ISLAMABAD
\nIt was a fitting end to a contest which saw many ups and downs, with Ding snatching a victory from the jaws of a draw. A stunning race against the clock.
\nDing Liren has become 17th world chess champion \u00f1 the first from China \u00f1 defeating Russia\u2019s Ian Nepomniachtchi in a tie-breaker. Ding defeated Nepo in the last of the four Rapid tiebreaks.
\nIt was a fitting end to a contest which saw many ups and downs, with Ding snatching a victory from the jaws of a draw. A stunning race against the clock.
\nBy his own admission, Ding Liren doesn\u2019t want to be famous. He says he doesn\u2019t \u00ecwant to be written about every day, or interviewed after every tournament\u00ee. He likes to be by himself and make quiet exits after tournaments. Come Sunday however, the chess world, and more importantly, millions in China will have their eyes fixated on the 30-year-old as he takes on Ian Nepomniachtchi in the opening game of the World Chess Championship.
\nDing\u2019s reserved personality has a lot to do with where he grew up \u00f1 Wenzhou, a port in China. Being situated in a mountainous region, it has been isolated for most of its history not only from the rest of the country but also from the nearby provinces, making the local culture and language very distinct.
\nBut Wenzhou is also the reason why Ding took up chess and why he\u2019s the first man from China who will compete in the World Chess Championship.
\nIn 1995, chess legend GM Viktor Korchnoi traveled to Wenzhou to play a match against Xie Jun, the first women\u2019s world champion from China. It garnered so much local excitement that China declared Wenzhou The City of Chess\u00ee. And so naturally, Ding\u2019s parents decided to enrol him in a chess academy.
\nIt was there that Ding simply excelled. He loved maths and solving problems, so chess became his obsession. Fate also intervened. Legendary chess coach, Chen Lixing, who has mentored many chess prodigies including Zhu Chen, who became China\u2019s second World Women\u2019s champion in 2001, was the coach at the Wenzhou Chess Association at that time. Lixing spotted Ding\u2019s talent and took a special interest in him. Those formative years under Lixing\u2019s tutelage proved crucial to Ding\u2019s success.
\nChess in China
\nDing\u2019s qualification for the World Championships final will undoubtedly give a huge boost to chess in China, but it\u2019s one of those rare countries where the women\u2019s game has by far outshone the men\u2019s game.
\nXie Jun became the first Chinese to win the Women\u2019s World Championship back in 1991. By comparison, only in 2018, did Ding become the first Chinese to play in the Candidates tournament.
\nThe women\u2019s team has won the women\u2019s Olympiad on four occasions, and since 2016, all the Women\u2019s Championship winners have been Chinese, something that seems unlikely to stop anytime soon.
\nThe Women\u2019s World Championship final will be played between two Chinese this year, in two Chinese cities nonetheless. Ju Wenjun will try to defend her title against compatriot Lei Tingjie, who won the Candidates earlier this week, beating fellow Chinese and former World Champion Tan Zhongyi.
\nWhen asked in an interview why the women have been more successful, Ding had an interesting reply.
\n\u00ecI think this is because 20 years ago, there was this tradition that the best male players in China like Ye Jiangchuan and Xu Jun were expected to coach the female players. During tournaments, they were expected to provide opening preparation for them. But now we all work alone,\u00ee he said.
\nEarly Success
\nDing\u2019s earliest tryst with success came in the Li Chengzhi Cup, which is akin to China\u2019s national junior chess championship. After winning his age group events on multiple occasions, he was hailed as the next Chinese prodigy.
\nWhile he also did excellently at the international level, finishing second at the 2003 U10 and 2004 U12 World Youth Championships, his breakthrough performance was at the Chinese Chess Championship in May 2009. The 12-player field included many strong grandmasters, including GM Wang Hao, GM Bu Xiangzhi, and future women\u2019s world champion GM Hou Yifan. Ding, just 16 at the time, shocked the chess world by winning the tournament, making him the youngest Chinese chess champion in history. In doing so, he also earned his third and final norm required to become a grandmaster with the performance.
\nHeir to Carlsen\u2019
\nAfter Ding\u2019s stellar debut appearance in the 2018 Candidates Tournament where he finished fourth and unbeaten, he was invited to compete at the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. Ding finished the tournament tied in first place with Magnus Carlsen; therefore, the two played a rapid and blitz tiebreak. After drawing both rapid games, Ding defeated Carlsen in consecutive blitz games to claim first place. His victory over the five-time World Champion immediately anointed him as heir apparent to the Norwegian.
\nUnlike the flamboyant Carlsen though, Ding isn\u2019t active on social media or streaming platforms. He spends his time reading Chinese literature and playing chess. He has a law degree from the reputed Peking University but doesn\u2019t plan on using it any time soon. His cash prizes goes to his mother\u2019s account as she is the one who handles his finances, even sorting out his travel itinerary and visas. He still lives with his parents, and when they aren\u2019t home, he goes to visit his grandparents who live nearby.
\nMaking it to the final
\nThe Covid-19 pandemic meant that Ding could not travel outside of China and so was unable to participate in the qualification cycle for the Candidates Tournament 2022. But as fate would have it, FIDE disqualified GM Sergey Karjakin for breaching its code of ethics and rules stated that Karjakin\u2019s replacement would be the highest-rated player who had not already qualified. That happened to be Ding, who was rated 2799 at the time.<\/p>\n
Making it to the final
\nThe Covid-19 pandemic meant that Ding could not travel outside of China and so was unable to participate in the qualification cycle for the Candidates Tournament 2022. But as fate would have it, FIDE disqualified GM Sergey Karjakin for breaching its code of ethics and rules stated that Karjakin\u2019s replacement would be the highest-rated player who had not already qualified. That happened to be Ding, who was rated 2799 at the time.
\nCarlsen\u2019s decision not to defend his title shocked the world, but for those playing in the Candidates, it was an opportunity like no other for not just one, but two seats were up for grabs. Nepo dominated the field and won the tournament, but the battle for second place was the real story. It finally came down to a final-round encounter between Ding and American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.
\nWith a dramatic victory over Nakamura, Ding punched his ticket for the big seat.
\nDing\u2019s qualification for the big match may be unprecedented, but for FIDE, it\u2019s a huge opportunity to promote the game in the world\u2019s most populous country.
\n\u00ecIt is the first time in history that a Chinese GM reaches the final and fights for the title. We anticipate an enormous interest from China in this event, and that\u2019s an opportunity we must capitalise on to promote chess in Asia,\u00ee said FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich.
\nDespite all the success women\u2019s chess has had and Ding being a potential world champion, the game is not the most popular in China. It still trails xiangqi, the Chinese version of chess by a considerable margin. A victory over Nepomniachtchi could change all that. And China could be home to two reigning world champions.
\nKnow Ding More
\nDing has studied law at the Peking University Law School. He stopped but admits that the university broadened his horizons.
\nIn countries that he plays in, the first thing Ding will do is check out the museums around. Without knowing much about the place, he visits museums for hours on end.
\nDing loves to read and his favorite hobby is studying Chinese literature.
\nWhile he enjoys Chinese folk songs, his favourite English singers are Damien Rice and Passenger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD It was a fitting end to a contest which saw many ups and downs, with Ding snatching a victory from the jaws of a draw. A stunning race against the clock. Ding Liren has become 17th world chess champion \u00f1 the first from China \u00f1 defeating Russia\u2019s Ian Nepomniachtchi in a tie-breaker. Ding defeated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-328842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n