Ding Liren

17th World Champion

“I feel very happy! We’re celebrating the championship. A team tournament is completely different from an individual one. Sometimes even a draw makes you happier than a win.

Today was a rollercoaster. My teammates were very emotional and blamed their performance. But in the end, everything worked out our way and we took first place.

We’re all very familiar with each other, even the players from other Chinese teams. We have a good relationship with Grandmaster Zhao Jun, but today he didn’t perform well. Maybe he collapsed under huge pressure. And we won as much as possible, 5-1. We showed no mercy!

The Olympiad is the next big event for me and the whole team. We’ve already had two major successes in team events this year. We hope this will be the next one!”