CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 117 of 120

Correct — B, Magnus Carlsen. The 2021 World Chess Championship was played at the Dubai Exhibition Centre from 26 November to 10 December 2021, and Carlsen of Norway retained his title against the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. He won 7½-3½ — four wins, seven draws and no losses — closing the match after eleven of the scheduled fourteen games. The turning point was the sixth game, an exceptionally long one that Nepomniachtchi lost after holding for hours; three more losses followed and the match was effectively over.

• (a)Nepomniachtchi — Ian Nepomniachtchi was the challenger, having won the Candidates Tournament, and he lost the match 3½-7½. He earned the right to play for the title but did not win it.
• (c)Ding Liren — Ding Liren of China did become World Champion, but in 2023 and not in 2021 — and he did so because Carlsen chose not to defend the title, so Ding won a match for a vacated crown rather than beating the reigning champion.
• (d)Anish Giri — Anish Giri of the Netherlands is a strong grandmaster and a regular in elite events, but he has never played a World Championship match.

The World Chess Championship is organised by FIDE, the international federation, and runs on a two-year cycle. The challenger is decided by a Candidates Tournament of eight players, whose winner plays a match against the reigning champion; classical games are played first and, if the match is tied, rapid and blitz tie-breaks follow. Carlsen won the title in 2013 from Viswanathan Anand and defended it in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021 before stepping away, saying he was not motivated to play another match.

Sports items in this section are worth learning as short lineages rather than as single results, because the same tournament is asked about every few years with a different name in the answer. The 2021 line is Carlsen defeating Nepomniachtchi in Dubai. What happened after the exam matters for anyone using this question now: Carlsen declined to defend in 2023, Ding Liren — option (c) here — won the vacant title that year, and in 2024 Gukesh Dommaraju of India beat Ding to become World Champion, the youngest ever and only the second Indian after Anand. So the wrong answer in this 2022 paper became a right answer to a different question within eighteen months, and an Indian name entered the lineage soon after.

• The 2021 World Chess Championship was held at the Dubai Exhibition Centre from 26 November to 10 December 2021.
• Magnus Carlsen of Norway beat the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi 7½-3½, with four wins, seven draws and no losses.
• The match was decided after eleven of the fourteen scheduled games.
• Carlsen had held the title since 2013, when he took it from Viswanathan Anand.
• Carlsen did not defend in 2023; Ding Liren won the vacant title that year and Gukesh Dommaraju of India took it from him in 2024.

• Naming the challenger instead of the champion. Nepomniachtchi played the 2021 match and lost it.
• Placing Ding Liren's title in 2021. He won in 2023, after Carlsen stepped aside.
• Assuming Carlsen lost his title in a match. He gave it up rather than defend it.

As a who-won-this-event item, or as a match between champions and the years or venues of their titles.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who became the World Chess Champion in 2024, the youngest in the history of the title?

  • (a)Ian Nepomniachtchi
  • (b)Gukesh Dommaraju
  • (c)R. Praggnanandhaa
  • (d)Fabiano Caruana

  Answer(b) Gukesh Dommaraju — he beat the defending champion Ding Liren, becoming only the second Indian world champion after Viswanathan Anand.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The challenger for the World Chess Championship is decided through

  • (a)the Chess Olympiad
  • (b)the Candidates Tournament
  • (c)the Grand Chess Tour
  • (d)the FIDE World Cup alone

  Answer(b) the Candidates Tournament — an eight-player event whose winner earns the right to play the reigning champion.