Li Chao (; born 21 April 1989 in Taiyuan, Shanxi) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster and Asian champion in 2013. In 2007, he became China's 23rd Grandmaster at the age of 18. He has been a second/assistant for fellow Chinese chess Grandmaster Wang Yue on several occasions; the two are good friends having known each other since they were children. In chess circles he is sometimes known as "Li Chao b" since there is another Chinese chess player named Li Chao. Career Li Chao started to play chess at the age of six. In 2005 he finished sixth at the World Junior Chess Championship held in Istanbul. In August 2007, Li won the Scandinavian Chess Tournament in Täby, Sweden with 8½ points out of 9. In September 2007, he won the fourth IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur. He won the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup in Manila held on 21–29 November 2007. In 2007, he was awarded the Grandmaster title. His GM norms were achieved at: 2005 World Junior Chess Championship in Istanbul; score 8.5/13; Aeroflot Open 2007, A1 Group tournament in Moscow; score 4.5/9; Lake Sevan round-robin tournament (category 12) in Martuni, Armenia, where he scored 5.5/9, thus finishing joint first with Yuri Vovk and G.N. Gopal. In April 2008, he came equal first with 7/9 points and fourth on tie-break at the tenth Dubai Open. In May 2008, he came joint first on points (8.0/11) and first on tie-break at the second Philippine International Open in Subic Bay Freeport Zone. In August 2008, he won the fifth IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open with 9/11. In the following month, he competed at the fifth Russia v China Match in Ningbo where he scored 3/5 with a performance rating of 2767 for the men's team (with Wang Yue, Wang Hao, Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi). In the Chess World Cup 2009, held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, he reached the third round losing to Vugar Gashimov, after he didn't show up in time at the second game of the rapid tiebreaks, as he was smoking, and was forfeited. In 2010, Li Chao won the Corus C tournament at Wijk aan Zee (15 January - 31 January) scoring 10/13. The victory qualified him for the 2011 Corus Group B, later renamed Tata Steel Chess Tournament Group B. A few months later, in April 2010, he convincingly won the 48th