What Happened to Ding Liren?

Introduction

Good morning, noon, evening and night to all readers. Today, I have decided to write something new. It's more like, rumours and beliefs. That is, depression. It might not even be true, but of course he has confirmed a lot of information that has been mentioned here. So..

We all know there are good times, and bad times in our lives. It is a part of every living creature, that we all have to bear the fruits of both success and failure. But what if it is so bad, that one has disappeared, gone through a lot even though it's a dream come true for many? 

Depression is something that over a few hundreds and thousands of people suffer from. It is a mental health issue, and some even might say a disease. 

Well, that isn't different for Ding Liren. Let's look into this matter. But before that, who is he? Why is he here? Is this really the first time this has happened? Welcome to my blog. We'll be going through each and every section, word by word going deeper through the realm. Join us as we dissolve 🫠.

Ding Liren

Ding Liren is a Chinese Super Grandmaster, born on October 24, 1992 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. He became the first Chinese Super Grandmaster to become a World Champion in the year 2023, by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi. 

Chess was more than a game to him. It was like, passion. This was a clear sign of true success. We will go through his early stages to the current time. First and foremost, who is he? How did he come to become a Candidates' competitor?

Early Days, Youth Championships, More Fame, Candidates' & Becoming a World Champion (1996-2022)

Ding Liren, born in Wenzhou, a city the South-Eastern region of Zhejiang (China). He started playing first at the age of 4, when his mother brought him up at the Chess Club at Wenzhou. This city has a rich culture and history of chess, especially with GM Zhu Chen, the former World Women's Champion (9th Women's World champion, retired).

He trained over there with a well known coach Chen Lixing, who was very much known over there and trained both by Ding and Zhu. 

Soon, he won tournament after tournament, and his amazing success began in the Li Chegzi Cup. He also took part in international competitions. In November 2003, he shared the top spot in the U-10 World Youth Championship, and in November 2004, he did the same in the U-12 World Youth Championship. However, he came in second place when tiebreakers were used in both tournaments.

When Ding was 11, he played in the 2004 Chinese Team Championship and got 1 point out of 4. The next year, he joined his first individual Chinese Chess Championship and ended with 3.5 points out of 7. He played in the important event again in 2008, scoring 5.5 points out of 11, which put him in sixth place. Pretty good start for a future World Chess Champion!

In 2009, Ding made a big name for himself. He was just 16 and showed he was a top chess player from China. This happened during the 2009 Chinese Chess Championship.

There were 12 players in the competition. Ten of them were grandmasters, and the top three players who were top Grandmsters of China, Ni Hua (2724), Bu Xiangzhi (2704), and Wang Hao (2696). Wang Hao is incredibly famous on Lichess for his amazing hyperbullet performances. The players had ratings close to or over 2700. Ding was one of the two players who wasn't a grandmaster, and he had the second-lowest rating (2458) among all the players.

Ding played amazingly well in the tournament. He didn't lose a single game, scoring 8.5 out of 11 and defeating two of the highest-rated players, Wang and Ni. His performance rating for the tournament was an impressive 2811. This game is the star of the tournament. It meant that if he won, he would win the whole Chinese Championship! And so it was.

He won! This meant that at age 16, he was the youngest to win the Chinese Championship ever in history! This win finally gave him his final GM norm to make him a GM. He got the Chinese Championship as well as the Grandmaster title! Just two weeks before his birthday. Magnificent!

Ding continued to grab attention at the national championships for his country. Two years after his first win, he secured the 2011 Chinese Chess Championship, leading the competition by two points. He won again in 2012. By the age of 19, Ding had claimed three national titles and never lost a game in any of them.

At the same time, Ding played internationally for China. He began at the 2012 Chess Olympiads, playing on the third board, where his team finished fourth. In 2014, China took the gold, and Ding earned a bronze for his individual performance on the second board. The team didn't place in 2016. However, at the 2015 World Team Championships, China won gold, and Ding received individual silver for his play on the first board. 

Other notable achievements for Ding include coming third in the 2012 World Junior Championships and his successes in 2015. During the 2015 Tata Steel tournament, he earned 8.5 points out of 13, which put him in a tie for second place, just behind Magnus Carlsen. Other top players like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Wesley So also shared the second-place spot in this prestigious event. (In the 2016 Tata Steel tournament, Ding again tied for second place, this time with Fabiano Caruana, still behind Carlsen.) Later that same year, Ding became the second Chinese player, following Wang Yue, to rank among the top 10 best chess players in the world.

In early 2017, Ding triumphed at the Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters in China, scoring 6.5 out of 10 points and leading by one point over both Giri and Grandmaster Peter Svidler, who tied for second place. Later in May, Ding secured victory at the Moscow Grand Prix, defeating Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and competing against a group of nine players, all with ratings of at least 2750.

Ding's most impressive achievement was at the 2017 FIDE World Cup. As the 11th-ranked Chinese player, he performed exceptionally well, advancing to the finals of the 128-player tournament by beating the second-ranked So in the semifinals. In the finals, Ding competed against Grandmaster Levon Aronian. After four draws in the classical games, Aronian narrowly won the rapid tiebreaks 2-0.

