Last Sunday, the Chinese Team Championship 2026 (19–27 April) began in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, featuring an open tournament and a women's team competition.
A total of 15 teams are competing in the open section and 12 teams in the women's event. The championships are being held over nine rounds using the Swiss system. In total, 119 players are taking part, including 23 grandmasters.
Alongside top players such as Bu Xiangzhi and Yu Yangyi, Ding Liren is competing in the open tournament. The 17th undisputed world chess champion is representing the Zhejiang Provincial Intellectual Sports Management Centre. According to his own statement, this is the first time Ding Liren has taken part in the Chinese Team Championship.
Following the 2019 edition, the Chinese Team Championship is being held in Heilongjiang province for the second time. The host city, Daqing - known as the "City of a Hundred Lakes" - applied to stage the event in order to strengthen its cultural profile.
For Daqing, this represents an important opportunity to promote urban development, enhance its cultural soft power, and highlight its identity.
This year's organisers are the Chess and Card Games Centre of the General Administration of Sport, together with the Chinese Chess Association. The event is supported by the Daqing Municipal Sports Federation.
After winning the World Chess Championship in April 2023 in his match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren struggled with mental health and was unable to match the strong performances he had shown before the match for the title. In December 2024, he narrowly lost the world title in a closely fought match against Indian grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju. Gukesh, too, experienced difficulties with the quality of his play after winning the title.
Following the loss of the title, Ding Liren initially withdrew from over-the-board tournaments, playing only a few international online blitz and rapid events, as well as some rapid tournaments in China. His last classical rating was 2734. In recent FIDE rating lists, however, Ding has not been included due to inactivity.
Ding Liren faced Chen Qi in the first round and secured a win with the black pieces. It was his first official classical game since 12 December 2024, when he lost the 14th game against Gukesh after making a one-move blunder, thereby losing the title.
After a two-round break, Ding Liren also scored a very convincing win against Meng Lihan in round four.
| Rk. | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chongqing | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 37,5 |
| 2 | Shandong | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 38 |
| 3 | Hangzhou | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 27 |
| 4 | Shanghai | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 33 |
| 5 | Jiangsu | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 32,5 |
| 6 | Zhejiang | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 31,5 |
| 7 | Tianjin | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 29 |
| 8 | Chengdu | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 26,5 |
| 9 | Guangdong | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 33 |
| 10 | Beijing | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 23,5 |
| 11 | Jiangxi | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 13,5 |
| 12 | Heilongjiang | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| 13 | Shenzhen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| 14 | Hubei | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Hebei | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
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