Saturday, December 31, 2005

新年好 ! 现在读秒开始

新年好! 新年读秒现在开始. 午夜, 在泰晤士河, 将燃放十分钟烟花.


Countdown to New Year commences right now. With the chimes of Big Ben at midnight, a spectacular ten-minute fireworks display will be set alight over the River Thames, with London Eye as the radiating centre.


Le compte à rebours à la nouvelle année débute en ce moment. Avec les carillons de Big Ben à minuit, une demonstration spectaculaire de feux d'artifice de dix-minute illuminera au-dessus du fleuve Tamise, avec London Eye comme centre de rayonnement.

Friday, December 30, 2005

When the climax is reached

30日第3轮
许银川胜洪智
徐天红负汪洋
柳大华和蒋川
赵国荣胜陶汉明
吕钦胜于幼华

3rd round 30th December
Xu Yinchuan beat Hong Zhi
Xu Tianhong lost to Wang Yang
Liu Dahua drew with Jiang Chuan
Zhao Guorong beat Tao Hanming
Lu Qin beat Yu Youhua

In the book 'Xiangqi Basic Tactics', with a translation by Zhang Quansheng, it is mentioned that a game of Xiangqi can be divided into three stages: the opening, the middle game and the endgame. The three stages are closely linked. In the opening stage, both sides deploy their forces in a battle formation, and each player vies to occupy the strategic points on the chess board. The middle game can be directly influenced by the opening play. Quite often, a game is going to be decided in the endgame, when the climax of the battle is reached (over). If one player has taken the initiative in the opening stage, he or she can rely on the strength (of the initiative) to develop further and gaining more superiority. On the other hand, though a player has lost the advantage at the opening, if he could respond with correct moves in the middle game, he still can regain the initiative and enter into the endgame, even with a better position. Bear in mind that a surprise attack can win victory well before the middle game is completed.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

棋动心也动

生活, 它是轮流
生命, 它是不息
失败和胜利
严肃, 别紧张
谁是谁, 谁非是谁?
似乎难区别了
无论发生什么
奋斗是诗歌
棋动
心也动 !

28日第1轮
洪智胜陶汉明
于幼华和蒋川
吕钦负汪洋
赵国荣和徐天红
许银川胜柳大华

29日第2轮
许银川和汪洋
赵国荣负洪智
蒋川和徐天红
柳大华胜于幼华
陶汉明和吕钦

首轮比赛, 战斗就激烈, 许银川大战柳大华5个多小时,杀到29日凌晨,才取得胜利. 吕钦苦战汪洋近5个小时, 也是斗到凌晨, 最后认负.


Poetry In Motion

Living takes the turn
Life is not at rest
Failure and success
Serious, yet be relax
Who's who, who is not who?
Hardly able to differentiate
Whatever happens
Poetry in motion
The chess moves
So is the heart !

1st round 28th December
Hong Zhi beat Tao Hanming
Yu Youhua drew with Jiang Chuan
Lu Qin lost to Wang Yang
Zhao Guorong drew with Xu Tianhong
Xu Yinchuan beat Liu Dahua

2nd round 29th December
Xu Yinchuan drew with Wang Yang
Zhao Guorong lost to Hong Zhi
Jiang Chuan drew with Xu Tianhong
Liu Dahua beat Yu Youhua
Tao Hanming drew with Lu Qin

Starting from the very first round, the battles were intensely and bitterly engaged, Xu Yinchuan took more than 5 hours to win against Liu Dahua, Lu Qin resisted for nearly 5 hours before his resignation.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Something good is back

今天发现河北象棋网可以再打开了, 这是好消息, 不是吗?

朋友有时消失几天, 演失踪游戏了, 仍需要被接触了.

Today discovered Hebei Xiangqi Website is back to normal, this is good news, isn't?

Aujourd'hui on peut lire les pages de Hebei Xiangqi, c'est une bonne chose, n'est-ce pas?

