Why Ding Liren had been thinking of GMs Hans Niemann and Anish Giri, but forgotten their crucial move when he most needed to

Follow our liveblog of Game 10 of the World Chess Championship here: World Chess Championship Game 10

Ding Liren’s rating, on the other hand, was 2728 before the World Chess Championship started, but after a win over Gukesh and seven draws, the Chinese grandmaster is currently 2735 in the live ratings. His ranking has also risen over the course of nine games, going from world no 23 to No 17 currently.

READ MORE: Why Gukesh’s dad and Ding Liren’s mom are most important members of their entourage at World Chess Championship

The thought of his rating more than crossed his mind – Ding confessed he had checked the ratings before the 10th game on Thursday. Post another stolen draw, he jested that one of the moves in hindsight reminded him of GM Hans Niemann whom he had overtaken.

♟️ @anishgiri on Ding Liren!#GukeshDing #DingGukeah pic.twitter.com/gnfZEKCBTi

— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) December 6, 2024

Chess.com quoted that the 1.d4 and Catalan debuted in the World Championship with signature moves of g3 and Bg2. Anish Giri had played the line and was quoted as Chess.com as having lost a ‘traumatic’ 117-move to GM Niemann in August, playing what wasn’t “the most creative ideas in the world.”

Niemann had in fact been on Ding’s mind, but not during the 19 minutes he took to mull over the move. Instead it was on the rating charts which Ding admitted he had glanced at.

“I think the draw was fine. I really regretted not checking this line before the game and I know it was played by Giri and Niemann. Yesterday my friend told me my rating is overtaking Niemann and today I forgot to check the game played by him!” Ding told chess24’s FM Mike Klein.

READ MORE: 16 things we learnt about Gukesh, the Indian teen bidding to be youngest-ever world champion, from press conferences at the World Chess Championship

When asked if his health had been alright since he was coughing a tad, Ding first misheard the question to say, “Certainly I’m not happy with the position. I’m slightly worse,” but later said, “I’m colding… Little tired, but happy tomorrow a rest day.”

READ MORE: 14 things we learnt about Ding Liren from press conferences at the World Chess Championship

When asked what he played to unwind, Ding mentioned Poker. “We taught Richard (Rapport, one of his seconds) to play Poker.

No money. Ni Hua (his other second) is best at poker.

Ding, languishing at No 18 in the rating charts, had just overtaken Hans Niemann who was at No 19, as well as Anish Giri who dropped 3 places to No 22.