Chess: China’s Ding Liren could make unlikely late bid for Candidates place

China’s world No 3 Ding Liren could make an unlikely late bid for a place in the Candidates tournament that will decide Magnus Carlsen’s next challenger. Ding’s chances seemed to have vanished when visa problems prevented him competing in the current Grand Prix series in Berlin which will qualify two winners for the Candidates at Madrid in June, but a possible lifeline has appeared due to Fide’s six-month ban on Sergey Karjakin, who had qualified for Madrid via the 2021 World Cup but will now be barred from competing in the Candidates.

Karjakin won the Candidates in 2016 and went on to tie 6-6 with Carlsen in the world championship match before losing the speed chess tie-break.

Fide regulations state that a replacement will be the highest rated eligible player on the May 2022 rating list who has played 30 rated games in the previous 12 months. Due to pandemic and visa issues, Ding has played only four of the required 30, and those were in a hastily arranged match to qualify him for an abortive Grand Prix start.

Then on Thursday a tweet appeared: “Chinese Chess Association will start a series of qualifying tournaments at end of this month for the 19th Asian Games. All top players are required to play, including Ding Liren [plus seven named others] …” The Games are to be held in Hangzhou, China, in September.

This announcement may be coincidental with Ding’s Madrid problem. The Asian Games has only included chess twice previously, in 2006 and 2010, so China, the current open and women’s Olympiad champions, will expect to succeed on home ground with its strongest team and will also be conscious of the growing threat from India’s teenage stars.

Even if next month’s official Games qualifier has many fewer than the required 26