The Next World Champion | Nepo-Ding

After the 2022 Candidate Tournament, the current World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen decided not to play his next World Championship match against the tournament winner GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. So for the first time in history, the runner-up -GM Ding Liren - gets a chance to play for the title. After his last match against Nepo in 2021, Magnus said that he will only play his next match if the young superstar GM Alireza Firouzja will be the candidate. This shocked the whole chess world.

Now let's see how the two Grandmasters got their chance to play for the most valuable title in chess.

Ian Nepomniachtchi

By winning the 2020-2021 Candidate Tournament Ian Nepomniachtchi had the chance to play against Magnus in the 2021 World Championship match. He was putting up a great fight, but the turning point had come. The 6th game was the longest chess game in World Championship history.

By playing in this match, he automatically qualified himself for the next Candidate Tournament. Nepo played amazing chess with huge confidence.

He has even beaten his future opponent which can preserve some psychological advantage for him during the match.

Nepo won the tournament with an unbelievable performance. He ended up 1.5 points ahead of Ding Liren.

Ding Liren

The Chinese Grandmaster had a bad start at the Candidate Tournament, but he slowly worked his way up. In the last round, he played against the famous American Grandmaster and chess streamer Hikaru Nakamura. He was behind him with half of a point, so only a victory could bring him the 2nd place.

After Magnus' statement, he got the chance to play against Nepo. This is the first time a Chinese player plays for the title.

Since then, Ding has played in the 2023 Tata Steel chess tournament which didn't go in his favor, but I wouldn't make a conclusion out of this because usually, the World Championship participants don't want to give out their opening preparation before the match. At least he won the first round with brilliant play.

Comparison

The 2 players has played 14 classical games against each other.

They will play the match in Astana, where the World Rapid & Blitz championship was played.

So who will be the next champion? Both players are extremely strong so I don't want to make a prediction out of this, but one thing is for sure, we are looking forward to a great match.