Peking University, October 18, 2017: On the eve of National Day, 2017 Chess World Cup, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, brought the curtain down. After about one month of the tournament, PKU law school alumnus Ding Liren was one of the finishers of the final tournament.
This time the World Chess Champion Carlsen and the world’s top 15 players all participated, and the Chess World Cup was extremely competitive. In the final match, Ding Liren and American grandmaster Aronian had tie-break games. Although Ding Liren lost by a hair, he achieved to be the first ever Chinese player to participate in the Candidates Tournament which will be held in March 2018 in Berlin, Germany.
In the first half of this year’s World Cup, Ding Liren won against a number of international masters and PKU alumnus Wang Hao. In the 1/4 finals, he won against Hungarian master Rapport and advanced to the semifinals. Ding Liren beat Wesley So of the US and made it to the World Cup final.
After the tournament, a number of Chinese domestic medias, such as Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, and China Sports, praised Ding Liren’s achievements, reporting that he created the new history as a Chinese chess master.
On September 30, officials, from General Administration of Sports of China (Chess Management Center) and Chinese Chess Association, greeted Ding Liren at Beijing Capital International Airport and complimented his triumphal return. Chinese Chess Team head coach Ye Jiangchuan said that the national team would provide a preferable condition for Ding Liren’s next achievement, the World Chess King, while Chinese Chess Male Team coach Xu Jun showed appreciation for cooperation and support of PKU. A live chess match was arranged in PKU chess class, and students and teachers from PKU sent congratulations and best wishes to Ding Liren.
According to PKU International Chess Team leader, Li Xiaopeng, from School of Psychological and Cognitive, in order to achieve the male and female chess international team and individual championships, there were fierce competitions among nearly 200 countries and regions. Since 2013, PKU student Hou Yifan has won the Women’s Chess World Championship twice. She led the Women’s Team to win women’s Chess Olympiad after her graduation in 2016. Ding Liren led the Men’s Team to win the gold medal in the Chess Olympiad in 2014, and to win the World Team Chess Championship twice in 2015 and 2017.
Written by: Li Yangxian
Edited by: Hu Rong
