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Russia’s Nepomniachtchi, China’s Ding finish Game 13 for World Chess Crown in tie

They will meet each other again on April 29 in their final, 14th Game for the Chess Campion’s title

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren Sergey Fadeichev/TASS

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren

© Sergey Fadeichev/TASS

ASTANA, April 27. /TASS/. Playing white pieces on Thursday, Russian Chess Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi finished in a draw Game 13 against Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in their battle for the new World Chess Champion.

After 13 Games played to determine the 17th World Champion in chess, Nepomniachtchi and Ding are now tied with 6.5-6.5 flashing on their scoreboards.

They will meet each other again on April 29 in their final, 14th Game for the Chess Campion’s title. The Russian will be playing black pieces against Ding Liren on Saturday.

According to official regulations, posted on the FIDE (World Chess Federation) website, "the World Championship Match consists of 14 Games. The player who scores 7.5 points or more wins the Match, and no further games are played. If the score after 14 games is equal, the winner is decided on a tiebreak."

FIDE stated earlier that "Champion Magnus Carlsen officially declined to participate, the Match will be played between the two challengers, the winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and the runner-up, Ding Liren."

On July 20, 2022, Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian Chess Grandmaster and reigning world champion, refused to participate in a match for the world chess crown against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, saying at that time that he was "not motivated to play another match" and simply felt that he did not "have a lot to gain."

Following Carlsen’s withdrawal last year, Nepomniachtchi was slated to face China’s Ding Liren, who was his runner-up at the 2022 Candidates Chess Tournament.

The battle for the 2023 World Chess Crown between Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and China’s Ding Liren is being hosted by the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana.

Nepomniachtchi, 32, is playing for the world chess crown for the second time. In 2021, he lost to Norway’s Magnus Carlsen 3.5-7.5. He won the European title in 2010 and won the World Team Championships as a member of the Russian team in 2013 and 2019. Apart from that, he is a two-time Russian champion (2010, 2020).

Ding Liren, 30, won the Grand Chess Tour in 2019, and is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion: in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

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