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ADing Liren is the first Chinese to be world champion in chess. The 30-year-old prevailed in the tie-break against his Russian competitor Jan Nepomnyashchi in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Sunday and secured the title.
The tiebreak had become necessary because it had been a draw after the regularly scheduled maximum of 14 games. In the last of four possible rapid chess games, Ding benefited from a mistake by the Russian, who lost the final again after 2021.
Ding is the successor to the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who lost motivation after ten years on the chess throne and decided not to defend his title. However, Carlsen remains number one in the world rankings and also wears the world championship crowns in rapid and blitz chess.