Ding Liren missed the Candidates but is now leading the Champions Chess Tour 2022
The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022 kicked off yesterday with 16 of the strongest players in the world, among them the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, the 2021 Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, the World Rapid Champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and the World No.3 Ding Liren, who is leading the Tour after Day 1.
The news that Ding Liren won’t participate in the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 due to the recently changed qualification criteria and his visa mishaps, and therefore misses his chance to qualify for the Candidates, shook the chess world.
This unfortunate event has circulated on chess Twitter and Youtube with Hikaru Nakamura acknowledging that “Ding Liren is the toughest opponent for Magnus”, and Gothamchess referring to this incident as “The Saddest Story In Chess”
Besides, the Chinese GM is one of the strongest players in the world and among the favorites to win the Candidates, a fact that he proved on Day 1 of the Champions Chess Tour, where he played from 1-5 am in China! Liren finished with 3.5/4, undefeated with three wins against Keymer, Rameshbabu, and Le, and a draw against Niemann.
Also, Liren has climbed to the top of the Tour Rating, surpassing Carlsen who had a catastrophic Day 1 with a 1.5/4 score.
The event will continue on Sunday, February 20, at 6PM CET, and you can watch it on the World Chess broadcasting page.
