Vietnamese player surpasses Chinese 'chess king' Ding Liren on world ranking

In the final game of the Sinquefield Cup in the U.S. on Aug. 28, Ding played black and lost to France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, which caused his Elo rating to drop by 5.3, leaving him with only 2,736.5 in total. When FIDE announces the world Elo ranking for September 2024, the Chinese champion will drop one place to 15th.

Ding finished the Sinquefield Cup in the second-to-last position out of 10 players, winning none, drawing seven and losing two games, losing a total of 8.5 Elo. Since Ding beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in the World Chess Championship final in April 2023, he has lost a total of 52 Elo, dropping 12 places on world ranking.

Liem did not play any standard chess game in August 2024 and maintained his Elo rating of 2,741. For the first time, he surpassed a world champion in terms of Elo rating, moving to 14th in the world, the highest position of his career. The gap between Liem and world number one Magnus Carlsen is still quite far (91 Elo).

Liem is no longer a full-time chess player, as he is a coach at Webster University in the U.S. and the director of the SPICE Chess Academy. He only plays standard chess once a year at the Biel International Chess Festival, winning three consecutive titles. In addition, he also represented Vietnam at some tournaments, such as last year's Asian Games and the Chess Olympiad in September 2024.

"Chess king" is an unofficial title for the World Chess Championship winner. Ding achieved the title after defeating Nepomniachtchi in the dramatic final last year. The Chinese player will have to defend the title against Indian challenger Gukesh Dommaraju later this year.

Elo rankings of the players are based on their results in head-to-head matches, with Carlsen having been the world number one for more than 13 years. Carlsen has also won five consecutive World Chess Championship finals but withdrew in 2023 because he has lost interest in playing standard chess.