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Xiangqi talk

Translation of an interesting article by yzp in Guangdong Xiangqi website :

Recently Chinese Chess is not red hot enough, for many reasons. Well established traditional tournaments (brand name) are too few, this is one of the reasons. At the moment, apart from some regular tournaments such as the Asian and World Championships, plus a handful of Teams and Individuals competitions, such other tournaments having real influence are still a rarity. Take the "5-Rams Cup" for example, which can be considered as the top brand name, yet it is a creation from the 80's. "Jiazhou Cup" is around for several years now, has yet to achieve greater influence, time will tell whether it can take up its position as a brand name with long years tradition. The "Masters Tournaments" lack the ability to attract better attention, though the fact that they can create Grandmasters' norms is a good point. "Yinli Cup" has good reputation, with more than ten years tournaments background, unfortunately this year the tournament is not organised anymore. Most of other tournaments seemed bursting out in a while then disappeared without trace. In Weiqi, there are many traditional tournaments on world scale. In Xiangqi, even tournaments at national level are just a handful, many old brand names are lost, as for new brand names, these need time to be established properly. With limited battle grounds, heroes with great power and abilities, though numerous, are left fuming, beating their bare chests. The Xiangqi enthusiasts and fans feeling the same. Seasons changed, time passed, tournaments are still not many and few, and even then, many players are not able to participate due to lack of qualification (according to organisers). Who knows in a year how many players not able to play in any tournament due to this problem? The situation for the enthusiasts and fans is similar, it is waiting and waiting, they are presented with the same few tournaments to watch, the same few faces to see, how can one expect Xiangqi to be red and hot ?

Some friends may say, during the 50's and 60's, there were not very many tournaments, was not Xiangqi active and attracted good attention? Yes, indeed, in the 50's and 60's, one can consider it as Xiangqi first prosperous period, one of the reasons for this good situation was that, after the establishment of New China, players got a new lease of life from the old chaotic environment, thus it is easy to understand the cause. There were many popular chess matches of challenge, and tournaments of all kind, with initiative from all concerned. Later, the National Xiangqi Tournaments were instituted, this in turn helped to raise people's enthusiasm to a higher level. There was no need to measure the great enthusiasm and sense of new adventure of participants by the mere numbers of organised tournaments. We can make a high comparison by saying that the emotion and enthusiasm was like the launching of the first ever satellite. This effervescent state of Xiangqi fever lasted for several years, unfortunately, with the coming of the "cultural revolution", New China fell into the deep chaos valley, inevitably Xiangqi met disaster too. Obviously from the days when New China was established up to the start of the "cultural revolution", the prosperity of Xiangqi did not need the support of many traditional tournaments, just a few tournaments, and that was well enough for its popularity.

In the late 70's, after the "cultural revolution" was done with, China faced once again a time of reconstruction in history. Xiangqi also got a new life opportunity. After the 80's, the period of change and opening (of the country) was ushered in, Xiangqi once more sailed in highwind, tournaments of all kind mushroomed anywhere and everywhere, all were new, all fresh, everyone in such a state of Xiangqi excitement, one single tournament can attract ten of thousand of spectators, thus at that time it was sufficient with a few traditional tournaments in order to support Xiangqi.

The Xiangqi flames lighted during the 70's and 80's continued to give warmth and light to society until the mid 90's. It was with regret that as from late mid 90's, Xiangqi seemed gradually 'cooled down', some important tournaments which had potential to develop into established ones, were ceased one after another. New tournaments were fewer and fewer. With less and less tournaments, players and the public enthusiasm also diminished, promotion of the game suffered. By a coincidence of fate, at that critical moment, the globalization of Weiqi got accelerated, with several new tournaments created, attracting much of people's attention. Compounding this, under the pressure of the consumers economy, players started to question themselves, confused: "Can playing Xiangqi be profitable?" Thus, those who can "go to sea and test the water" did so, those who can change careers also did so. True, the number of players had not diminished, even possible on the increase, however, all kind of tournaments, especially the traditional one were going down. This meant that the seeds showned during the 70's and 80's were few to be able to grown up (after 1998, several high standard tournaments with years of organisation were ceased). The state of affair remained for such a long time, even today there is not much improvement. In this situation, how can Xiangqi be developed into the red and hot state of prosperity?

[continue...]
Right now, we have a once in a lifetime peaceful environment, with rapid economic development, greater number of players, aided by science and technology, the general level of the game constantly rising, why is it that Xiangqi still lacks the glitters we all expected of ? This is again because on the one hand, there are too few tournaments (of course there are deeper causes for the lack of tournaments, which we are not going to discuss here for the moment), on the other hand, the expectation of the publc is heightened, too much of a good thing repeated many times inevitably produced some kind of tiredness. People are not well satisfied with just a few tournaments held annually, they want to see tournaments with higher standard and greater prize funds (if these tournaments become traditional so much the better). However this hope and expectation in reality is not getting complete fulfilment, hence a sense of deep dissatisfaction, of wanting to put things right in place by themselves. There is obviously contradiction. Let us imagine for a moment, if all the high standard tournaments such as 'King of Chess Tournament', 'Grand Chess Sage Tournament', 'Celebrity Tournament', 'Yinli Cup Tournament', 'BGN Tournament' etc were to have continued, similar to the '5-Rams Cup Tournament', and ideally with a few more traditional tournaments added to the list, then it will be extremely difficult indeed for the game of Xiangqi not to develop into the hottest item available at all time !

