Chess – FIDE World Championship Match 2023 – Game 14 – Astana, Kazakhstan – April 29, 2023. Ding Liren of China walks in the direction of a chess board whereas competing in opposition to Ian Nepomniachtchi of International Chess Federation.
| Photo Credit: VLADISLAV VODNEV
China’s Ding Liren’s victory after a hard-fought recreation in the World Chess Championship remaining in opposition to Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi marked a big second in chess historical past. Ding is solely the second Asian to win the coveted title after Indian legend Viswanathan Anand, who wore the crown 5 occasions. The Super Grandmaster (GM) from China is additionally the world champion at a time when his compatriot Ju Wenjun holds the Women’s World Chess Championship title.
Ding’s victory was additionally made doable by the withdrawal of incumbent World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen from the race. The Norwegian gained the title consecutively in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021, and is presently World No. 1 with 2853 ELO score factors. Despite profitable the championship, Ding is rated solely third, and is 63 factors behind Carlsen. It is uncommon to see a top-rated participant, who was the earlier champion, declining to defend his title. U.S. maestro Bobby Fischer was the final to take action in 1975.
Ding joins the checklist of simply 20 different gamers in historical past who’ve secured the title in the World Chess Championship, first carried out in 1886.
Table 1A | The desk exhibits 17 gamers having gained the classical model of the World Chess Championship, which in most situations has featured the incumbent champion going through a challenger
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Table 1B | The desk exhibits FIDE champions between 1993 and 2006
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During this era (1993-2006), there have been two tournaments: the “classical” one and the one carried out by a break-away chess affiliation promoted by Russian GM Garry Kasparov and English GM Nigel Short — the unique defender-challenger pair in the 1993 championship. The second model was short-lived; it was merged with the “classical” match after 2006.
Put collectively, together with Ding, 21 gamers have gained the title with Kasparov, his fellow countryman Anatoly Karpov, and Germany’s Emanuel Lasker topping the checklist with six victories every. As might be seen from Tables 1A and 1B, in the post-war interval, beginning with Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948 and ending with Vladimir Kramnik in 2006, the World Championship was dominated by former Soviet and Russian gamers with solely Fischer being the exception to the norm.
Anand’s first title win in 2007 ended Russia’s dominance. Challenges from three different Russians after 2007 — Nepomniachtchi in opposition to Carlsen and Ding in 2022 and 2023 respectively, Sergey Karjakin in opposition to Carlsen in 2016, and Vladimir Kramnik in opposition to Anand in 2008 — had been unsuccessful.
While Ding’s victory could also be the first for male gamers in China, ladies from the nation have lengthy dominated the recreation. After Soviet dominance, Chinese ladies have gained most of the Women’s World Chess Championships since 1991, as proven in Table 2.
Table 2 | The desk lists ladies who’ve gained most of the Women’s World Chess Championships since 1991
China is perhaps at the top of the world in phrases of internet hosting incumbent world champions, but it has fewer GMs and Super GMs in comparison with India ( Chart 3). India registered a big improve in the quantity of GMs from the early 2010s, surpassing China’s tally in 2012 ( Chart 4). Today, India hosts 80 GMs (recognised by FIDE) as in comparison with China’s 49 (a quantity that has remained static since 2019 as a result of of the lack of worldwide competitors for its gamers because of COVID-19 restrictions).
Chart 3 | The chart exhibits the rise in the quantity of GMs over time in China and India
Table 4 | The desk exhibits the extent of India’s rise in chess
India has the second-highest common score for its Top 10 gamers, behind the U.S. India has 5 tremendous GMs (ELO above 2700), a quantity matched by Russia and surpassed by the U.S. (eight). China has 4 tremendous GMs. But it is the chief amongst ladies, with seven GMs and plenty of WGMs.
Srinivasan.vr@thehindu.co.in and vignesh.r@thehindu.co.in
Source: scores.fide.com, 2700chess.com, chess.com
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