By Ren Cai

The reigning world chess champion, Ding Liren, has returned after a more-than-half-an-year break from chess. On January 13, 2024, Ding Liren returns to classical chess in the year’s first big tournament, Tata Steel Chess 2024. Rewinding to the previous year, Ding Liren played in a little tournament in Romania following his victory as the world chess champion. It was his last game for some time. Ding Liren “disappeared” following that event in Romania and didn’t show up again for a while. In November of 2023, Ding discloses that he has been battling illness for a while in an email to Chess.com. The world champion stated that was the reason for his absence from competition play, albeit he did not provide specifics. Ding’s first few games in the Tata Steel Chess resulted in two draws, a win, and a loss. Now that Ding is back, we have nothing to worry about and we wish him good luck for the tournament he is currently participating in. 

Works Cited

Svensen, Tarjei J. “Ding Reveals Reason for Withdrawals, Expects Comeback in 2024.” Chess.Com, Chess.com, 5 Nov. 2023,

www.chess.com/news/view/ding-reveals-reasons-for-absence-expects-2024-comeback

“Lucha sin cuartel en el Candidatos: ¡Ding está de vuelta!” Chess24, 20 March 2020,

https://chess24.com/es/informate/noticias/lucha-sin-cuartel-en-el-candidatos-ding-esta-de-vuelta