Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time

Chinese Chess Champion The Chinese Chess Championship is the annual individual national chess championship of China. Following are the official winners of the national championship from 1957 to date. Winners : Women's Crosstables : Average Elo: 2324 Cat: 3 m = 6. ...

. He was the winner of the 2019

Grand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments where players compete for multiple prize pools. Major tournaments that have been featured in the Grand Chess Tour include Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. ...

, beating

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest ...

in the finals and winning the 2019

Sinquefield Cup The Sinquefield Cup is an annual, invitation-only chess tournament in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, honoring Rex Sinquefield and his wife Jeanne, the founders of the Saint Louis Chess Club. Since 2015, the Sinquefield Cup has been a part o ...

, as the first player since 2007 to beat

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

in a playoff. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the

FIDE world rankings The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" rankings of countries according to the average rating ...

. In July 2016, with a

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

rating of 2875, he was the highest rated Blitz player in the world. Ding was undefeated in classical chess from August 2017 to November 2018, recording 29 victories and 71 draws. This 100-game unbeaten streak was the longest in top-level chess history, until

surpassed it in 2019.

Education

Ding attended Chant Garden Elementary School and is a graduate of Zhejiang Wenzhou High School and

Peking University Law School Peking University Law School () is the law school of Peking University, a public research university in Beijing, China. Founded in 1904 as the law department of Peking University, it is the oldest law school in China and is generally considered t ...

Career

Ding is a three-time

(2009, 2011, 2012) and has represented China at all four Chess Olympiads from 2012 to 2018, winning team gold medals in 2014 and 2018 and individual bronze and gold medals in 2014 and 2018 respectively. He also won team gold and individual silver at the World Team Championships in 2015. In August 2015, he became the second Chinese player after Wang Yue to break into the top 10 of the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a

rating of 2875, he was the highest rated Blitz player in the world. In September 2017, he became the first Chinese player to qualify for a Candidates Tournament, the penultimate stage in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. At the

Candidates Tournament 2018 The Candidates Tournament 2018 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, which was held in Berlin, Germany, between 10–28 March 2018. The winner, Fabiano Caruana, earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnu ...

he placed 4th with 1 win and 13 draws, the only candidate without a loss at the event. In September 2018, Ding became the first Chinese player to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the

, and in November he reached a rating of 2816, the joint-tenth highest rating in history. In August 2019, he won the

, with 2 wins and 9 draws, beating reigning World Champion

in the playoffs. In October of the same year, Ding qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2020–21 by finishing 2nd place in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

for the second time in a row. However, he had a poor start to the Candidates tournament, and finished in a tie for 5th and 6th. Along with Magnus Carlsen,

, and Levon Aronian, he was a 2019

finalist. Ding went on to win the Grand Chess Tour final, beating Aronian in the semifinals and Vachier-Lagrave in the finals. After

Sergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken ...

was disqualified from the

, and was thus short of the minimum games requirement for qualification,Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin banned from chess for 6 months over Ukraine stance
chess24, 21 March 2022 but the

Chinese Chess Association The Chinese Chess Association (CCA) (中国国际象棋协会) is the governing body of chess in China, one of the federations of FIDE, and a member of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). It is the principal authority over all chess events in Chi ...

organized three different rated events at short notice to allow him to qualify. At the tournament itself, he achieved second place, rebounding from a slow start to end up with 4 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses. Because reigning champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend his title against

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

, the winner of the 2022 Candidates, Ding's second place spot qualified him to play Nepomniachtchi in the

World Chess Championship 2023 The World Chess Championship 2023 is an upcoming chess match, taking place from 7 April to 30 April 2023 to determine the new world chess champion. The incumbent champion Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi, t ...

instead.

Results

*November 2003: U-10 World Youth Championship in

Heraklio Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...

, joint 1st on 9/11 points with

Eltaj Safarli Eltaj Safarli ( az, Eltac Səfərli; born 18 May 1992 in Baku) is an Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. In October 2016, he reached his all-time-highest rating of 2694 and was ranked as No. 3 in Azerbaijan and No. 46 in the world. He entered tourn ...

, 2nd on tiebreak *November 2004: U-12 World Youth Championship in

, joint 1st on 9/11 points with Zhao Nan, 2nd on tiebreak *April 2004: Chinese Men's Team Championship in Jinan, scored 1/4 *July 2005: Chinese Individual Championship in Hefei, *April 2007:

Zonal Tournament Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the C ...

