The Truth About Ding Liren

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%1$ Comments689

    14:39 It wasn't just the best of 14 games, it was the best of 14 Chess World Championships! 😀

    Levy i got my first brilliant move as a 136. My username is ravensavage12453 i played fassouha plz review

    Fuck, I coulda sworn you were about to sign off with “I guess I gotta say it… he’s ding chillen” and then just cut the video lmao , incredible video as always

    Hey Gotham there was a guy on YouTube who combined Pokémon with chess and then held a tournament for it and it'd be cool if you made a video on the finals

    Why did you phrase “Russian operations” so delicately? It’s an invasion, you should refer to it as such.

    Ding is awesome. Levy is such a prize for the chess community, the excitement is infectious. Amazing job Levy keep em coming

    Insane Story! would be epic if you showed ding's immortal game in 2017

    If Ding now wins against Magnus then his story is complete!

    Crazy that hikaru also hadn't played much classical but nearly got that seconds spot. Would've been interesting to see him play in the world championship.

    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.

    Today is actually my birthday so I am extremely glad that I was imparted with the honour of viewing GothamChess's newest video!!! 🙂

    "He had to be brave and run" -Levy Rozman 2023

    Cmoooon give us superbet chess classic!!

    Wait Hikaru could’ve played for the championship nooooo

    The video could have been 10 minutest less, if you haven't repeated so many things so often 😀

    When I started to watch the Recaps, I just randomly chose a side and the Side I chose happen to be Ding's Side, I'm so glad that my random guess would be this amazing

    Best performance in a long time!

    This video feels like Levy is testing whether mentioning Ding as world champion would work for high numbers of views just like it did with Magnus 😂

    This story really deserves an Oscar. I'm speachless

    I thought it was cheesey at the time, but during the chess World championship around game 6 ,7 or 8, I felt like commenting saying that the journey of Ding is becoming one of my favourite chess stories of all time, I hope he wins just so that it is remembered forever, rather than just a caveat : 'he got beat in a final once' bit 1. I didnt wanna jinx it. And 2. I thought it was cheesey and I didn't know enough about the story..

    I'm so glad he won, and so glad to be hear listening to you tell the story.. Your commentary and Dings story compliment each other well because he's so quiet and static but you're so vocal and animated. Thankyou for your recaps of the 2023 world championship and pre emptively thankyou for this video

    30 games of chess in 20 days. the sequel to 40 pizzas in 30 days

    Russian operations? You may say "russian invasion" but you choose "operations". Hello from Ukraine and go to hell

    2:16 did not knew that gotham fears russia.
    Its an invasion, not an "operation".

    Levy may not be pregnant, but he always delivers.

    Does somebody know if Hikaru would have played in the WC if he got second place?

    22 mins video again… bro cant u do shorter videos or are such a goldigger?

    Ding Liren has always been the second best player in the world after Magnus. Covid and the travel restrictions made us forget about him. So, it makes total sense Ding gets the title after Magnus relinquishes it. Had Ding been active, we would have never seen Caruana or Ian in the world stage with Magnus. That's just the truth. In the end, the best player won once he was given the opportunity. Just rate the endgame of these players, Magnus and Ding endgame plays are superior to the others. The other players may get the best prep, memorizing stockfish lines, good tactics, when it comes to the endgame they will never beat Magnus or Ding Liren. In game 14, in a totally winning position, Ian could not convert because Ding played the last 45 moves the computer would have played to draw the game. Ian could not do the same in the last game of the playoff when a draw was possible.

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