Ding Liren, the mysteries (and loneliness) of the Candidates Tournament favorite

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A coach, and a game analyst, and a representative, and there is even a chess player who has hired a physiotherapist, but there is the Chinese

alone, alone.

Due to the restrictions on travel in his country, no one has been able to accompany him to the Candidates Tournament that begins this Friday in Madrid and he walks through the Palacio de Santoña, venue of the event, at his leisure, with no one to chat with.

So that loneliness does not attack him, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has provided him with a list of the best Chinese restaurants in the area, but in the same organization they assure that it is unlikely that he will go too far.

In fact, the isolation is already doing well for him.

And a few instant noodles is enough.

Liren, number two in the world ranking after

, the only contender with more than 2,800 ELO points, is surely the most mysterious of the players in the Tournament, the least known.

And, somehow, that satisfies him.

"I don't want to be famous, for fans to write to me or for me to be interviewed. I want to have my own life. If I became more famous I would surely earn more money, but I wouldn't have time for myself and there would be a lot of talk if I do it wrong," he confessed to Chess.com two years ago, in one of the few interviews given.

In the same talk, he also acknowledged that he still lived with his parents - he recently moved in with his girlfriend, also a chess player - and that all his income was still managed by his mother, a nurse by profession, the architect of the fact that today he is one of the favorites to play the 2023 World Cup.

Your city, key

Because, unlike other Chinese players, Liren does not have a family chess tradition behind him, but he does have an advantage: his city, Wenzhou, in the south of the country.

, who was world champion in 2001, was born

there, there are several of the best Chinese chess schools there and Liren's mother enrolled him there when he was only four years old.

His trainer, the same one who managed Zhu Chen.

And among his rivals since childhood, other Grand Masters.

The world number two today did not jump into the elite very young, like the Iranian

or the Indian

, but he did dominate the different categories of the Li Chengzhi Cup, something like the Chinese national championship, until he won the tournament absolute in 2009, at the age of 16.

While studying Law at Peking University he began to climb internationally until in 2015 he entered the Top 10 of the world ranking and in 2018 he played his first Candidates Tournament.

He finished fourth.

It was early.

The real disappointment would come later.

In 2019 he defeated Carlsen and won the Grand Chess Tour final: so he was ready.

But the pandemic appeared.

With his country already completely closed, he failed at the start of the Candidates Tournament in March 2020 and on the way back he could not come back.

What should have been his moment came to nothing and for two years, until the current Candidates Tournament, he was barely able to play, once again limited by the Chinese anti-covid policy.

No World Cup, no Grand Swiss, no Grand Prix, nothing.

Only the sanction of the Russian

, who publicly cheered the invasion of Ukraine, granted him a place by invitation.

Of course, only throughout the championship, without support.

literature and football

In the organization they comment that, to rest from chess, he may read books, many books -he is a student of Chinese Philology although he has also confessed to being a follower of

or

, follow the NBA Finals, because he played basketball at school, and maybe even visit the Santiago Bernabéu at some point.

Like Carlsen himself, a Real Madrid fan, Liren has confessed to being a football fan, although in his case he supports Bayern Munich and Juventus.

The reason for the love for those teams nobody knows.

Actually there are many things that are not known about the Chinese Grand Master.

He doesn't want to be famous.

Although if he wins the Candidates Tournament, this time yes, that will change forever.

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