“It is difficult to call this a world championship,” said Garry Kasparov, champion between 1985 and 1993, a few days ago. Criticism of the World Cup, which begins on Friday at the St. Regis Hotel in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, abounds due to the absence of the disenchanted chess dominator for a decade, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. An unprecedented resignation of the number one, considered more and more unanimously as the best in history, which leaves the fight for the throne watered down, for which the Russian Ian Nepomniatchi and the Chinese Ding Liren will fight.
Without Carlsen the World Cup loses its credit. A great show between number two and three in the ranking, from which a champion without moral authority will emerge. Carlsen abdicated bored with the rivals of his generation and the slow rhythms of the classic games. The Norwegian warned that he would only compete if the opponent was the French Iranian Alireza Firouzja, the most talented young man, but FIDE did not agree to change the rules and Firouzja was not up to the task in the Madrid Candidates Tournament.
With less bellicosity, Carlsen imitated the American Bobby Fisher when in 1975 he refused to defend his crown against Karpov with the current rules and abandoned chess. Also to Kasparov, who in 1993 left FIDE, allied with his rival for the title, Nigel Short. Although throughout history the champion has sometimes been able to choose his successor, in these times FIDE has been inflexible with that possibility, and the promises to make the tournament more agile, the Norwegian asked for the inclusion of quick games , they did not finally convince him. The 32-year-old champion gives up his crown without a fight, something that doesn’t take away his sleep: “I still have two titles,” he says, to remember that he will continue as world champion in rapid and blitz chess.
Both contenders will be worthy successors to Carlsen. It is about the two pursuers of him in the world ranking. Nepo, 32, is facing the second time in a world championship. The first, in 2021, was humiliatingly swept by the Norwegian. After a few months of isolation, he dominated the Madrid event in 2022 with a sufficiency that drove Carlsen himself crazy. The Russian is a very creative player who has been the victim of his impulsiveness when it comes to attacking. He hasn’t exhibited stability at important moments in his career.
His rival, Ding Liren, is the best Chinese player in history. A player in full maturity, 30 years old, with an ultra-defensive style. Ding is a rock. A specialist in not losing with abilities to surprise any rival. Stability will be his greatest weapon for this championship. The Russian dominates the individual matches, with 3 wins, eight draws and two losses.
As already happened in the previous edition, the match for the title in Astana will be played to the best of 14 games at a classic rhythm, so that the first player to get 7.5 points will be proclaimed the new champion. In the event of a tie, the champion would be determined in rapid matches.
