Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen confirmed his long-held reputation as the best chess player in the world by retaining the world championship on Friday.

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The tightly wound contest – held at the Dubai Expo in the United Arab Emirates – was expected to end in a draw before Carlsen's challenger, Russian Jewish chess player Ian Nepomniachtchi, made a dire blunder.

It was Carlsen's fourth win against the Russian chess grandmaster of their 11 encounters in Dubai, The Guardian reported. After their first five meetings ended in draws, Carlsen reached the fourth decisive result in the next six games.

The Norwegian's winning score of 7½-3½ is the most lopsided result in a world championship chess match since Jose Raul Capablanca's triumph exactly 100 years ago in Havana. 

"It's hard to feel that great joy when the situation was so comfortable to begin with, but I'm happy with a very good performance overall," Carlsen said, The Guardian reported.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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Russian Jewish chess player Ian Nepomniachtchi will challenge the current world chess champion, Magnus Carlsen, for the title in Dubai later this year after winning the FIDE Candidates Tournament on Monday with a round to spare.

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The Russian grandmaster, 30, will go head to head with the Norwegian world champion in a 14-game match from Nov. 24 through Dec. 16 at Expo Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The winner will take home $2.4 million.

Nepomniachtchi, officially third in the world rankings, learned chess at the age of 4 and was a candidate master at 7, according to The Guardian. He won several European youth titles as a preteen and in one match even defeated Carlsen, who started playing chess much later.

Nepomniachtchi was awarded his first Russian title in 2010, the same year he was a European champion; his second was in 2020 when an opponent had to forfeit due to COVID-19.

He competed at the 2009 Maccabiah Games along with female Hungarian Jewish chess grandmaster Judit Polgar and won the 2019 FIDE Grand Prix in Jerusalem, which qualified him for the Candidates' Tournament.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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A 16-year-old Iranian chess grandmaster wants to change his nationality over the country's policy of keeping away from competitions where contenders from Israel take part, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.

According to the head of Iran's Chess Federation cited by Tasnim News Agency, Alireza Firouzja was eager to participate in an upcoming contest in Russia, but not under an Iranian flag.

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Tehran opted to ban the 16-year-old, who is ranked second globally among junior players by the International Chess Federation, from participating in the event as Israeli competitors were also taking part.

Firouzja, however, would have none of that, apparently, and is planning to compete under either the US or the French flag.

Earlier, in October, two Iranian chess players refused to face off with their Israeli opponents, nixing the scheduled matches at the World Junior Chess Championship.

On a note more similar, Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei received political asylum in Germany over Iran's judo federation similarly nixing competitions with Israeli involvement.

Later on, Mollaei shared a bromance moment with Israel's judo champion Sagi Muki, exchanging friendly messages on Instagram.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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In response to a request for clarification from the World Chess Federation, the organization issued a letter saying players from all countries, "without exception," are invited to participate in the tournament.

The World Chess Federation had demanded that the North African country confirm it would provide visas to all participants or else risk losing the right to host the competition, following a campaign by Israel advocacy group StandWithUs.

After Tunisia initially showed no signs that it intended to let European School Individual chess champion Liel Levitan in to Tunisia to play in the tournament, the group launched a campaign called "Let Liel Play" in which hundreds of Israel supporters signed a petition demanding that she be allowed entry. StandWithUs also wrote to World Chess Federation Administrative Manager Polina Tsedenova about the matter.

In a statement, StandWithUs representative Gilad Kabilo said Tunisia's decision to provide visas to all participants was "an unprecedented achievement, which shows that civil pressure by Israel supporters on international organizations works. We welcome the statement, and we will continue to act to defend the dignity of Israeli athletes."

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Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs launched a campaign to pressure the World Chess Federation to ensure European School Individual chess champion Liel Levitan is allowed to participate in the upcoming championships in Tunisia.

The North African country does not have diplomatic ties with Israel and does not allow Israelis to enter the country. As of yet, Tunisia has shown no signs it was willing to make an exception for Levitan.

After hundreds of letters were sent to the World Chess Federation demanding Levitan be allowed to compete, Administrative Manager Polina Tsedenova said the World Chess Federation was taking the "the necessary measures" to pressure Tunisia to allow entry to all competitors.

She said that "we have requested an urgent explanation from the Tunisian Chess Federation. We are also sending them a separate letter requesting written confirmation that the 2019 World Schools Championship, which is scheduled to take place in Tunisia, will provide visas to all participants. Only after that will the organization of the tournament be confirmed for them."

According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, StandWithUs spokesperson Gilad Kabilo said the federation's response was "unprecedented and represents a breakthrough in the accountability of international sports organizations regarding the mistreatment of Israeli athletes in world sporting events."

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