Ding Liren

Ding Liren is a Chinese super grandmaster who many people consider to be a primary contender for Magnus Carlsen’s world title. Ding won his first Chinese Chess Championship at the age of 16, making him the youngest to ever do so. In the 2017 and 2019 Chess World Cup, he became the first player in history to reach the finals twice in a row. The latter result means that Ding will play in the 2020 Candidates’ Tournament, which decides who will get a shot at the world title.

A few years before turning 30, Ding has already amassed an impressive chess resume. His three Chinese titles are joined by two team gold medals and one individual gold medal at the Chess Olympiads (plus one team gold medal at the World Team Championships).

From August 2017 to November 2018, Ding held a 100-game unbeaten streak in top-level chess competition—the longest in history until Carlsen broke it in October 2019. In 2018, Ding entered the world’s top-five chess players (May) and broke the 2800-rating mark (September), and he remains in those categories today.

One of Ding’s crowning achievements so far is his peak rating, one of the highest in history. His 2816 in November 2018 matches Veselin Topalov and Hikaru Nakamura for the tenth-best rating of all time.