Ding Liren becomes world chess champion
Chinese star Ding Liren has stunned the chess world by defeating Russian player Ian Nepomniachtchi in the world chess championship.
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Showing nerves of steel, Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren defeated Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi to become world chess champion on Sunday.
The players were tied after a bloody 14 classical chess games and the match was decided with four rapid games.
The first three were draws until Liren broke the deadlock with the black pieces in the final rapid game, avoiding the need for a blitz playoff.
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Liren again used the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defence, deciding to keep the game closed.
The first odd move was made by Nepomniachtchi — 13. Bb1 — as he retreated his bishop into a passive position behind his pawns.
Liren gained the advantage as the Russian made the questionable move 16. Nc3.
Given the time control, both players were short on time and the accuracy of their play suffered.
But as the game tightened, Liren kept finding strong moves.
As Nepomniachtchi’s pawn moved forward to threaten Liren’s rook, the Chinese player found the crucial tactic 48. Qd3.
And as Liren had two outside passed pawns, the Russian felt he was unable to trade queens.
Nepomniachtchi tried to complicate matters but Liren’s advanced pawns — along with the Russian’s exposed king — meant that he was forced to resign following the accurate 68. Bxf4.
It was a huge comeback for Liren, who was behind three times in the tournament but fought back to bring the match to level terms.
With the win, Liren became the first Chinese world chess champion in history.
He has now dethroned former champion Magnus Carlsen who declined to defend his crown citing a lack of motivation.
The soft-spoken player, who studied law at Peking University, was humble in victory.
The moment Ding Liren became the FIDE World Champion 🥹🆠pic.twitter.com/FSu9rsVg49
— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 30, 2023
A historical moment: Ding Liren receives the 2023 FIDE World Championship trophy from FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Timur Turlov, President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., General Partner of the FIDE World Championship match.… pic.twitter.com/Nit7wgXnQs
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) May 1, 2023
“I’m quite relieved,” he said. “The moment Ian resigned the game was a very emotional moment. I couldn’t control my feelings. I know myself, I will cry and burst into tears. It was a tough tournament for me.”
It was also a bitter defeat for Nepomniachtchi, who at one point squandered a winning position that would have put him two points ahead with only two games remaining.
“I guess I had a chance and many promising positions,” he said.
“Probably I should have tried to finish everything in the classical portion, because it was a matter of one or two precise moves.”
Born in Wenzhou, which has become known as China’s “chess city”, Liren burst onto the scene in 2009 when he became the country’s youngest chess champion at national level.
He then became the highest-ranked Chinese player in the world rankings, reaching a high of second place in 2021.
The Covid-19 pandemic held back Liren progress and he initially failed to obtain a visa for competitions leading to qualification for the candidates tournament, which players must win to challenge the world champion.
The disqualification of Russia’s Sergey Karjakin from all tournaments organised by the International Chess Federation, which took a pro-Ukraine position following Moscow’s invasion, freed up a space at the 2022 candidates tournament which Liren took as the highest-ranked non-qualifier.
He finished second at the tournament, but Carlsen’s decision to step aside from the world chess championship allowed him to compete against Nepomniachtchi in Astana.
At Sunday’s closing news conference, Liren said he wanted to dedicate the victory to his friends, mother and grandfather.
How Ding Liren shocked the chess world in today's rapid tiebreaks! 😲 #NepoDingpic.twitter.com/Q0OzGx5Xbs
— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 30, 2023
“I started to learn chess from four years old… I spent 26 years playing, analysing, trying to improve my chess ability with many different ways, with different changing methods, with many new ways of training,” he said.
“I think I did everything. Sometimes I thought I was addicted to chess, because sometimes without tournaments, I was not so happy. Sometimes I struggled to find other hobbies to make me happy. This match reflects the deepness of my soul.”
The two-million-euro (AU$3.3 million) prize money will be split 55-45 between the two players.
- with AFP
Originally published as Ding Liren becomes world chess champion
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