Throughout the history of all sporting disciplines, humanity has always been obsessed with finding the very best in the world. Chess is no different in this regard. But until Wilhelm Steinitz defeated Johannes Zukertort in their 1886 match, there were no formal contests to determine the best. Since then, the World Chess Championship has typically been contested in a match between the champion and a challenger. These World Championship matches have always been full of drama. As the reigning champion Magnus Carlsen is taking on Ian Nepomniachtchi in its latest chapter, this is as good a time as any to revisit some of the essentrics related to this great event.

1. Carlsen has a FIDE rating of 2855 in the latest list. Ding Liren is second with 2799, 56 points behind the Norwegian. If you go 56 points further down the list to 2743, you can find Sergey Karjakin, Carlsen’s challenger from 2016. What’s your estimation as to Karjakin’s rank?
2. 4th
3. 7th
4. 12th
5. 18th

2. Carlsen is also way ahead of Nepomniachtchi in terms of ratings. Nepomniachtchi, who was born the same year as Carlsen, only managed to enter the world's top 20 at the end of 2016. Before this World Championship, the two have played 13 classical games against each other. Who is leading this head-to-head and by what score?
   1. Nepomniachtchi leads 8-5
   2. It’s all square at 6.5-6.5
   3. Carlsen leads 10-3
   4. Carlsen leads 8-5

3. The Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi match started on the 26th November and will finish by the latest on 15th December, which means if the challenger is successful, he will be crowned the champion in a mere 20 days from the start of the first game. When the great Garry Kasparov launched his ultimately successful title challenge against Anatoly Karpov On 10th September 1984, how many days did it take for him to seal the deal?
   1. 12 days
   2. 60 days
   3. 125 days
   4. 425 days 

4. In the famous Capablana - Alekhine match in 1927 (Alekhine won 6-3 with 25 draws), out of the 34 games played, how many started with the Queen’s Gambit, Declined variation?
   1. None
   2. 7
   3. 12
   4. 32

5. When Bobby Fischer forfeited his 1975 World Championship match due to be held in Manila, Anatoly Karpov became the World Champion by default. Who eventually ended up as the chief beneficiary of the $5 million raised as the prize money?
   1. Anatoly Karpov
   2. Mohammed Ali
   3. FIDE
   4. Ferdinand Marcos

6. In the bitterly fought 1978 World Championship, Victor Korchnoi’s team alleged that secret messages were being conveyed to Karpov by a code. The supposed ‘code’ was encrypted by
   1. Brain waves being transmitted by Karpov’s parapsychologist.
   2. The flavour of the yoghurt cups Karpov receives from his team during games.
   3. The amount of water poured into Karpov's water drinking glass.
   4. The number of times Karpov’s delegation moved away from their seats during the game.

7. Vasily Smyslov, the seventh World Champion, only took up chess seriously as a career after he
   1. Failed an audition to become an Opera singer with the Bolshoi Theatre.
   2. Realized he can’t become a doctor because of hemophobia.
   3. Got rejected by the KGB due to his poor eyesight.

8. In the main promotional poster/logo of the Kramnik-Leko 2003 World Championship match
   1. Kramnik’s name was spelled incorrectly as Kranmik.
   2. The starting position of a chess game was visible with both the kings (and therefore, queens as well) placed on incorrect squares (on d1 and d8 respectively).
   3. An Italian flag was displayed instead of the flag of Hungary.

There have been many blunders played in world championships, but only two have directly led to checkmates. Here we look at those two disasters.

9. In 1892, Mikhail Chigorin lost his chance to beat Wilhelm Steinitz in a tragic way. In what was effectively a playoff game, this happened.

[caption id="attachment_177090" align="alignnone" width="300"] Chigorin - Steinitz (1892) - White to play [/caption] What unfortunate “Help-mate” move was made by Chigorin here?

1. The following position is from the aforementioned Karpov-Korchnoi World Championship in 1978.

[caption id="attachment_177091" align="alignnone" width="300"] Korchnoi - Karpov (1978) - White played 39.Ra1 here [/caption] Korchnoi thought preventing the 39...Ra1# with 39.Ra1 is good enough. Can you see what he missed? Answers

1. d. Carlsen is on another level to everyone.
2. a. Surprisingly, ‘Nepo’ has won four games with Carlsen while losing only one (along with eight draws). The catch is that none of those wins came in the last 10 years and two of them came at under 12 level.
3. 3. d. The match was stopped after 110 days (and 48 games!) due to “player exhaustion”. Kasparov had to win a rematch held later.
4. 4. d. The first game featured a French Defence and the third, a Queen’s Indian. The rest were all the Queen’s Gambit, Declined Variation.
5. b. The money raised helped finance the “Thrilla in Manila” where Ali triumphed over Joe Frazier.
6. b. After the complaint, Karpov was only allowed a certain flavour of yoghurt which were delivered at set intervals.
7. a. Smyslov was an accomplished baritone singer who occasionally gave recitals during chess tournaments.
8. b. We regularly see incorrectly oriented boards and incorrectly placed pieces in movies, but this one takes the cake.
9. 32.Bb4 allowed 33...Rxh2+ 2.Kg1 2.Rdg2#
10. 39...Nf3+ 40.gxf3 (Kh1 Nf2#) Rg6+ 41.Kh1 Nf2#