Added on 05.09.2023
One of ICC's historical commentators and video creators is back with an amazing show! Every Monday, GM Ronen Har-Zvi will recap for us the chess week, commentating on events, historical facts, players, and - why not? - funny stuff happening in the chess world. With his unmistakable style, GM Ronen will keep us updated about our beloved sport! Watch the first episode:Added on 04.30.2023
DING LIREN is the 17th World Chess champion! After a dramatic tiebreak, the Chinese Numero Uno, by winning the fourth Rapid game, became World Champion. Check our videos below. Recap video for Game 14 and Tiebreaks, by GM Miguel Illescas: Recap video for Games 12 and 13, by GM Miguel Illescas: Recap video for Games 10 and 11, by GM Miguel Illescas: Recap video for Games 8 and 9, by GM Miguel Illescas: Recap video for Game 7, by GM Miguel Illescas: Recap video for...Full StoryAdded on 04.30.2023
DING! As always, an image can tell a story. Ian Nepomniachtchi had just resigned the fourth Rapid game, making Ding the 17th Chess World champion. Ding is trying not to burst into tears, as he said during the press conference. An emotional rollercoaster that led the 30-year-old super-GM from Wenzhou to become the first Chinese World Champion in History. Liren won the last rapid game with a surprising move, which even the Numero Uno Magnus Carlsen commented on: The first three rapid games...Full StoryAdded on 04.29.2023
Into the Tie-Breaks! A hard-fought draw determined the end of the classical play in this World Championship Match. Ninety moves. Ian and Liren tried everything until the very end but to no avail. The game started with the very young Alanna Berikkyzy, winner of the FIDE World School Chess Championship in the Girls under nine category, making the first move for white. Ding opened with 1.d4, and the players got into a Nimzo-Indian Defense with 4.e3, 0-0. At move 12, Liren decided to go for...Full StoryAdded on 04.27.2023
6.5 - 6.5 and into the last classical game Today Nepomniachtchi played the last classical game of this match with the White pieces, and decided to go again with the Ruy Lopez, closed defense. The first moves went by at bullet speed. After Nepo's 13.a4 the thinking started. In a typical fight for the center, the players played all the right moves. At move 21, Ding thought for 23 minutes before playing 21...Re5 to defend his Knight instead of Rb8, which would have given him a sizeable advantage....Full StoryAdded on 04.26.2023
TIED! This image tells the tale. Ian's facial expression depicts discomfort, disappointment, and tiredness after realizing that the terrible blunder he just played gave him no way to avoid defeat in Game 12. Ian had been impressing everyone, playing engine moves at an incredible speed with stunning precision. The game was fully in his hands. Sesse and all the engines were screaming victory for Black. Ding opened with 1.d4, choosing a relatively calm line. But after a few moves, both players...Full StoryAdded on 04.24.2023
Quick Draw in Game 11 Today the two contestants took a quasi-day-off. In a closed Ruy Lopez, Ian and Liren liquidated into the endgame pretty quickly. The rook endgame that came out was very drawish, and they had to repeat moves to agree to a draw before the time control. After the last four draws, Nepomniachtchi still leads by a whole point with three games to go. Ding will play two games with White, which could help the Chinese Numer One to use original ideas and get into a sharp game,...Full StoryAdded on 04.21.2023
A hard-fought draw! A suggestive image of Ding alone at the board. Game 9, Ruy Lopez, but this time Berlin Defense. Ding decided to play a solid game, trying to keep Nepo at bay. Ian played a very good game, and in the middlegame, it looked like the Russian was going to unleash a deadly attack, with his powerful bishop pair aligned and ready to shoot at the castled Black King. A super-focused Nepomniachtchi But Liren defended well, and the players entered a real endgame for the first...Full StoryAdded on 04.20.2023
WHAT A GAME! We were almost missing a good draw in this amazing match. And today's game proved to be the most incredible so far, with the two players showing their human side. These champions amaze us when they can play long streaks of moves as if they were chess engines. They prepare so deeply with powerful engines that sometimes, not even GMs watching the game (without a computer) can fully understand what's happening on the board. Yet, today Liren and Ian played a rollercoaster game, making...Full StoryAdded on 04.18.2023
