2023 World Championship Side Events

For this current post let's have more of More Photos from Ding - Nepo (June 2023). See that post for links and a brief explanation.

Courtesy of FIDE / Photographers listed below

Photos for 'Side events', starting upper left:-

UL: 'Future World Champions - tournament for kids. 10 April, 2023' • Photo by Anna Shtourman
UR: 'Arbiter Workshop with IA Nebojsa Baralic. 11 April, 2023' • Photo by Stev Bonhage
LL: 'Dana Reizniece-Ozola gave a lecture titled "How to Win the Game: balancing work and family life'. April 16, 2023' • Photo by David Llada
LR: 'Chess in Education International Conference. 20 April, 2023' • Photo by Anna Shtourman

For more about the events in the bottom row, see:-

• 2023-04-16: Finding the work-life balance – advice from a Woman Grandmaster (worldchampionship.fide.com) • 'FIDE's Deputy Chair of the Management board and Woman Grandmaster, Dana Reizniece-Ozola'
• 'Chess in Education International Conference', Astana • TBD?

For a list of all side events, see Side Events FIDE World Championship 2023, Astana (ditto).

The Robot Picked White

We're in the fifth week -- or is it the sixth week? -- of a heat wave and my enthusiasm for writing anything that requires thinking is at absolute rock bottom. Let's follow up last week's post, More Photos from Ding - Nepo (June 2023), with ... drumroll ... 'Even More Photos from Ding - Nepo'. You've seen the pictures...

First It Picked Two Pieces; Photos from 'Opening Ceremony'
Courtesy of FIDE / Stev Bonhage

...Now here's the story. From FIDE World Championship Match 2023 officially opened (worldchampionship.fide.com; Milan Dinic), dated 7 April 2023:-

A magician suddenly appeared beside [the players], signalling that the drawing of lots would be nothing short of magical. Ding Liren was particularly intrigued, closely observing the magician's every move. But as it turned out, it was all just a playful and humorous illusion.

Then came the real drawing of lots. Unlike the traditional way of doing this, with the arbiter holding a black and a white pawn in each hand clinched to a fist, this was done with the help of Artificial Intelligence. A robotic pyramid with a chess piece-filled bowl and a robotic arm on top took centre stage.

The AI ceremony had two parts. In the first, one of the players had to name a colour -- black or white -- and if the robotic arm picked up the piece with the same colour, that player moved to the second stage, where the robot then decided if that player would be White or Black in the first round.

As he is currently ranked ahead of Ding Liren on the FIDE rating list, Ian Nepomniachtchi was invited to come forward. Nepomniachtchi curiously walked over and said, "white", and then pressed a button on the computer. Luckily for him, that was the colour the robot chose as well, which meant he moved on to the next stage. Had he guessed it wrong, it would be Ding's turn.

In the next stage, Nepomniachtchi had to press the button again, and the robot was the one to choose the colour of his pieces in game one. While robots may be better than humans in almost everything, in a sign that they're still not perfect (especially when it comes to the fine sensory skills of hand movement), it took the robot three times to successfully navigate the task. The robotic hand mixed pieces in the bowl but did not pick up any pieces on the first try. Then, on the second – it picked up two pieces – black and white! On the final, third try – it picked up one piece. Nepo was again lucky – the colour of the piece was white!

I think we're confusing AI with robotics here, but who cares? It was an original way to decide which player gets which color for the first game of the match.

More Photos from Ding - Nepo

After last week's post, 2023 Ding Liren - Nepomniachtchi, Wrapup (May 2023), I went back to Chess Photos : 'Courtesy of FIDE' (May 2023), and added other official photos to earlier posts. Here's another photo that caught my eye because of its geopolitical symbolism...

Three Flags; Photo from 'Tiebreak'
Courtesy of FIDE / Stev Bonhage

...Thanks again, FIDE, for making these photos available.

2023 Ding Liren - Nepomniachtchi, Wrapup

In the previous post, 2023 Ding Liren - Nepomniachtchi, Crosstable (May 2023), I gave myself a number of actions -- list the winner first where necessary, add the PGN, update the player index -- and promised a wrapup post. The actions were done (see that 'Crosstable' posts for links) and here's the wrapup:-

• 2023-03-29: 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Warmup
• 2023-04-12: 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, First Week
• 2023-04-19: 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Second Week
• 2023-04-26: 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Third Week
• 2023-05-03: 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Fourth Week
• 2023-05-17: Chess Photos : 'Courtesy of FIDE'
• 2023-05-24: 2023 Ding Liren - Nepomniachtchi, Crosstable

The posts listed above are all from this blog. The posts listed below are all from my main blog.

