Very few sports stars are like the Chinese Liren Ding, 32, as cultured as he is sensitive and modest. Since he was proclaimed world champion, in April 2023, his health worsened, with serious problems sleeping, and he dropped to 22nd place in the rankings. He went as a victim to the World Cup in Singapore against the Indian, but has risen to 17th and has not been far from maintaining the title. The key is their lack of confidence and fear of losing. But he aims to regain his 2019 form, when he was considered the number two, after the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
“I didn’t feel comfortable here, neither with my game nor physically; Sometimes my hands shook. “I didn’t manage to feel confident that I could fight to keep the world title,” Ding admits to this newspaper a day after losing the crown. His face is sad, but he smiles from time to time: “In any case, it is true that my performance in this duel has been better than in previous tournaments.”
And to what do you attribute it, if only two months ago, at the Budapest Chess Olympiad, you seemed broken, as a player and as a person? “The main reason is that a few weeks ago I concentrated in Shanghai with my coach, Ni Huá. We prepared new ideas in the openings, we played a lot of quick games, we went to watch a soccer match in the stadium… Somehow, that helped me think that I could be able to defend my title successfully, and “.
But, unlike Gukesh, he did not hire a psychologist, despite his obvious health problems. And that has taken a very expensive toll on him: “I have been too cowardly. There have been several positions where, instead of choosing an active move, the one that could bother my opponent the most, I opted for the most peaceful and solid one, and thus ruined several clearly advantageous positions.”
His most recent ordeal began as soon as he was crowned in Astana (Kazakhstan) after winning in epic fashion: “Apart from the fact that it was an exhausting effort, I then had to manage many difficult issues. I wasn’t able to deal with it, it caused me serious problems and it took me more than half a year to recover. Afterwards I was able to play tournaments again, but my performance was much worse than before.”
In reality, his hardships began with the pandemic, which forced him to spend long quarantines, both in China and Russia (before the 2020 Candidates Tournament), which he endured poorly. But he clarifies: “Although it is true that my peak form was in 2019, people hardly give importance to how well I played some quick online tournaments in 2021 and 2022. I felt that I could play blitz games with the same quality as in the classic mode. “I progressed a lot in that period, and it was the basis of my later successes to become world champion.”
Would that fearsome Ding from 2019 have beaten ? “I think so. In fact, there have been several positions that I should have won if I played at my highest level. I think my strategic understanding is deeper than yours. Some of his plays have surprised me a lot, because they were not the best, the ones I expected. But they had a trick, and I was not able to respond appropriately, in the most energetic way; among other reasons, because I have not managed my reflection time well either.”
With more than two million euros won in prizes in recent years, it is not the money that leads him to announce that he will continue competing “Until a few years ago, money did not matter to me at all. Then I bought a big house, and I started to care. But now I have earned enough to live in peace. So I want to continue playing chess, but participating in fewer tournaments, not as many as in the years before the pandemic. “I want to show that I can give my best again.”
