The World Chess Championship Drama

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[justmazen]

Ding's rook move to prevent draw by prepetual check in the last game made me root for him even more, man got titanium balls

[michaellisinski]

A word to describe Magnus: "Dominance".

A word to describe Ding: "Resilience".

[zoa]

Ding Liren’s story is straight out of a movie, hope to see it composed! It truly is inspiring.

[unjourdef]

The Rg6 move will forever be remembered as the Ding Chilling Gambit

[abhishekiyer]

The guts it takes to play rg6 in that game declining a draw in a freaking TIEBREAKER that too in a time disadvantage, believing in himself at such crunch moment is what changed his life. The journey was just beyond inspiring and amazing these are the stories that prove trying with every ounce of strength you got is what that matters he fought till the very end and he deserves that title.

[cedricrickdelsol]

Ding's story is so inspiring that it completely transcends the chess community; in the past few days, I've had several friends come up to me and be like "You're into chess, right? Have you heard about Ding Liren?" People that don't even know how the pieces move are absolutely stunned by this story. That's just insane

[Nic]

Ding’s journey was so special, but I feel so bad for Ian! I was Team Ding from the beginning but Ian has come so close so many times 😢. Here’s a list of Ian’s close calls… still yet to win a world championship in classical, rapid or blitz:

2nd in World Rapid Championship 2013
2nd in World Blitz Championship 2013
2nd in World Rapid Championship 2015
2nd (Ding first) in REGION Blitz 2016
2nd (top 3 tied for first) World Rapid 2016
3rd in World Rapid 2017
2nd (beat Carlsen) Super Tournament 2017
3rd Tata steel 2019
2nd in World Rapid Championship 2021
2nd World Chess Championship 2021
2nd Fischer Random 2022
2nd World Chess Championship 2023

[awmdanger]

Long story short, Ding accepted the Karjakin Gambit, Non-Magnus Variation, teamed up with the guy who wore Pink Coat, and went on to win against Ian and the World Chess Championship.

[rainbuckets]

The sheer mental fortitude Ding showed, especially after The Freeze, is what makes him special. Coming back after that collapse on that stage.. toughest man in chess.

[juliatruchsess]

Also noteworthy is Ding's 100-game unbeaten streak 2017-2018, a record at the time.

[sigmamastercdid]

its great how ding liren went from zero to hero. what a legend.

[denonimophantom]

there are very few moments where you can feel the emotion off someone in a sporting event, but with Ding, it radiated eminently. there comes a point where the intensive focus he put on the game was so locked in, you realize you're not just witnessing a chess game anymore, you're witnessing the battle of a lifetime. he didnt react at all played Rg6, he didnt need to waste energy doing that. he just had to put every ounce of commitment into the position in front of him and in that rising star's moment, Ian trembled at the courage and sheer willpower Ding Liren had. completely thrown off guard, Ian tried his best but had no clue what to expect as Ding turned the board into his play area, and expertly maneuvered the pieces as a moving army of their own. the flashbacks of his life hit him all at once, building up inside, yet, he still refuses to react, until Ian finally resigns, knowing his efforts would ultimately be futile. Ding then broke down crying. tears of joy. but not just joy. relief. pride. respect. he wasn't just the World Chess Champion in that moment, he was a tired man, who earned the right to rest with a crown on his head

[williamshake]

Levy, Pin this story:

TLDR:
As they say, "Fortune favors the brave", and opportunities can only be seized by those with the skills to do so.
Quick summary of feats Ding needed to pull off to earn this title:
1. 100 classical game streak without a loss (to gain 2nd highest rating)
2. Net positive in 30 classical games in a month (to become active again)
3. Win 4 rounds in Candidates against the Strongest players in the world (To qualify as a challenger to Nepo)
4. Win 3 games in the world chess championship against the mighty Nepo to equalize the match
5. Crush Nepo in tiebreaks, aiming for a win when Nepo was ready to settle for a draw


Ding's story actually began in 2018, where most of the world was still recovering from Magnus vs Caruana world championship, where Magnus beat Caruana in tiebreaks. The world had thought there would be no one who can ever overthrow Magnus as no one can beat him in either classical, or tie breaks (even if they managed to get there). Then, comes along Ding Liren, who skyrocketed in his ELO due to completing 100 classical games against grandmasters without a single loss. He goes on to defeating Magnus carlsen in the Sinquefield cup (which was a classical tournament) in tiebreaks. The world at the time was shocked, here comes a future champion candidate who had the potential for overthrowing Magnus himself. Magnus in an interview, pointed to Ding Liren as the opponent that confuses him the most.

Then, the pandemic hit, right when Ding was at an all time peak (2nd highest rated in the world after Magnus, who is the world champion). Forcing him to be unable to participate in any over the board competitions for 2 whole years. The problem is, that means he misses out on any of the tournaments required to win in order to qualify for the Candidates tournament, which determines who can face the world chess champion. So the only way for Ding to qualify was via Rating, where he needed to be both active and the highest rated. During this time, Nepo plays in the 2021 World chess Championship, and got crushed by Magnus.

