LGD Gaming Tightens Up With Chinese Chess Grandmaster Ding Liren

The 17th World Chess Champion, Ding Liren, has signed with LGD Gaming, marking his return to competitive chess after a brief hiatus, which followed his defeat by GM Gukesh Dommaraju in December 2024.

The announcement came via LGD’s official Weibo account, confirming the 32-year-old Grandmaster’s commitment to the esports organization. Ding will be competing in the Chessable Masters, a qualifier event for the upcoming Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where chess is about to debut as an official competition from July 31 to Aug. 3 and will feature a $1.5 million prize pool.

Besides the fact that Ding is the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24, he is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion and used to be a member of the Chinese chess teams that won the Chess Olympiads in 2014 and 2018. 

Liren became the first Chinese player who managed to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings, in which he held 17th place at the time of writing.

Ding is not alone in joining the esports chess craze. Other notable grandmasters such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun Erigaisi, and Fabiano Caruana have also signed with esports organizations like Team Vitality, Gen.G Esports, and Team Liquid.

The qualification process for the 2025 Chess EWC will take place through the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) events in February and May, with a combined prize pool of $300,000. The top 12 from these events, along with four players from the “Last Chance Qualifier,” will compete for the prestigious title.

Ding Liren ‘s new team was founded in 2009, and for now, LGD Gaming, based in Hangzhou, is one of China’s oldest esports organizations, with a storied history in titles like Dota 2, League of Legends, and PUBG Mobile. It seems only natural that the organization is ramping up its roster ahead of the Chess EWC.