3.5 (China) in

Dezhou Dezhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Liaocheng to the southwest, Binzhou to the northeast, and the province of Hebei t ...

, scored 6/9 *July 2007: Chinese Men's Championship Individual Group B in

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pear ...

, scored 7/10 *May 2008: Chinese Individual Championship in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, scored 5/11 finishing 6th *June 2008: Men's Selective Tournament for Olympiad in

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

, scored 4/10 *July 2008: Czech Open 2008 MS U14 U16 – M-silnice Open in Pardubice, scored 5/5 *April 2009: Men's Zonal Tournament 3.5 (China) in Beijing, scored 5/11 *May 2009: 8th Asian Continental Individual Open Championship in Subic Bay Freeport, scored 6/11 (first grandmaster norm) *May 2009: Chinese Individual Championship in Xinghua,

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

, 1st with 8/11 and 2800+ TPR (second GM norm) *August 2009: Russia – China (men) in Dagomys, scored 2/5 *September 2009: Chinese Chess King in

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

, scored 3/7 *October 2009, he became China's 30th grandmaster. *April 2011: Chinese Individual Championship in Xinghua,

, 1st with 9/11 *Chess World Cup 2011: knocked out by Wesley So *April 2012: Chinese Individual Championship in Xinghua,

, 1st with 8/11 *October 2012: SPICE Cup in St. Louis, tied for 2nd with 5/10 *In the 2013 Alekhine Memorial tournament, held from 20 April to 1 May, Liren finished ninth, with +1−3=5. *March - April 2017: Won the Longgang Shenzhen Grandmaster Tournament. *May 2017: Won the Moscow Grand Prix with 6/9 *September 2017: Reached the final of the 2017 Chess World Cup. This qualified him for the Candidates Tournament, the first Chinese player to do so. He subsequently lost on tiebreak in the final to Levon Aronian. *March 2018:

, Berlin. Placed clear 4th with +1−0=13, the only candidate without a loss at the event. *April 2018: Shamkir Chess 2018, finished 2nd with 5/9 (+2–0=7). *August 2019: He finished second place in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz event with a score of 21/36. The second place was tied and shared with Yu Yangyi and

. *August 2019: Ding Liren won the 2019 Sinquefield Cup by beating

in both blitz tiebreak games after drawing both rapid tiebreak games; both Ding and Carlsen scored 6/11 (+2–0=9) in the classical games. *December 2019: Ding Liren won the

Finals by beating Levon Aronian in the semifinals and

in the finals. *March 2020 and April 2021: Ding Liren played in the Candidates Tournament for the right to face Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship. He got off to a slow start, losing his first two games but finished the tournament with three straight wins to finish in 5th place. His final win was with the white pieces over the tournament winner,

. * June–July 2021: Finished in 4th place in the Goldmoney Asian Rapid tournament. He was one of eight players to advance to the knockout stage of the tournament after a 3rd-place finish in the round-robin phase of the tournament. Defeated

Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda (; born 26 April 1998) is a Polish chess grandmaster. A prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and 21 days. he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 18 in the world. His personal best rating ...

1- in the quarterfinals before losing to

Vladislav Artemiev Vladislav Mikhailovich Artemiev (russian: Владисла́в Миха́йлович Арте́мьев; born 5 March 1998) is a Russian chess player and former chess prodigy. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2014. Artemiev is the ...

in the semifinals 2–1. He lost to Magnus Carlsen in the 3rd place match. * December 2021: Ding was a semi-finalist at the 2021 Speed Chess Championship, losing the tiebreaker game to GM

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraR Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the international master title at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and the grandmaster title at age 12, the second-you ...

in the finals. * July 2022: Finished second at the

Candidates Tournament 2022 The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022,Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru Nakamura16-year-old Ding Liren Wins Chinese ChDing Liren wins the Chinese Chess Championship
(Chessdom)
Ding Liren (16) new Chinese Champion after surreal finish
(ChessVibes)
Chinese Championship – a closer look at Ding Liren
( ChessBase)
The Chess Mind
( Dennis Monokroussos)
Ding Liren champion de Chine!
( Europe Echecs)
Feedback and facts on FIDE's 'zero tolerance' ruleChinese Championship – decision by defaultDing Liren won the 15th National Children's Chess Championship
(in Chinese)
Ding Liren: The First Chint Class of Character and Excellent Students
(in Chinese)

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ding, Liren 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Wenzhou Chess grandmasters Chess players from Zhejiang Peking University alumni