On April 9, Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi and Chinese representative Ding Lizhenemza started the match for the title of world chess champion in Astana. According to Sports.ru, they played the first game in a draw.
A player is awarded 1 point for a win in a game, and 0.5 points for a draw. The winner is the one who scores 7.5 points. In total, you can play 14 games of 120 minutes each.
According to Sport-Express, before the match for the championship, it turned out that Petr Leko and Vladimir Potkin left Nepomniachtchi's team.
Ian Nepomniachtchi was among 44 Russian chess players who in March signed an open letter to Vladimir Putin condemning the war against Ukraine.