Ding Liren


Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He reached the finals of Chess World Cup in 2017 and 2019 consecutively, but ended up being the runner-up on both occasions. He is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament.
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 surpassed it in 2019.

Education

Ding is a graduate of Zhejiang Wenzhou High School and the Law School of Peking University.

Career

Ding is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion 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 second 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 September 2017, he became the first Chinese player to qualify for a Candidates Tournament, the penultimate stage in the World Championship. He placed clear 4th with +1−0=13, 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.
In August 2019, he won the Sinquefield Cup 2019 with 2 wins and 9 draws, beating reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the playoffs.
In October of the same year Ding qualified for the 2020 Candidates by finishing 2nd place in the World Cup for the second time in a row.
Along with Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian, he is a Grand Chess Tour finalist 2019. Ding went on to win the Grand Chess Tour final, beating Aronian in the semifinal and Vachier-Lagrave in the final, becoming the 2019 Grand Chess Tour Champion.

Results