• 2023-04-09: 2023 Nepo - Ding, Opening Press Conference
• 2023-04-27: World Championship Yahoos 2023
• 2023-05-14: St. Regis Hotel, Astana

On my main blog I also ran a series about Ding Liren, who won the match against GM Nepomniachtchi, thereby becoming World Champion. The series was intended to learn more about his career.

• 2023-03-17: Ding Liren's Climb to a Title Match
• 2023-03-24: Ding Liren's TWIC Debut
• 2023-03-31: Ding Liren's Rise to the GM title
• 2023-04-07: Ding Liren's 2010-11 TWIC-ipedia
• 2023-04-14: Ding Liren's 2022 Candidates

This is the last World Championship that I intend to document on my personal domain, mark-weeks.com. The time has come to give it a rest.

2023 Ding Liren - Nepomniachtchi, Crosstable

Following up the previous post, 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Fourth Week (May 2023; 'Congratulations to Ding Liren on a nail-biting victory!'), I added the crosstable to my page on the match: 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren (m-w.com). Still to do:-

• Change the title of that m-w.com page to put the winner first.
• Add the PGN.
• Update the Index of players.

At the same time I can create a wrapup post, tying together all of the posts on this blog and on my main blog.

***

The New World Champion; Photo from 'Tiebreak'
Courtesy of FIDE / Stev Bonhage

Chess Photos : 'Courtesy of FIDE'

The previous post, 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Fourth Week (May 2023), used a photo. And it wasn't just any photo; it was a photo from the official site for the Nepo - Ding match: Photos from 2023 FIDE World Championship Match (worldchampionship.fide.com). That FIDE page offers reuse of the photos, but with a condition:-

Please note that these photographs are provided to the media as a courtesy from FIDE, strictly for editorial use only. when used, these photos must include proper credits in the caption, using the following formula:

"Photo: FIDE / Name of the photographer"
or
"Courtesy of FIDE / Name of the photographer"

In case of doubt regarding the authorship, please contact a FIDE representative at press@fide.com

I'm pleased to oblige. I'm not sure if this post qualifies as 'editorial use', but I'll take a chance that it does.

Photos from 'Closing Ceremony'
Courtesy of FIDE / Stev Bonhage

At the beginning of last year, I posted on my main blog, Chess Photos : 'All rights reserved' (January 2022). The post ended saying,

I imagine that all of the photos in these albums are marked '© All rights reserved'. That's why they never appear on my short lists. Would it hurt any of the expert photographers who took the photos to license a few under 'Creative Commons'? That would allow other content creators (like me) to share the photos with a larger public.

My prayers have been answered. I'm a happy blogger.

2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Fourth Week

What a difference a single week can make. Or a single game. Or a single move. In the previous report, 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Third Week (April 2023), I wrote,

Starting with last week's +3-2=2 and adding this week's +0-0=4 gives a current score of +3-2=6 in Nepo's favor, with three games still to be played. Ding will have the White pieces in two of those games.

All other things equal, the advantage of the White pieces in a chess game gives a player an undisputed upper hand. Following the lead set in the 'Third Week' post, here are the official reports from the same site, worldchampionship.fide.com, and the same journalist, Milan Dinic, for the last three regulation games:-

• g.12 Race for the title wide open as Nepomniachtchi suffers shocking defeat
• g.13: Ding gives respite to Nepomniachtchi as game 13 ends in a draw
• g.14: Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi head for final tie-breaker

After 11 games the score was +3-2=6 in Nepo's favor. Adding +0-1=2 from the last three games gives +3-3=6, a tied match. In an early post introducing the match, 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren Warmup (March 2023), I gave some of the ground rules for the match, including tiebreak.

A four-game playoff shall be played with a time control of 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. There shall be a drawing of lots to decide which player starts with White. If the score is still a tie after the four-game playoff...

The first series of four games was enough to break the tie. From the same news source as the last three games, here are the reports on the tiebreak and its aftermath:-

• Tiebreak: Ding Liren makes history, becoming World Champion
• Closing: Ding Liren crowned World Champion

That last report started,

The last act of the greatest chess event on earth was held in Astana. A new era in chess history as Ding Liren emerges as the first player from China to hold the world title in the open section.

The clumsy phrase 'open section' is meant to distinguish the title up for grabs in Astana from the women's version. The Women's title was first won by a Chinese player more than 30 years ago -- 1991 Xie Jun - Chiburdanidze Title Match -- and Chinese women have largely dominated the event ever since. Following is a photo of the trophy won by Ding.

Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

Congratulations to Ding Liren on a nail-biting victory!