Ding Liren becomes China's first male world chess champion Chess grandmaster Ding Liren of China defeated Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi on Sunday, making him the first man from China to win the world championship. Why it matters: Ding's win highlights China's rising status as a major contender in global chess competitions. Details: Ding began playing chess at the age of 4 and first won China's national championship in 2009, when he was 16, per the New York Times. Flashback: Chess was banned in China during the chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution. While the Soviet Union poured state resources into training its chess players, paving the way for its historical dominance of the game, the Chinese Communist Party shunned chess as a form of Western decadence. - But China's leaders had a change of heart after 1991, when Xie Jun became the first Chinese woman to win the women's world championship, and launched the "Big Dragon Project" to cultivate chess prodigies. What he's saying: "The match reflected the deepest of my soul," Ding said at a news conference following his victory, per the Times.