Chinese grandmaster and world chess champion Ding Liren, 32, will defend his title against India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, 18, in a 14-game classical match starting November 25 in Singapore. The column continues this week with Liren’s resume.
2018 marked the height of Liren’s successes. It also brought challenges to the fore. At the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin, Liren drew 13 of his 14 games and failed to qualify for a shot at the World Championship title. In the Candidates the winner plays for the title. Notwithstanding that stumble, Liren demonstrated his efficiency to the chess world by winning the Sinquefield Cup in 2019 and securing the Grand Chess Tour title.
His second attempt at the Candi-dates came in 2020 at Yekaterinburg, Russia, about when the Covid-19 pandemic began. Liren had scored 2.5 points after seven rounds when the tournament was postponed owing to the pandemic. When the Candidates resumed in April 2021, Liren scored three victories in his last three games placing him in fifth position.