GM Miguel Illescas analyzes and commentates on game 7 of the World Championship Match! Don't miss Miguel's excellent analysis.Added on 04.18.2023
A sad day In a very tense position, and after having played a superb sharp game, Ding collapsed in time trouble. Both Ian and Liren today offered the viewers a fantastic display of their chess strength, playing a game full of motives and extremely complex. Ding started the game by replying to 1.e4 with 1...e6, surprisingly getting into a French Tarrash. Ian probably didn't expect it, but he showed that his preparation was absolutely amazing. He said, during the press conference, "You would get...Full StoryAdded on 04.17.2023
GM Miguel Illescas analyzes and commentates on games 5 and 6 of the World Championship Match! Don't miss Miguel excellent analysis.Added on 04.16.2023
WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER! As we already said, this is a fantastic World Championship Match, and today's game confirms it. Liren Ding won an amazing game, playing quasi-perfect, outplaying Ian Nepomniachtchi after losing yesterday's game. The London System helped Ding to get out of theory pretty soon, and today the Chinese Ace found all the right moves to keep Nepo on the edge. Despite Liren's body language, which seemed to show great disappointment after the first moves into the opening, the...Full StoryAdded on 04.15.2023
We are witnessing one of the best championship matches in the last decades. There has been a lot of negativity around this match, with the Numero Uno absence after Magnus decided not to defend his title. Today, after another fantastic game, even the skeptics have to rethink their approach to the match. Ian and Liren are battling like gladiators, providing an amazing show to chess enthusiasts. Ding Liren shows all his disappointment. Today Ian won brilliantly in a match that we could rename...Full StoryAdded on 04.14.2023
Our GM Alex Yermolinsky, in this video, analyzes and comments on games 3 and 4 of the 2023 World Championship match being held in Astana, Kazakhstan. Don't miss Alex's insights and opinions on the most important chess event of the year!Added on 04.13.2023
COMEBACK! A terrible blunder by Ian Nepomniachtchi led to a great comeback by Liren Ding in game 4 of the World Championship Match in Astana. The game started with Ding - playing white - 1.c4 Ian took much more time than Liren in the opening, showing that maybe he didn't expect the Chinese number one to play the Four Knights system. The game looked interesting and tense already at an early stage. There have been some imprecisions, and White seemed to be more active, though the engine...Full StoryAdded on 04.12.2023
Quite a lot of new things happened today in Game 3 of the World Championship Match in Astana. First, Liren sat at the board, expressing his will to show he was ready for the battle. Ding at the board in Game 3 During the post-game press conference, Liren appeared much more relaxed. The journalists, after Ding's candid first press conference, where he admitted to suffering from anxiety, today insisted on asking him how he manages the stress of the match. Ding said that his friend helped him a...Full StoryAdded on 04.11.2023
Our GM Alex Yermolinsky, in this video, analyzes and comments on the first two games of the 2023 World Championship match being held in Astana, Kazakhstan. Don't miss Alex's insights and opinions on the most important chess event of the year!Added on 04.10.2023
After 13 attempts, Ian Nepomniachtchi brilliantly wins his first game in a World Championship Match. GM Ding resigns Game 2 Ding brought a "novelty" on the board, playing 4.h3 in a Queen pawn game. 4.h3 move was never seen before at such a high level. ChessBase has ten games with that and the highest rating of a player who made it is 2175. Ian was incredulous when he saw Ding's move. The facial expression of the Russian is eloquent: It took Nepo eight minutes to gather his thoughts...Full StoryAdded on 04.09.2023
This is what watchers worldwide saw during the first game of the World Championship Match in Astana. Well, at least most of the time in the first part of the game. The players have at their disposal a rest lounge with a couch, armchair, drinks, and snacks. But, most importantly, they have a monitor in the room, with the current position. In the first part of the game, they spent a lot of time in the "thinking room." Especially Ding, who sat in the armchair motionless, staring at the monitor for...Full Story