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On the eve of the opening ceremony of the match for the title of world chess champion between the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi and the Chinese Ding Liren nothing in Astana reminds of an upcoming global event. The Sport correspondent walked around the center of the capital of Kazakhstan and was convinced of this.
Kazakhstan has recently been a popular destination for Russian citizens. Although, philosophically speaking, any available options can be considered as such because of their limited number. Attention to our compatriots at the entrance to the country is close: without asking «where and why» the border guards do not do.
At the Astana airport named after Nursultan Nazarbayev, it turned out that such a grandiose event as a match for the world chess championship was not very well known in Kazakhstan. A man in uniform asked suspiciously: «Are you sure that this is not in Alma-Ata?» And then he tried to delve into the system of the tournament: “The Russian plays, the Chinese plays, but the Kazakh doesn’t?”, he drawled incredulously, looking at the press card. Only a comparison with tennis helped. “Ah, like in the Wimbledon final,” the border guard apparently remembered the triumph of the tennis player from Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina, and returned the documents with the words: “Good news to you.”
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Good news, of course, does not hurt. Russia has been living without a world chess champion for 16 years now. Vladimir Kramnik, having won the unification match spoiled by the «toilet scandal» against the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in 2006, lost the title to Viswanathan Anand the following year. Since the Indian won the crown in an eight-handed tournament, and not in a match with Kramnik, many had doubts about the legitimacy of the victory. However, they fell away after Anand beat Kramnik in a one-on-one match in 2008. Vladimir did not have a second attempt, and in 2019 he ended his career.The next world champion in 2013 was Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Anand. The Norwegian has successfully defended the title four times. For the first time — the next year in a match with the same Anand. In the second — in a duel in 2016 with the Russian grandmaster Sergey Karyakin. The Russian took the lead after the eighth game, but in the tenth he allowed the Norwegian to level the score, and then lost in a tie-break. In 2018, Carlsen defended the title of world champion in a match with the American Fabiano Caruana, also gaining the upper hand in additional rapid chess games.
Later it was Nepomniachtchi's turn to storm the summit. He became the winner of the Candidates Tournament, which dragged on due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, he could not compete with the Norwegian. In the match held in Dubai in 2021, the Russian played five equal games with Carlsen, after which, roughly speaking, he fell apart and lost four times in the next six.
A few days after that fight, Carlsen announced that he no longer feels positive about matches for the chess crown and will defend it only if Alireza Firouzja turns out to be an opponent at the end of the 2022 Candidates Tournament. «Only he is able to motivate me,» admitted the Norwegian. But Nepomniachtchi won again, and the young Frenchman of Iranian origin did not even enter the top three, so Carlsen resigned, finally describing the level of play in the tournament as extremely low.
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So, of course, it will be now. And FIDE is ready to do everything to hold the match in the most majestic atmosphere. A chic hotel in the center of Astana, where the intellectual confrontation between Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren will unfold, is already covered in chess symbols and radiates the energy of a historical event. It is here that the world will know the name of the 17th world chess champion.
Well, the fact that people in Astana still think more about pressing matters and enjoy walks along the beautiful embankment of the Ishim River under the warm spring sun is temporary . Firstly, already on Friday, the Arctic anticyclone will bring rather strong night frosts to the capital of Kazakhstan, and it will become cool during the day, you won’t walk much. Secondly, on this day, the opening ceremony of the match will be held at the Astana Ballet Theatre. The city will plunge into a chess fever. She is addictive.