China confirms once again that it is to be reckoned with in chess. Grandmaster Ding Liren indeed became the first Chinese world champion in the discipline on Sunday in Astana. He beat the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi for this.
At 30, the player took the upper hand after the tiebreakers and at the end of a fight which will mark more by its stunning dramaturgy than by the precision of the two players. No matter the quality: if six Chinese women have been world chess champions since 1990, including the current Ju Wenjun, it is the first time that the country has won the supreme title because it is open to both men and women.
China’s youngest chess champion
China has been one of the most feared nations in chess for several years: it notably won the Olympiads in 2014 and 2018, the most important competition between nations in the discipline, Ding taking a dominating part in both editions. He has also long been seen as the one who could bring down the world champion since 2013, Magnus Carlsen.
Ding Liren was born in Wenzhou in 1992, a city which two years later obtained the title of “Chinese chess city”. Second in the Under-10 World Championship in 2003, he really revealed himself by becoming China’s youngest chess champion in 2009.
An ascent slowed down by the Covid-19
He was then the highest ranked Chinese player in history, and the first to participate in the Candidates tournament, the winner of which becomes the challenger for the reigning world champion, in 2018 then 2020. From 2018, he becomes the 5th player in the world ranking, even climbing to second place in 2021.
But the Covid-19 pandemic put a brutal halt to its trajectory. In 2022, he does not obtain a visa to participate in the qualifying competitions for the Candidates tournament and does not participate in almost any competition on the official circuit between June 2021 and April 2022.
Ding takes advantage of Carlsen’s withdrawal
The disqualification of Russian Serguei Karjakin from any competition organized by the international federation because of his position in favor of the war in Ukraine has however freed up a place for the highest ranked unqualified player: Ding Liren. Because the points acquired in chess do not disappear after a year, but change only after games.
During his participation in the Candidates tournament in April 2022, after a loss in the first match against Nepomniachtchi, Ding finally snatched second place in the tournament on the last day. This position then miraculously became a World Championship qualifier when five-time defending champion Magnus Carlsen decided to relinquish his crown.
On Sunday, Ding chased after the score before finally winning. Led three times, he came back to the top by winning the 12th round, at the end of a game where his opponent repeatedly had a decisive advantage but failed to find the right shots to conclude.