World Chess Championship 2023

The incumbent world champion was Magnus Carlsen, who had won the title in 2013. To keep the title, Carlsen was periodically required to defend it in a Chess World Championship match against a challenger, determined by a Candidates Tournament. Carlsen successfully defended the title in the world championship matches of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021. In December 2021, soon after the 2021 championship (against Ian Nepomniachtchi), Carlsen stated that he was lacking motivation and might not defend his title again, unless the challenger were Alireza Firouzja. Firouzja had risen to number two in the world rankings in 2021 at the age of 18.[3] In April 2022, Carlsen again publicly stated that he was unlikely to play in the next world championship, this time without mentioning any potential opponent.[4]

The Candidates Tournament 2022 concluded in early July 2022, with Nepomniachtchi as its winner. FIDE and Carlsen were already in talks regarding the world championship match and its format.[5] On 20 July, Carlsen announced that he would not defend his title.[6] Therefore the 2023 world championship match will be between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, respectively the winner and runner up of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, with Carlsen set to lose the title of world champion when the match concludes.[6][7][8] After Carlsen formally confirmed his decision in writing, FIDE officially invited Ding and Nepomniachtchi to participate in the 2023 world championship.[9]

Non-participation by the incumbent champion is a rare situation. From 1993–2005 there were two rival world championships operating simultaneously.[10] Outside that period, the last reigning champion who declined to take part was Bobby Fischer in 1975. In that case, FIDE awarded the title to Fischer's challenger, Anatoly Karpov, without a match being played[11] (Karpov had qualified through a knock-out tournament, defeating Viktor Korchnoi in the final).[12] The last time a world championship was actually played without the defending champion was in 1948, because the incumbent champion Alexander Alekhine had died in 1946.[13]

The match will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 7 April to 1 May 2023.[14] It will be a 14-game match, with players alternating the white and black pieces. If the match is drawn, a series of rapid games will be used as a tie-breaker. The time control will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for the remainder, plus an increment of 30 seconds per move beginning at move 61.[15] The same format was used for the previous world championship in 2021.

The prize fund will be €2 million, split 60% for the winning player and 40% for the loser.[16]

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.[17] 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)[18]
2021 World Championship runner-up	Ian Nepomniachtchi[lower-alpha 1]	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[lower-alpha 1] (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	Qualification		IN		DL		TR		HN		FC		AF		JKD		RR
1	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	9.5 / 14	62	5	Advances to title match				½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	½	1
2	Ding Liren (CHN)	8 / 14	52	4	Advances to title match		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: Official website

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.[20]

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).