How to Watch the 2023 World Chess Championship
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about chess lately — that’s because the 2023 World Chess Championship is currently happening. With Magnus Carlsen not attending, it will be exciting to see who takes the title at this coveted tournament.
If you got into chess thanks to Felix “xQc” Lengyel or the countless other streamers giving the classic game of strategy and mind games a try on Twitch, you’ll definitely want to start tuning in to the World Chess Championship. So here’s everything you need to know.
What is the 2023 World Chess Championship?
The Chess Championship will decide who is the next world champion. Here’s how it works.
There are best-of-14 matches and the first player to score 7.5 points will take the win.
Each match is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then just 15 minutes for the rest of the game. If the match does end in a tie, the two opponents will compete in a rapid blitz game.
The two players to watch are Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren of China, number two and three in the world respectively. This will be their time to prove they have what it takes to be crowned the world champion.
Why Isn’t Magnus Carlsen Competing?
You may be wondering, well where’s the number one player? That’s Magnus Carlsen and he won’t be competing this year.
"I've spoken to people in my team, I've spoken to FIDE, I spoke to Ian as well. The conclusion is very simple: I'm not motivated to play another match,” Carlsen said on his podcast last year .”I don't have a lot to gain. I don't particularly like it, and although I'm sure a match would be interesting for historical reasons, I don't have any inclinations to play and I will simply not play the match.”
2023 World Chess Championship Schedule
The championship actually kicked off on April 7 but there’s still plenty of time to catch some insane matches. Going forward, there will be one game per day starting at 2 AM PST (3 PM local time) with a rest day every two rounds.
Here’s the current schedule for the remainder of the competition:
- April 24: Game 11
- April 25: Rest day
- April 26: Game 12
- April 27: Game 13
- April 28: Rest day
- April 29: Game 14
- April 30: Tie-break if needed, closing ceremony
- May 1: Closing ceremony if tie-break happens April 30
You are tuning in just in time to see who comes out on top. Right now, Nepomniachtchi has a 5.5 and Liren has 4.5.
How to Watch the 2023 World Chess Championship
If you are getting pumped for some chess, check out the live broadcast and clips on Chess.com and its official Twitch channel. There will be live commentary from chess masters so you’ll be able to follow exactly what’s going on.
2023 World Chess Championship Prize
Being one of the biggest chess tournaments in the world with a coveted title on the line, you can expect a pretty impressive prize pool. It’s currently $2.17 million.
If the match ends within 14 games, 60% of the prize pool will go to the winner and 40% to the runner-up. If a tie-break is needed, the prize pool will be split 55% and 45%.
