and Nepo was one of the most balanced in history, with three wins for each side and eight draws, in the 14 games played since the 9th and which culminated in the consecration of the first World Cup. Chinese. champion.
In women, China has been the dominant power in chess since the 1990s, with current world champion Ju Wenjun, who will defend the title in July against her compatriot Lei Tingjie. In all, China has had six world champions.
Carlsen, who was a five-time world champion and has completely dominated the last 10 years, easily beat Nepomniachtchi for his last title in December 2021, but then, in July 2022, he resigned, allowing this final in Astana and the consecration. of Ding, who had already led China to Olympic Games triumphs in the modality, in 2014 and 2018.
Very promising, the 30-year-old Ding, two years younger than his opponent, had long been tipped as a serious candidate to succeed Carlsen. World under-10 runner-up in 2003, he was the youngest overall champion in China at the age of 17.
He was also the best valued Chinese in the international ranking – he was second, in 2021 – and the first to compete in the candidates’ tournament, which determines who will play against the title champion.
The covid-19 pandemic stopped his upward trajectory, and in 2022 he was unable to obtain visas to travel to tournaments that qualified for the candidate tournament, almost without competing between June 2021 and April 2022.
He would only enter the tournament of candidates with the disqualification of the Russian Serguei Karjakin, who took a public position in favor of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An opening opened up and Ding was first on the unqualified list.
In April of last year, Ding started to lose to Nepo, but recovered well and ended up finishing the candidate tournament in second place.
Once again, fortune would be on his side: with Carlsen’s resignation, that second place was worth the presence in this tournament for the world title.
In Astana, Ding was always under pressure and three times he fell behind. He equalized, in the 12th game, which was followed by two draws.
In the rapids he surprised again, since the Russian rival is seen as an excellent performer of this specialty.
Source: TSF