Since the top two players in the tournament moved on to the Candidates Tournament, Ding got his first chance to compete in the event that determines who gets to challenge the world champion. This was the first time a Chinese player qualified for the Candidates Tournament. In the 2018 FIDE Candidates Tournament, Ding placed fourth. He was the only player who didn't lose a game, ending with one win and 13 draws.

(Ding Liren at the 2018 Candidates' Tournament, finishing 4th with 1 win and 13 draws)

The following month, in March, Ding came in second place after Carlsen in the 2018 Shamkir Chess. In October, Ding joined the team competition at the 2018 Chess Olympiads. China took home the gold, and Ding earned individual gold for his performance on the first board, with a performance rating of 2873, which was the second-highest rating among all players in the event.

(Ding Liren at the 2018 Chess Olympiad, Earning him an individual Gold Medal)

Ding was a top contender at the 2020 Candidates Tournament, but he got off to a poor start by losing his first two matches. The tournament was halted on March 26, 2020, because of Russia's travel bans and the COVID-19 outbreak. By the seventh round, Ding was in a tie for seventh-eighth place with a score of 2.5 out of 7.

When the tournament had resumed on April 19, 2021, Ding played much better than before. He won his last three games against grandmasters Alexander Grischuk, Kirill Alekseenko, and the tournament's winner, Ian Nepomniachtchi. This strong finish moved Ding up to fifth place with a final score of 7 out of 14.

Well, as for Ian being the Candidates' Winner, he competed against Magnus in the World Chess Championship 2021. He defeated Ian by 7.5 points to 3.5 points, holding the World Title once again for many, many years to come. Here is a meme for you since you might be getting bored right now, but of course these informations are important to know how he got over here.

(Magnus, the Reaper. Watch out, Nepo!)

That was hilarious. Anyways, back to Ding. 

In 2022, Ding earned a spot in the Candidates tournament by having a high enough rating and playing enough games in China after GM Sergey Karjakin was banned. Similar to the 2020-21 Candidates, Ding played well overall, even though he started off a bit shaky. He won matches against top players like Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Richard Rapport , Fabiano Caruana, and Hikaru Nakamura, which helped him finish in second place.

Since he was the second-best in the Candidates, Ding got the chance to compete in the 2023 World Chess Championship when Carlsen decided not to defend his title. Ding won the championship match against Nepomniachtchi in tiebreaks, becoming the first Chinese player to be the Classical FIDE World Champion.

What's Happened to Ding?

Chess is mainly a game that requires thinking. That's why you might find people talking about how distracting the sound of footsteps can be. In professional chess, anything that might interrupt your thinking can ruin your game. It's clear that to play chess well, you need to be in a good mental state.

After becoming the world champion, Ding hasn't been playing as well as he used to. It looks like the pressure from winning the championship has tired him out so much that he's struggling to get back to his best form.

He went on a 8-month hiatus, disappearing completely from the social of chess. Over the past year, he has talked about needing to go to the hospital and take medicine for mental health issues in several interviews.

In half a year, Ding will face another World Championship, and this time he needs to protect his title. He will compete against D Gukesh, a young chess talent from India who aims to become the youngest world champion.

"I'm really worried about him, especially for his next game against Gukesh, because he seems off," Nakamura explained. "I hope he's okay and can play well. When you hear all the rumors and then see him face to face... it's really uncomfortable because I'm still competing against him, but I also feel sorry for him. I want him to succeed. After all, he's the current world champion... The toughest part is keeping my focus on the game because it felt like at times, the game wasn't the main focus anymore." Nakamura really has a point. 

Ding hasn't seemed like his usual self lately. The Chinese chess player first showed signs of trouble during the World Championship match with Ian Nepomniachtchi last year. In this high-stakes competition where both players usually keep everything secret, Ding was surprisingly open. He talked about having a hard time with his feelings and his mind not being right. We saw pictures of him in the lounge, wearing a white hoodie with the hood up, his arms folded, sitting still. He mentioned, "It's odd, lots of memories and feelings, I sensed something was off with my mind... I felt cold due to the worries."

(PS: Sorry for the quality, I couldn't find another image like this that was HD).

Being in this situation must be really tough for Ding. Someone who has known him for a long time mentioned that he has been getting quieter recently and thinks he has become a bit more withdrawn. They also said they don't believe Ding has been working hard on chess lately, as he doesn't seem to be in the right mindset and doesn't appear to care much about it.

Some even said that he might be looking forward to retire at somewhat right now. He must be having the pressure of not only defence of his title, but for maintaining it as well. The pressure of the people, his country, etc. At his performance in Norway Chess 2024, he had a rough time. He had even blundered a Mate-in-2, which would've been a rage for a normal GM. 

But after every game, no matter what the result was, his mom was there for him. Such a wholesome moment! 

(I know that this is a photo of 2016, but the point is— his mom is always accompanied by him!)

On July 2nd, 2024 it was announced that the WCC would be held in Singapore, from November 20 to December 15. A total of 26 days of Championship! It will be a great championship, for sure.

To be honest, to me it seems like the Championship titles will go on hand to hand passing like it's a parcel. First it was Magnus and he handed it over to Ding, then it might to Gukesh and so on. It will go on every 2 years! 

But let's let destiny decide. Stay tuned for more updates!

Conclusion

We hope to see Ding Liren come back and give a tough fight against Gukesh D. This blog will be updated every time a new announcement comes from the social world of chess! 

Happy chess-ing :-)