Jack Wolfsohn | Head Editor
May 5, 2023
Out with the old, Ding with the new.
In what is probably the most exciting chess world championship match since the start of the 21st century, Super Grand Master Ding Liren from China has defeated Super Grand Master Ian Nepomniachtchi.
The chess world championship match consists of 14 games with a win earning a point and draw, half a point. Throughout this entire match, Ding has either been down a point or just brought the score back to all square. However, what’s most exciting about this year’s match is that it went to the 14th game at all. Rarely does the world championship play out to the 14th game, but even more exciting, they actually played a fourth-game tie-breaker after drawing the final game. And then, they drew the first three games, leaving only the last of the tie-breaker games, which Ding won in the very few moves.
Every year, the Candidates tournament is held to decide who will challenge the current world champion for the title. Two years ago, “Nepo” won and challenged Magnus Carlsen, but ultimately lost. Last year, “Nepo” won the Candidates again, but Carlsen decided he was not going to defend his title so instead the winner and runner up of the Candidates would play for the world championship.
It’s not very common, but there have been instances when an extremely dominant player will leave chess to pursue other interests. While Carlsen, rating-wise, is by far the number one player in the world, he no longer wears the crown of champion.
Senior Christian McCleary says, “I would’ve really liked to see Magnus defend his title. If he kept defending it, there would be no argument against him being the greatest player of all time.”
The greatest player of all time is a heavily debated topic in chess. Some will say it’s Bobby Fisher, Gary Kasparov, or Magnus Carlsen and each has really strong evidence to support the claim.
Senior Sage Groves said, “It’s nice to see some diversity in chess world champions. It shows how chess is a game that’s accessible to all on a global scale.”
After Ding’s win, China now has both men’s and women’s world champions.
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