Ding Liren became China’s first world chess champion on Sunday after a rapid-play tiebreak victory over Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi in Kazakhstan. Ding, 30, takes over as winner of the World ...

Talking about Gukesh's vanquished rival at the world championship, Kasparov said: "Gukesh was, in my view, a favorite because Ding was the pale shadow of what Ding was before COVID. COVID ruined him.

Still, Game 9 in Singapore on Thursday felt like the most underwhelming draw of the World Chess Championship match between reigning champion Ding Liren ... drew with Nepo). And we must travel ...

He also needed to beat Ding in classical chess: he hadn’t been able to do that in their five previous meetings before. Many more games are still to be played in this match, but the 18-year-old ...