Grand Master Ding Liren from China is the 17th FIDE World Champion in chess. He defeated Grand Master Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final game of the tiebreaks held on Sunday, the 30th of April. in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Following a 7-7 tie in a thrilling 14 game classical match, there was a tie-breaker of 4 rapid games and Ding won the final game with black pieces. Magnus Carlsen who has been the world champion since 2013 opted out of the world championship and so the competition was held between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Apart from winning the title of world champion, Ding received 1.1 million euros while Nepo received 9,00,000 euros.
Ding Liren shed tears of joy after winning and dedicated the win to his friends, mother and grandfather. He has now become the first ever classical world champion from China.
