Ding Liren

Ding Liren (born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster who was the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24. He is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion and was part of the Chinese teams that won the Chess Olympiads in 2014 and 2018. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and first Chinese player to pass the 2800 Elo mark on 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. He achieved his highest classical rating of 2816 in November 2018 and a peak classical ranking of No. 2 in November 2021 behind Magnus Carlsen.

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. Ding ended up being the runner-up of Chess World Cups in 2017 and 2019 consecutively and came second in the Candidates Tournament in 2022: this qualified him for the World Chess Championship 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi, as Carlsen declined to defend his title. Ding won, becoming World Chess Champion, by defeating Nepomniachtchi 2½ to 1½ in the rapid tie breaks after their classical match ended in a 7–7 tie. He lost his title to Gukesh Dommaraju in the last game of the World Chess Championship 2024, reaching a score of 6½ to 7½.