Ding Liren

Ding Liren (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.

Ding is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion (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 first Chinese player after Wang Yue to break into the top 10 of the FIDE world rankings.

In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world.

In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830.

In July 2016, with a Blitz 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.

In September 2017, he became the first Chinese player to qualify for a Candidates Tournament, 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.

He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup.

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

This 100-game unbeaten streak was the longest in top-level chess history, until Magnus Carlsen surpassed it in 2019.

Ding came second in the Candidates Tournament 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.

He attended Wenzhou Zhouyuan Elementary School, and is a graduate of Zhejiang Wenzhou High School and Peking University Law School.

In August 2019, he won the Sinquefield Cup, with 2 wins and 9 draws, beating reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the playoffs.

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, 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.

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, but the Chinese Chess Association organized three different rated events at short notice to allow him to qualify.

At the Candidates Tournament, Ding achieved second place, recovering from a slow start to end up with 4 wins, 8 draws, and 2 losses.

As reigning World champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the 2022 Candidates, Ding's second place spot qualified him to play Nepomniachtchi in the World Chess Championship 2023 instead.

In 2023, he played at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023, where he lost to Richárd Rapport, R Praggnanandhaa, and Anish Giri; these losses dropped his rating below 2800, leaving only Magnus Carlsen to retain a rating above 2800.

Following his success in the Candidates, Ding won the 2023 World Championship match to become the first Chinese player to ever hold the title of (non-Women's) World Chess Champion.

After a back-and-forth classical portion that ended tied 7–7, he defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in rapid tiebreaks, winning in the 4th game as black.

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.