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For almost five centuries ago, the question of who the best chess player in the world is has been resolved over a match, a face-off between two players competing over the course of several weeks, usually with a large purse at stake.
In the case of Astana 2023, the prize fund will be 2 million, with 60% going to the winner and 40% to the runner-up.
But more importantly: whatever happens in Astana, history will be made, as a new World Champion will be crowned.
On October 31, 2022, the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen officially confirmed that he would not defend his title as Classical World Champion against his challenger, the world’s number three Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren, the runner-up in the Candidates Tournament and current #2 in the world ranking, received the unexpected opportunity to play for the highest recognition in the chess world.
With no defending champion and two challengers, the event promises to be one of the most thrilling and open championships of recent times, as none of them is a clear favourite.
Ding Liren is the higher-rated player, with an Elo rating of 2811. However, Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is currently rated 2793, has the head-to-head slightly in his favour: of 13 classical chess games played between them, ‘Nepo’ has won 3, lost 2, and they drew 8. Nepomniachtchi’s lead increases to 13-9, with 17 draws, if we include rapid and exhibition games.
More importantly, Nepomniachtchi came ahead of his rival in the super competitive Candidates tournament, held in Madrid in June-July 2022, with an impressive score of 9,5 points in 14 games. There, Ding could only score 8 points – a result good enough, though, to secure him this golden opportunity.
The World Championship match in Astana will once again be played to the distance of 14 games, with a time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie, the Champion would be determined in a rapid chess playoff.
A decisive figure in bringing the World Championship match to Astana is Timur Turlov, a former trader who, in 2008, founded Freedom Finance, the foundation stone over which he would build a financial empire. Turlov is now the CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., a US-based group whose affiliated companies operate in all of Central Asia, Europe and the US, trading on the NASDAQ (FRHC) since 2019.
More information about Freedom Holding Corp: freedomholdingcorp.com
One of the companies in the group, Freedom Broker, was the main sponsor of the recently concluded FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship that was held in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, where it has its headquarters. Shortly after its conclusion, Turlov expressed his interest in giving continuation to this successful cooperation with FIDE. Besides being the main driving force behind this bid, he also decided to run for President of the Kazakh Chess Federation, being elected this very same week, on January 18.
