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Chinese chess grandmaster (born 1992) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ding Liren (Chinese: 丁立人; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. He is the highest-rated Chinese chess player in history and also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup.[2][3] Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings.[4] In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world.[5] In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830.[6]
Ding Liren | |
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![]() Ding in 2023 | |
Country | China |
Born | Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China | 24 October 1992
Title | Grandmaster (2009)[1] |
World Champion | 2023–present |
FIDE rating | 2736 (September 2024) |
Peak rating | 2816 (November 2018) |
Ranking | No. 15 (September 2024) |
Peak ranking | No. 2 (November 2021) |
Ding Liren | |||||||||||||
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Chinese | 丁立人 | ||||||||||||
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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,[7] until Magnus Carlsen surpassed it in 2019.[8] Ding ended up being the runner up of Chess World Cups in 2017 and 2019 consecutively and came second in the Candidates Tournament in 2022: this qualified him for the World Chess Championship 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi, as Carlsen declined to defend his title. Ding won, making him World Chess Champion, by defeating Nepomniachtchi 2½ to 1½ in the rapid tie breaks after their 7–7 tie in classical chess.
Ding was born in Wenzhou, China, and started learning chess when he was four years old.[9] He attended Wenzhou Zhouyuan Elementary School,[10][11] and is a graduate of Zhejiang Wenzhou High School[12] and Peking University Law School.[13][14]
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (September 2022) |
Ding is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion (2009,[15] 2011,[16] 2012[17]) 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.[18]
In August 2015, he became the first Chinese player after Wang Yue to break into the top 10 of the FIDE world rankings.[19] In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world.[5]
After becoming the runner up of the Chess World cup in September 2017, he became the first Chinese player to qualify for a Candidates Tournament,[20] the penultimate stage in the World Championship. At the Candidates Tournament 2018, 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, and in November he reached a rating of 2816, the joint-tenth highest rating in history. This brought him to ranked 4th in the world for that month.[21]
In August 2019, he won the Sinquefield Cup, with 2 wins and 9 draws, beating reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the playoffs.[22]
In October of the same year, Ding qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2020–21 by finishing 2nd place in the World Cup for the second time in a row. He had a poor start to the Candidates tournament, however, and finished in a tie for 5th and 6th, with 4 wins, 4 losses, and 6 draws.
Along with Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Levon Aronian, he was a 2019 Grand Chess Tour finalist. Ding went on to win the Grand Chess Tour final,[23] beating Aronian in the semi-finals and Vachier-Lagrave in the finals.
After Sergey Karjakin was disqualified from the Candidates Tournament 2022, Ding was the highest player on the ratings list who was not already qualified.[24]
Ding had been unable to travel to tournaments outside China during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was thus short of the minimum games requirement for qualification,[25][26] but the Chinese Chess Association organized three different rated events at short notice to allow him to qualify.[27]
At the Candidates Tournament, Ding recovered from a slow start and finished with 8/14 (+4-2=8), achieving second place at the tournament's end on July 5. Later the same month the reigning World champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend his title against the Candidates winner, Ian Nepomniachtchi. Therefore, Ding's second-place spot qualified him to play Nepomniachtchi in the World Chess Championship 2023.[28]
In January 2023, Ding appeared at the Tata Steel tournament, defeating Gukesh D in the first round, but then he eventually lost to R Praggnanandhaa, Richárd Rapport and Anish Giri and finished in 11th place with 5.5/13 (+1-3=10).[29] This result dropped his rating below 2800, leaving only Magnus Carlsen to retain a rating above 2800.
In April 2023, Ding and Nepomniachtchi began the World Championship match with a back-and-forth classical portion that ended tied 7–7. Ding then defeated Nepomniachtchi in rapid tiebreaks, winning the fourth game as black.[30] Ding became the first Chinese player to hold the title of World Chess Champion.
Rating | Classical games | Points | Rapid games | Total | |||||||||||||||||
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | ||||
![]() |
2795 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 7 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 8½ |
![]() |
2788 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 7 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 9½ |
In May 2023, Ding participated in the GCT Superbet Chess Classic Romania, finishing in 8th with a score of 4/9 (+1-2=6).[31] Following this, Ding took a nine-month break from tournaments, citing a struggle with depression.[32][33] He ended the break in January 2024, placing ninth at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024 with a score of 6/13 (+2-3=8).[34]
Ding is expected to defend his title against Dommaraju Gukesh in the World Chess Championship 2024. Gukesh qualified as the winner of the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
In a constant push for the initiative, Ding places multiple pieces en prise, chasing the white king up the board before bringing his pieces back to set up a mating net, ending in a knight sacrifice to entomb the white king.[58]
h | g | f | e | d | c | b | a | ||
1 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | 1 | |||||||
2 | 2 | ||||||||
3 | 3 | ||||||||
4 | 4 | ||||||||
5 | 5 | ||||||||
6 | 6 | ||||||||
7 | 7 | ||||||||
8 | 8 | ||||||||
h | g | f | e | d | c | b | a |
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