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 disti ...
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 r ...
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 of ...
, 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
The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...
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
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 ...
surpassed it in 2019.
Education
Ding attended
Chant Garden Elementary School
Wenzhou Zhouyuan Elementary School is a private elementary school in Wenzhou, China. Since its establishment, it has been one of the most prestigious elementary schools in China and also serves as a "model school" in many areas of education for e ...
and is a graduate of
Zhejiang Wenzhou High School
The Zhejiang Wenzhou High School (simplified Chinese: 浙江省温州中学; traditional Chinese: 浙江省溫州中學; pinyin: ''zhè jiāng shěng wēn zhōu zhōng xué'' ), known colloquially as Wenyizhong (WZHS), is a public senior high sch ...
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
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. ...
(2009, 2011, 2012) and has represented China at all four
Chess Olympiads
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...
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 Wang Yue may refer to:
*Wang Yue (chess player) (born 1987)
* Wang Yue (biathlete) (born 1991), able-bodied biathlete
* Wang Yue (judoka) (born 1997)
* Wang Yue (skier) (born 1999), Paralympic skier and biathlete
*Death of Wang Yue
Wang Yue () ...
to break into the top 10 of the FIDE
world rankings
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...
. 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.
In September 2017, he became the first Chinese player to qualify for a
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...
, 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, Magnus ...
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
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 ...
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 of ...
, with 2 wins and 9 draws, beating reigning World Champion
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 the playoffs.
In October of the same year, Ding qualified for the
Candidates Tournament 2020–21
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be election, elected to an official, office — in this case a Preselection, candida ...
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,
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 r ...
, and
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...
, he was a 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. ...
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 b ...
was disqualified from 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,COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, 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
chess24.com is an Internet chess server in English and nine other languages, established in 2014 by German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson and Enrique Guzman. Among people collaborating with chess24 are World Champions, Grandmasters and International ...
, 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 ...
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 tourna ...
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 Zhao Nan, 2nd on tiebreak
*April 2004: Chinese Men's Team Championship in
Jinan
Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...
Hefei
Hefei (; ) is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census and its built-up ( ...
,
*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 Pearl ...
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 ...
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
Pardubice (; german: Pardubitz) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 89,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monu ...
, 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, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
, 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 ...
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
, 1st with 8/11
*October 2012: SPICE Cup in St. Louis, tied for 2nd with 5/10
*In the 2013
Alekhine Memorial
The Alekhine Memorial was a recurring chess tournament, organized in different cities and irregular intervals, honoring the former world chess champion Alexander Alekhine.
The Alekhine Memorial tournaments have no numbering (technically it is not ...
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 Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...
, the first Chinese player to do so. He subsequently lost on tiebreak in the final to
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...
.
*March 2018:
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, Magnus ...
, 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
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 r ...
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 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
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. ...
Finals by beating
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...
in the semifinals and
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 r ...
in the finals.
*March 2020 and April 2021: Ding Liren played in the
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...
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,
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 ...
.
* 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
Europe Echecs
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...