One thing is certain even before the start of the 2023 World Chess Championship: there will definitely be a new world champion. The new champion will be decided between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi from April 7th to May 1st in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The search is on for Magnus Carlsen’s successor, who voluntarily decided not to defend his title again.
25 days, 14 games: The World Chess Championship will cast its spell over an audience of millions again this year.
sport.de has compiled the most important information about the 2023 World Chess Championship.
When and where will the 2023 World Chess Championship take place?
- The 2023 World Chess Championship will take place from April 7th to May 1st in Astana, Kazakhstan.
- After the opening ceremony on April 7th and a media day on April 8th, the first of a maximum of 14 games is scheduled for April 9th.
- The other 13 finals are scheduled for April 10, April 12, April 13, April 15, April 16, April 18, April 20, April 21, April 24, April 26, April 27 and April 29 planned.
The Closing Ceremony and awards ceremony will take place the day after the final game or the day after the tie-break (more on that below).
The game mode at the 2023 World Chess Championship
- The player who reaches 7.5 points first becomes world champion. If the winner is determined earlier, the final of the 2023 World Chess Championship will end prematurely.
- If there is no winner after 14 games, there will be a tie-break on April 30th
What is the thinking time for the 2023 World Chess Championship?
- For the first 40 moves, the two finalists have 120 minutes to think about it.
- You have 60 minutes to think about the next 20 moves.
- They have 15 minutes to think about the rest of the game.
- Players are credited with 30 seconds per move from move number 61 onwards.
Who are the finalists of the 2023 World Chess Championship?
- The Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi and the Chinese Ding Liren are in the final of the 2023 World Chess Championship.
- Nepomniachtchi (nickname “Nepo”), 32 years old, was already in the 2021 World Cup final. At that time he clearly lost 7.5 to 3.5 against the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who thus defended his title.
- “Nepo” will not contest the World Cup final under the Russian flag. In March 2022, in an open letter, he clearly distanced himself from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
- Ding Liren, 30 years old, is in the final for the first time. He could become China’s first world chess champion.
The road to the 2023 World Chess Championship
- It was actually intended that defending champion Magnus Carlsen would meet the winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament in the final of the 2023 World Chess Championship.
- In the Candidates Tournament, which took place in Madrid from June 16 to July 4, 2022, Nepomniachtchi prevailed over Ding Liren.
- After Carlsen announced on July 20, 2022 that he would not defend his title, Ding Liren advanced to the World Cup final for the Norwegian as second in the Candidates Tournament.
- “I don’t have the motivation for another title fight,” said Carlsen in a video podcast published by his sponsor, explaining his decision not to take part in the final again.
- Ding Liren was not originally in the entry list for the Candidates Tournament. He replaced Sergei Karjakin, who welcomed the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on social networks and was banned for six months by the world chess federation FIDE.
What prize money will be distributed at the 2023 World Chess Championship?
- The world chess association FIDE distributes two million euros.
- The world champion can look forward to prize money of 1.2 million euros. The runner-up at the 2023 World Chess Championship will receive 800,000 euros.
- If the decision about the world title is not made until the tie-break, the new world champion gets 1.1 million euros and the loser 900,000 euros.
History of the 2023 World Chess Championship
- The first World Chess Championship took place in 1886.
- Since then there have been a total of 49 World Cup tournaments and 20 different world champions.
- Record world champions are the German Emanuel Lasker (between 1894 and 1921), Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union/Russia, between 1975 and 1985) and Garry Kasparov (Soviet Union/Russia, between 1985 and 1993) with six world titles each.
- Magnus Carlsen (Norway) has five world titles (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021).
Who will broadcast the 2023 World Chess Championship?
- Various websites are showing the 2023 World Chess Championship, including fideworldchampionship.com and chess.com.
- The 2023 World Chess Championship will be streamed on various YouTube and Twitch channels.
- sport.de offers a detailed live ticker for all World Cup games.