2023 World Chess Championship — Preview
Greetings, welcome back to the Hornet Editorial!
As the 2023 World Chess Championship speedily approaches us, I now preview the upcoming tournament, and show you what to expect.
We are a week off from the start of the first game of this prestigious event, so now is the time to catch up on all the nitty gritty details.
This championship is like no recent other, because this time around, a new World Chess Champion will be crowned.
Chess tournaments in general are not "fun" to watch, but I think in this particular instance, we will see something special from two gifted players. Reasoning to come later...
For now, we must wait another week while preparations are underway for the event.
So, without any more hype, let us look at what you will see at this year's World Chess Championship.
If you would like to skip to any part of this blog, click any one of the links below
- Preview
- Meet the Players: Ding Liren
- Meet the Players: Ian Nepomniachtchi
- Previous Meetings
- Prediction and Conclusion
The 2023 World Chess Championship will be start on April 7th with the opening ceremony followed by the first game which will be played on the ninth. The tournament will last till May 1st.
The host city will be Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Argentina, Mexico, and China also expressed interest in hosting the tournament, but were declined respectively.
The match will be played between Chinese grandmaster, Ding Liren and Russian grandmaster, Ian Nepomniachtchi. After Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his World Chess Championship title in October of 2022, Ding Liren was thrust into the matchup vs Nepomniachtchi as he was the runner-up of the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
The official sponsor, Freedom Holding Corp has put two million euros into the prize fund with 60% going to the winner and 40% to the runner-up.
Chess.com will be broadcasting all the games live to the chess world as they did for a record 25 million viewers for the 2021 World Chess Championship.
There will be 14 games played. The player to score 7.5 points first will be crowned the world champion. As usual the time control will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.
If the 14 games end in a tie, rapid tiebreaker games will be played to break the tie and crown a new world champion.
Ding Liren is a grandmaster from a city in the Zhejiang province in China. He is 30 years old and currently ranked #3 in the world. He is the first Chinese player to play for the World Chess Champion title.
He earned his spot in the 2023 World Chess Championship by finishing second in the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
Ding Liren began playing chess at the age of six, and quickly became known as a chess prodigy. He won the Chinese Chess Championship in 2009, at the age of 16, becoming the youngest player ever to do so.
Ding Liren became the first Chinese player to break into the world's top ten rankings. He has since continued to climb the rankings, and now has a chance to be the World Chess Champion.
Among Ding Liren's accomplishments in chess include winning the World Junior Chess Championship in 2010, the Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament in 2015, and the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix in 2019.
Ding Liren is considered one of the strongest defenders in the world, which is something I think will be useful when playing Nepo. He is also known for his resilience and ability to win games from seemingly drawn positions.
I think Ding Liren could easily win the tournament, he is in many opinions in fact the favorite to win. It won't be an easy road though; his challenger is just as good in the eyes of many chess experts.
Meet the Players: Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Nepomniachtchi is a grandmaster from Byransk, Russia. He is currently 32 years old and ranked #2 in the world. Nepo played Magnus Carlsen for the WCC title in 2021 but lost conclusively in 11 games.
This is of course how he qualified for the Candidates Tournament in 2022, which he won.
Nepomniachtchi learned to play chess at a very young age and quickly rose to stardom. He became a Grandmaster in 2007 at the age of just 17.
Nepomniachtchi has been known for his aggressive and tactical style of play. He has also won many notable tourneys, including the Tal Memorial in 2015 and the Aeroflot Open in 2010.
Nepomniachtchi has also been a member of the Russian national team, representing his country in several Chess Olympiads and European Team Championships. He played a very vital role in contributing to the Russian team's gold medal win at the 2019 World Team Championship.
Nepomniachtchi is regarded as one of most promising players, and his amazing success at such a young age probably suggests that he has a very bright future ahead of him.
Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi are both avid chess tournament goers, which makes it inevitable that they would meet at some of them. Their past games shed light on what we should anticipate. One of their most recent and most notable meetings was at the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
It was the first round of the event; Ding Liren got to play the white pieces.
Ft. Annotations from Sam Shankland
Ding Liren did not play at his top game to say the least. Ian owned him most of the match.
And while many experts blamed jetlag and exhaustion for Liren's loss, it was not a good start to his tournament. Fortunately, we all know he recovered and is now back to play the very same opponent in April.
Luckily, Astana, Kazakhstan's local time is only two hours behind the local time of Ding Liren's hometown of Wenzhou, so it shouldn't be a factor this time going.
The pair also met the year before at the Candidates Tournament 2020-2021. Ian Nepomniachtchi went on to win the tournament and then play Magnus Carlsen, but he met his match when playing against Ding Liren.
It what was round six. Ding Liren also got to play with white in this particular game. Let's see how it went.
Ft. some Outdated Annotations from Dejan Bojkov.
As you saw in the annotations, Ian said prior to the game that his "motivation had disappeared" prior to playing that day. Nepomniachtchi's positional play wasn't at par that day, which caused him to lose.
Ben Finegold's commentary on the game and 2023 WCC predictions 
are really good and definitely worth a watch.
These facts compiled together could mean anything. The games are unpredictable and could go either way.
But in my opinion, I think we should be poised to watch a thriller. Both of these players are extraordinary and bring a lot to the table. Ian Nepomniachtchi is a strong attacker, and Ding Liren is a stout defender.
So, who do I think will win?
I am predicting Ding Liren to win the 2023 World Chess Championship - @FA-18_SuperHornet2007
Don't take my opinion too much to heart. I am not an expert, but from what I have observed, Ding Liren, in my opinion will win it all.
One scenario in my mind where I see Nepo winning comes with just one factor: experience.
Ian Nepomniachtchi gained valuable experience playing up against Magnus Carlsen in 2021 WCC. He knows what it is like to sit in a chair for 8 hours playing the tensest chess of your life. This one small factor could slip up anybody, including Ding Liren.
The pressure playing in such a big event could be all too much for Ding. But if he keeps his calm, I think he will pull out the victory.
If you feel differently about my statements, please leave your thoughts in the comments.
Chess.com made a poll, and the results are pretty interesting...
People have a lot of faith in Ian, but I am not so sure.
I also recently made a poll for everyone to place their predictions. The poll is still open for any who would like to predict. Click here to participate in the poll.
Thank you for reading this post! Hope you liked it 
. I am open to any feedback in the comments below.
Thanks again,
- @HornetCruise
