Ding Liren

World Champion 2023 – 2024, winner of the 2023 title match

Highest Elo rating: 2816

Ranking: highest second place

Tournament career: Winner of five super-tournaments:

Shenzen Masters 2017

Grand Prix Moscow 2017

Shared first place with worse tiebreak in Shenzen 2018

Sinquefield Cup 2019

London Chess Classic 2019

Chess Olympiads: 2x gold team medal, gold and bronze individual medals

What earned him this:

Ding Liren’s career is very paradoxical. Most chess commentators and fans agree that he was at his peak before the pandemic, and his absolute best year was 2019. Ding won tournaments like the Sinquefield Cup, London Chess Classic, surpassed the 2800 Elo mark, and was the world number two. He also achieved medal successes at the Olympiads. During this period, he was also unbeaten in 100 consecutive classical games.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and the chess world came to a halt. China had some of the strictest restrictions in the world, and Ding was unable to participate in tournaments even after they resumed. The only exception was the second half of the interrupted Candidates Tournament, where he eventually finished fifth. Otherwise, he completely stopped playing chess. Most people would not have bet that he would become world champion within two years.

It started with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Sergey Karjakin was banned from playing due to his support for the invasion and could not participate in the tournament. The vacant spot was to go to the player with the highest Elo rating who had played the required number of FIDE-rated games during the year. The Chinese Chess Federation quickly organized several tournaments and matches with the sole aim of getting their player into the Candidates Tournament. Ding fulfilled the game count requirement and thus became Karjakin’s replacement.

He did not start well in the Candidates Tournament, but unexpectedly picked up in the second half and eventually secured second place. Shortly after, world champion Carlsen announced that he would not defend his title, and Ding’s second place secured him a spot in the title match, which had never happened before in history. The match with Nepomniachtchi was extremely dramatic and close, and the Chinese grandmaster eventually won in the rapid tiebreak. He thus became the seventeenth world champion.

And why do I say his career is paradoxical? He achieved his life’s success (2023) after his otherwise best period (2017-2019). At the same time, it was also his last good result. Ding was not an active world champion, barely played due to psychological issues, and when he did, he finished in last places, and his rating plummeted. His former strength was gone. This was also reflected in the rankings, where as world champion, he fell out of the world’s top twenty. His loss in the title match to Gukesh in the fall of 2024 was thus quite expected. Whether Ding will ever return to his former level is a question we do not have an answer to. But as time goes by, it seems less and less likely, and his motivation is apparently not very high. He did not attempt to qualify for the Candidates Tournament in 2026.

Best games:

Bai Jinshi vs. Ding Liren

Chinese League 2017