Prior to 2022, the Candidates tournament, always had a qualification spot for the highest rated ACTIVE player (other than the champion). They removed this qualification milestone in 2022. All hope seemed lost once again for Ding as he now has no way to qualify.

Luckily, Karjakin who qualified as one of the 8 was disqualified due to his political comments on social media, opening up the rating qualification once more. Ding Liren goes on to play 30 classical games in a month while netting a positive ELO gain in order to remain as an active rated player in order to qualify based on the highest rating rule.

Then, during the candidates, and potentially jet lag, Ding Liren loses the first round to Yan Nepomniachtchi who is out for blood after losing in 2021 to Magnus, in his comeback story for revenge. (Nepo also goes on to winning the Candidates tournament). Coming from a terrible first game, the rest of the first half of the games were all ties. Hope was all but lost for Ding Liren to win the candidates as he was in 2nd to last place. Suddenly, during the second half of the candidates, Ding wins 2 games in a row, loses 1, and wins a third. Putting him and Hikaru as potential 2nd ranked in the tournament if Hikaru can draw or win, OR if Ding can win. Facing each other, Ding won on demand, earning him 2nd place.

However, 2nd place is not good enough to play the championship. He needed first. That is when mother fortune finally smiled upon Ding, and Magnus decided to not defend his title. And suddenly, we get a championship between two challengers, Nepo and Ding.

Ding understood that he had not been active in the last couple of years and his chess has become rusty. His playstyle had peaked. He needed to reinvigorate his chess in order to compete with someone as experienced as Nepo. So he plays in Wijk Aan Zee, a classical tournament of one of the highest calibers a few months before the championship. There, he faces Richard Rapport, the artist of chess, who is a top 10 chess player with innovative ideas for openings and a unique playstyle. He goes on to recruit Rapport after that tournament to create his small team of seconds to face Nepo in the championship.

Then, during the world chess championship, Ding, due from nervousness, a small team of seconds compared to Nepo, and inexperience, loses the 2nd game in the match. The world watching had lost all hope that Ding can turn this around as Chess is a highly drawish game. Meaning it is possible for Nepo to maintain this lead until victory. But Ding said No. Ding chilled himself and went on to fight back for a win in game 4 with a reinvigorated playstyle thanks to Rapport, leading to an exciting blow for blow, win for win against Nepo in games 4-7, where Nepo again regains a 1 point lead.

That is when things went terribly wrong. Someone had found Ding's preparation online. This prep leak meant that Ding's chances of coming back were nigh as Nepo and his large team can just study all of Ding's planned openings for the championship. But Ding once again, said No. He chilled himself and went on to win the 12th game, equalizing the match once more. The classical portion of the match ends in a draw by the 14th game.

During Tie breaks, in the 4th game, Nepo essentially offers Ding a draw through a potential 3-fold repitition, hoping to get into blitz tiebreaks where he has an advantage. Ding once again, said No. In a chilling moment, Ding goes on to Pin his own Rook to his King, and essentially said that he is still in this to win this, no matter the outcome. He goes on to crushing Nepo in that game and winning on demand. That is how Ding Liren, for the first time in the match, got to one up Nepo, winning the game, which wins the entire tournament on the spot.

That is the story of how Ding Liren, against all odds, became our 17th (and chillest) World Chess Champion.

[aryansen]

I was supporting ding but when I saw the way Ian looked at the trophy and the pieces falling off his side of the board I genuinely felt sad it was completely heartbreaking

[epicgamer]

I know he didn't win, but a video on the indomitable will of Ian Nepomniachtchi would be pretty cool as well!

[zhaokangqu]

As a person who supports both Ding and Ian. While I congratulate Ding for winning the World Chess Championship, I also feel pity for Ian that he did not win the 2023 World Chess Championship. But can we honor Ding's journey?
A lot of people in Gotham are mad that this video was made for Ding instead of Ian. But I don't think it's Gotham's fault, much less Ding's. No one is wrong in the process, it's just - Chess is brutal. As the WWC result only one person can be crowned at WWC 2023 is Ding. Please accept the reality that Ding is the person who actually became the world champion as a respect for his journey. I think that's why he deserves to be made a video for from GothamChess. I believe that if Ian wins the WWC, Gotham will definitely make this video for Ian. No matter who the winner of WWC is, he should be respected!

[just-shaquille]

i liked it when ding liren said "it's chilling time" and chilled all over the place.

[shennyboi]

I've seen hundreds of people say they support Ding, I am one of them- primarily because of his humility and innocence seen in interviews, but I had no idea he had such an insane process in getting into the WCC! What an awesome story 💯💯

[marcus]

this is truly inspirational... everytime the situation was like "yeah you can try, but a win doesn't guarantee you anything "... this man said "ok, let's try anyway"

[unddozahaz]

Ding liren is straight up an anime protagonist. He had a 1 in a million shot to become world champion and he clutched up with ice in his veins during that rapid game. What a guy.