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Ding won the rapid chess playoff by 2.5 points to 1.5, capitalising on Ian Nepomniachtchis mistakes.

Chinas Ding Liren has been crowned as the 17th world chess champion after a tense match against Russian-born Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the last chapter of an odds-defying sequence of events.

The-31-year-old won the rapid chess playoff on Sunday by 2.5 points to 1.5, capitalising on Nepomniachtchis mistakes in time trouble in the last of the shorter-format games, following the pairs 7-7 tie in a psychological battle across 14 longer classical games.

OneDingto rule em all, fellow grandmaster Anish Giri wrote on Twitter in honour of the new champion.

Dings triumph means China holds both the mens and womens world titles, with current womens champion Ju Wenjun set to defend her title against compatriot Lei Tingjie in July.

The moment Ian resigned, the game was a very emotional moment, I cannot control my feelings, the new world champion said in a news conference.

Ding had levelled the score in the regular portion of the match with a dramatic win in game 12, despite several critical moments including apurported leakof his own preparation.

The Chinese grandmaster takes the crown from five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who defeated Nepomniachtchi in 2021 but announced last July he would not defend the title this year.

Carlsen said he was not motivated to play shortly after Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates Tournament, the prestigious qualifier to the match.

Ding, runner-up in the Candidates thanks to an incredible second half of the event, was next in line.

He had been invited to the tournament at the last minute to replace Russias Sergey Karjakin, whom the international chess federation (FIDE) banned for his vocal support of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Dingranks third in the FIDE rating list behind Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi.

The new champion will attend from May 4 the first tournament of the Grand Chess Tour in Bucharest, Romania, after being almost inactive since 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

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Chinas Ding Liren defies odds to be crowned world chess champion - Al Jazeera English