Opening ceremony World Chess Championship 2023

Welcome to the opening ceremony of the Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Ding Liren, aka Nepo – Ding final match of the World Chess Championship 2023! We will cover all day long the events from Madrid, where the battles start today at 15:00 CET. The news will appear here on this live blog, time stamped at reverse chronological order.

Chairs were tried, walls were stared at, and photo session taken. Initial reports show Ding Liren is happy with the food in Astana, while he says “I am fully prepared and not nervous at all”. Now Ding Liren comments on Magnus Carlsen, “My favorite chess player is Carlsen. I think Carlsen is the strongest chess player in this era.” See more on Chessdom facebook

Parallel today: Caruana – Nakamura from the Chessable Masters 2023 / Fagernes Chess 2023 / 20+ live events here

2 minutes into the opening ceremony and we’ve already got the musical Chess mashed up with K-Pop. I’m going to love covering this match #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/WyiFfJ7vCw

— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) April 7, 2023

The opening ceremony of #NepoDing must be at this moment in Astana. Just a few minutes before it started, @FIDE_chess YT channel removed the scheduled broadcast. No official information, no explanation given. This is NOT how you cover a World Championship https://t.co/1l6xBtmRnW

— Chessdom (@chessdom) April 7, 2023