[4] In September 2007, he won the fourth IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur.

His GM norms were achieved at:[7] In April 2008, he came equal first with 7/9 points and fourth on tie-break at the tenth Dubai Open.

[10] 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.

[13] In October 2011, he won the Indonesia Open Chess Championship in Jakarta on tiebreak over Ganguly Surya Shekhar.

[14] Li took part in the Chess World Cup 2011, where he was eliminated in the first round by Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son.

[16] In January 2013 Li Chao won the Boston Chess Congress[17] and the 4th Annual Golden State Open in Concord, California.

[25] In August 2015, Grandmaster Ian Rogers reported that Li Chao had been banned for more than a year from all Chinese teams and tournaments, resulting from a dispute with a sponsor of a Beijing club.