World Chess Championship 2023

World Chess Championship 2023

	Candidates Tournament winner	Candidates Tournament runner-up
	Ian Nepomniachtchi Tal Memorial 2018	Ding Liren
	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Ding Liren
	Born 14 July 1990 32 years old	Born 24 October 1992 30 years old
	Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2022	Runner-up of the Candidates Tournament 2022
	Rating: 2792 (August 2022)	Rating: 2808 (August 2022)

The World Chess Championship 2023 is an upcoming chess match, date not yet announced, to determine the new world chess champion. As the current champion Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the Candidates Tournament 2022, Nepomniachtchi will play the second-place finisher in the Candidates, Ding Liren, in the World Chess Championship match.

Carlsen's relinquishment of title

To keep his title, Magnus Carlsen, the current champion, was required to defend it against a pre-determined challenger. In December 2021, soon after his 2021 championship win against Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen raised speculations on whether he will defend his title again. He stated that he was lacking motivation and might not defend his title unless the challenger is Alireza Firouzja, who rose to number two in the world rankings in 2021 at the age of 18. In April 2022, Carlsen commented further saying that he is unlikely to play, with no mention of any potential opponent.

As the Candidates tournament concluded in early July 2022, FIDE and Carlsen were in talks regarding the championship and its format, with FIDE hoping Carlsen could give an answer by July 20. On July 20, Carlsen announced that he would not defend his title.

This means Carlsen will lose the title of world champion, and the 2023 world championship match will be between Ian Nepomniachtchi (the winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament) and Ding Liren (the runner-up of the 2022 Candidates Tournament).

Candidates Tournament 2022

Main article: Candidates Tournament 2022

The challengers are Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, who qualified as the winner and runner-up, respectively, in the Candidates Tournament 2022, which began on June 16 and ended on July 5, 2022. Nepomniachtchi had previously challenged world champion Carlsen in the previous World Chess Championship 2021.

The participants were:

Qualification method	Player	Age	Rating	World ranking
		(June 2022)
2021 World Championship runner-up	Ian Nepomniachtchi	31	2766	7
Candidate nominated by FIDE	Teimour Radjabov	35	2753	13
The top two finishers in the Chess World Cup 2021	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (winner)	24	2750	16
	Sergey Karjakin (runner-up) (Disqualified)	32	2747	17
The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021	Alireza Firouzja (winner)	19	2793	3
	Fabiano Caruana (runner-up)	29	2783	4
The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022	Hikaru Nakamura (winner)	34	2760	11
	Richárd Rapport (runner-up)	26	2764	8
Highest rating for May 2022	Ding Liren (replacement for Karjakin)	29	2806	2

Results

As world champion Carlsen announced after the tournament that he would not defend the world title, both first and second place advanced to the 2023 title match.

Standings of the 2022 Candidates Tournament

Rank	Player	Score	SB	Wins		IN		DL		TR		HN		FC		AF		JKD		RR
1	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	9.5 / 14	62	5				½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	½	1
2	Ding Liren (CHN)	8 / 14	52	4		0	½			0	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	1
3	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	7.5 / 14	52	3		½	½	½	1			1	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	1
4	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	7.5 / 14	50.25	4		½	½	½	0	1	0			1	0	1	½	1	½	½	½
5	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	6.5 / 14	46.5	3		½	½	0	½	1	½	1	0			0	1	½	0	½	½
6	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	6 / 14	39.5	2		0	0	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	1			½	½	1	½
7	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	5.5 / 14	38.5	1		½	0	½	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½			½	0
8	Richárd Rapport (HUN)	5.5 / 14	37.75	1		0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	1	½

Source:

Tie-breakers for first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place;

Tie breakers for non-first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place, if any; (2) Sonneborn–Berger score (SB); (3) total number of wins; (4) head-to-head score among tied players; (5) drawing of lots.

Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background). This does not give information which of the two games was played in the first half of the tournament, and which in the second.