[3] Chen Zifan started to play snooker aged 10, helped by his uncle, who ran a club in Xi'an.

At first, his parents were reluctant, but after showing great talent, they allowed him to quit mainstream school at the age of 11 to concentrate on snooker.

[4][5] Coached by former professional Liu Song, he began playing in minor-ranking Asian Players Tour Championship events.

He also qualified for the 2016 International Championship, defeating professional Tian Pengfei 6–3, and only narrowly losing in the first round to 6–5 to Liang Wenbo.

He finished 5th on the Asian Order of Merit in 2014-15 and 3rd in the Chinese amateur rankings in 2015-16 - in both cases just one place short of qualification.

Chen came through the second event of the 2019 Q School dropping only 3 frames in his six matches to earn a new two-year card on the World Snooker Tour for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.

Facing a multitude of travel and administrative hurdles, Chen did not return until the start of the next season, missing the World Championship.

Chen's best performance was a run to the 3rd round of the UK Championship, after 6-5 victories over Yuan Sijun and Yan Bingtao.

He then lost 6–1 to Anthony McGill, but the ranking points gained played a major part in his tour survival.