After FIDE’s ban on Sergey Karjakin for 6 months , a replacement for the Russian player at the Candiadates Chess 2022 was needed. By the current regulations, the player to enter the event will be selected by rating (something that Anish Giri vigorously protested in an interview during the ongoing Grand Prix in Berlin). In an earlier article on Chessdom we looked in details at the possible replacement for Karjakin. With highest chances is Ding Liren, as he will probably be the highest rated player in the FIDE May 2022 rating list. However, there is an important detail: the selected player needs to have played 30 standard games rated in the FIDE rating lists from June 2021 to May 2022. Ding Liren has only 4 rated games in the mentioned period.
In what looks like a quick reaction by the Chinese Chess Federation, rather than a coincidence, mandatory qualifiers for the 19th Asian Championships were announced with Ding Liren in the field. These qualifiers start with a quadruple round robin event which will mean 12 classical rated games for Ding Liren. What’s more, the journalist Liang Ziming points out that this tournament “is a part of a series”, which means Ding Liren is serious about taking the Candidates 2022 spot. Later Ziming added that, “According to the current schedule, GM Ding Liren and GM Wei Yi will have a 6-game classical match during April 5-10.” Chessdom.com will follow closely the events and the quest of Ding Liren with daily updates on the main page and Twitter and Facebook.
More on Sergey Karjakin’s case: Karjakin ban by FIDE announced / Karjakin posts comments on the ban, decides not to appeal, but Kremlin supports Karjakin / Top players comment on Karjakin ban / All stories on Sergey Karjakin here More on the 19th Asian Games: Qualifiers announced All news about Ding Liren here
