The 2023 FIDE World Championship between GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren begins on Sunday, April 9, at 15:00 Astana time (2 a.m. PT/11:00 CET).
Yesterday, the Astana Ballet Theatre hosted the official opening ceremony. The festivities included the traditional drawing of lots in a nontraditional manner. Using artificial intelligence, a robotic arm chose from a chess piece-filled bowl. Needless to say, the AI is not on the cusp of passing the Turing test anytime soon.
My Russian is rusty but it appears @lachesisq is white in game 1 and that somehow Mittens played a hand in it. #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/lcZqugIwD4
— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) April 7, 2023
In the end, Nepomniachtchi will have the white pieces in game 1. He will look to strike first against Ding Liren’s formidable black repertoire. You won’t want to miss the start of this historic match!
How to watch the 2023 FIDE World Chess Championship Game 1 live
Match score
| Name | Rtg | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Score |
| Ding Liren | 2788 | . | .. | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2795 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Previous reports:
