Ding Liren: The new chess world champion is destiny’s player | Chess News – Times of India

Ding Liren showed the ambition in his heart with a matching display on the board to become the 17th World chess champion. The 30-year-old is the first king of 64 squares from China. He defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in a rapid tiebreak in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Sunday.
Russian Nepo, who signed an anti-war letter and played under the FIDE flag in this match, suffered his second defeat in the World matchplay. He had lost to Magnus Carlsen two years ago in Dubai.
Ding won the fourth and last rapid tiebreak game with black pieces in 68 moves of Closed Ruy Lopez opening. The first three games were drawn. There was a provision for blitz games in case of a continued deadlock.
The highlights of the fourth game were the opening struggle of Nepo (that had made his bishop inactive at b1), Ding’s refusal to go for the threefold repetition on the 46th move (playing Rg6 instead) and the picturesque march of ‘a’, ‘c’ and ‘g’ pawns. It was queen and dark-squared bishops endgame with Ding having the extra pawn.
World No. 3 Ding could have opted for a safer approach — both in the 14th and last classical game and in the fourth rapid game. But he chose to search for a win. And though it could have backfired, choosing otherwise could have meant abusing the provision of the draw. His stellar defence also shone through.
Ding said at the post-match press conference: “The match reflects the core of my soul. I’m quite relieved, emotional. I could not control my feelings. I started at the age of four. I have invested 26 years to reach here. It has been addictive at times.”
He was trailing thrice in the match, losing games 2, 5 and 7. But he came back to win games 4, 6 and 12.
Travelling with his parents and having his friend and GM Richard Rapport in his corner helped him. And so did being in sync with nature.
“I walked a lot, I visited the park and river often. I used to sit on the riverside on the rest days. I dedicate this win to my friends, mother and grandfather.”

Nepo, 32, confirmed that former world champion Vladimir Kramnik helped him for this match besides others.
“With this match, a huge piece of my life, preparation and work has finished. But I will play chess more,” said world No. 2. “I had so many promising positions. I should have probably tried to finish everything in the classical portion. In the 12th and 14th games, I was one or two precise moves away (from clinching the deal).”
Six Chinese women — from Xie Jun (1991) to Ju Wenjun (2018) — have been women’s world matchplay champions before Ding. China has also won multiple Olympiad team golds in both sections recently. But this is the first time that a male individual from the country has reached the pinnacle.
Malaysian entrepreneur Tan Chin Nam had started the ‘Dragon Project’ in the mid 1970s saying China had a huge potential in the cerebral game. This was after chess was forbidden for eight years in China.
The germ has now reached its destination with a touch of destiny as Ding qualified for the title match only because Magnus Carlsen withdrew.