Ding Liren becomes the 17th World Chess Champion scoring a thriller in the Playoff
01/05/2023 - Ding Liren has become the 17th World Chess Champion. One must not forget that he was a FIDE World Cup 2017 runner-up, won Olympiad team Gold and individual Bronze and Gold medals for China in 2014 and 2018 respectively. The World no.3 also won team Gold and individual Silver at World Team Championship in 2015. He became a runner-up at the FIDE World Cup 2019, for the second consecutive edition. The new world champion became the first Chinese man to win the crown, he was also the first Chinese player to qualify to the Candidates back in 2017. After Karjakin was banned by FIDE, Ding Liren got an opportunity to qualify for the Candidates. He managed to achieve it, finished second in Candidates. He already had a long impressive list of accolades. The most important thing is - a person can be brave, quiet, calm, composed, confident and let his moves do all the talking. Ding Liren personified that. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman