Ding Liren is a Chinese chess Grandmaster, number one ranked player in China, and one of the top chess players in the world. He was born on October 24, 1992, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Ding is the first player from China and East Asia to qualify for a Tournament of Candidates, the last step towards challenging the World Chess Championship.
Ding earned his Grandmaster title in 2009 at a Chess Oscar Tournament, where he defeated several world-class players. He also won the Chinese Chess Championship in 2009, 2011, and 2012. He later made international headlines by maintaining a 100-game unbeaten streak from 2018 to 2019, a record surpassed only by World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
In 2015, he won the World Team Chess Championship with China and received the gold medal for his individual performance. In 2017 and 2018, he participated in the Chess World Cup, reaching the finals both times.
Despite his success, Ding has found balancing his chess career with his private life challenging, due to the rigorous demands of international competition. He has also expressed a desire for improving the popularization of chess in China, where it is not widely played.