Asian Games: world chess champion Ding to lead Chinese team as sport returns after 13 year gap
- Ding Liren will be part of men’s team and also compete in the individual event in Hangzhou in September
- Chinese men and women won the team events last time sport was in the Games in Guangzhou in 2010
Newly crowned world chess champion Ding Liren will represent his country at this year’s Asian Games, with the sport returning to the multi-sport event for the first time since 2010.
China’s men and women won both team titles on that occasion in Guangzhou, beating the Philippines and Uzbekistan, respectively. While Uzbekistan’s Rustam Kasimdzhanov and China’s Hou Yifan won the men’s and women’s individual titles at those Games.
Ding, who became the first Chinese player to earn the global title after defeating Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in a rapid-play tiebreak last month in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, will join qualifiers Bu Xiangzhi, Xu Xiangyu and Wei Yi on the men’s team in their home event at Hangzhou in September.
In announcing the squads, the Chinese Chess Association said the women’s team would feature four-time world champion Yifan, who will be defending her title after a 13-year gap, as well as Zhu Jiner, Zhai Mo and Tan Zhongyi
Ding and Wei will play in the individual competition for the men, while the women’s individual selections will be Hou and Zhu. The women’s qualifying competition was held last week in Shenzhen.
Chess will make only its third appearance at an Asian Games. Kazakhstan’s Murtas Kazhgaleyev won the men’s title in Doha in 2006, while India’s Koneru Humpy won the women’s event. A mixed-team competition was held in Qatar, with India beating China in the final.