Tournaments in prosperity

从广东象棋网读到yzp先生大作: '(原创)为象棋传统赛事太少而叹息', 请求允许转载, 谢谢 !

近年来象棋不够红火,原因很多. 传统赛事(品牌)太少应是其中之一. 目前除了世界、亚洲、全国的少数几个传统的团体、个人赛事以外,其他杯赛,历年统计虽然不少,但真正影响大的传统杯赛则凤毛麟角. “五羊杯”算是头号品牌,也还是上世纪八十年代的产物;“嘉周杯”虽有几年历史,但影响还不是很大,而且,能否成为历史悠久的品牌还有待时间检验;“大师赛”虽有诞生特大的亮点,但规格不高,对眼球的吸引力不大;“银荔杯”虽是拥有十多年历史的响当当的品牌,但可惜今年停办了. 其他的,扳指算来,好象多是昙花一现. 围棋的传统品牌,世界级的就有一大堆. 象棋的,连全国性的都很少,有的老品牌流失了,新品牌一时难于打造,战场不足,各路英雄有再高的武艺也只能“憋”着,棋迷有再高的热情也只能“憋”着,“憋”到花儿开了谢、谢了开,还是少得可怜的那几个赛事,好些棋手还没有参赛资格!一年到头没有资格参赛的棋手不知道有多少?棋迷的期望也是如此,望来望去还是那几个赛事、那几个面孔,象棋怎能红火起来呢?

也许有的朋友会说,五、六十年代没有多少赛事,象棋还不是很热闹吗?是的,五、六十年代,象棋可算是第一个繁荣时期,其中一个原因是:象棋虽然古已有之,但新中国成立之前,由于战乱等原因,许多象棋人都未能拥有必要的外部环境. 新中国成立初期,百废待兴,象棋人拥有了和平环境,压抑已久的激情一朝迸发,就不足为奇了. 于是,群众性的擂台赛和其他自发性比赛应运而生. 尔后,随着全国象棋赛的举办,象棋人的激情更高了. 无论是棋手还是棋迷,那种新奇与狂热,是不需要用比赛的数量来引发的. 夸张地说,也许像后来人们关注第一颗卫星升天时一样激情澎湃吧. 象棋的这种红火延续了好几年. 可惜,“文革”的到来,使新中国陷进了灾难的深渊,象棋当然也难逃厄运. 因此,新中国成立到“文革”前,象棋的繁荣,不需要用很多传统赛事来支撑,只需要拥有一些赛事,哪怕还不是很多的赛事.

七十年代后期,随着“文革”结束,中国又走进了一个百废待兴的历史时期. 象棋也重现生机. 八十年代以后,改革开放,百业渐兴,象棋也乘上了“顺风车”,或者说像一节车厢挂在滚滚前行的“中国列车”上,各种比赛如雨后春笋地举办,一切都还是那么新鲜. 棋手、棋迷都对象棋倾注了莫大的激情. 棋手八仙过海、各显神通,棋迷呐喊助威、其乐融融,甚至万人空巷. 这个时期,象棋的火爆,也不需要多少传统赛事来支撑,只需要比以往有更多的新赛事,以赛事的数量来支撑.

七、八十年代重新点燃的象棋“火焰”一直燃至九十年代前半期. 然而,令人遗憾的是,九十年代中期以后,象棋好象就逐渐“冷”了,原来的一些本来有可能成为传统品牌,而且万众瞩目的重大赛事,不知怎的,一个一个停办了,而新的赛事又少之又少. 赛事减少,棋手和棋迷的激情跟着减退,宣传力度也跟着减弱. 而恰好这个时期,围棋的世界化进程加快了,多项新的世界赛事的崛起,促使人们把目光集中到了正在火爆的围棋赛场. 加上在商品经济大潮冲击下,“下象棋能赚钱吗?”的疑惑开始困扰着棋手的心. 于是,下海的下海,改行的改行. 诚然,棋手的数量虽然没有减少,甚至可能在增加,但各种赛事,尤其是传统赛事却减少了,这等于说,七、八十年代栽种的树苗,成活的不多(1998年以后,本来办了好几届的多个高规格赛事都停办了),这种状况竟然维持了好长时间,现在也没有多少改观. 这怎能让象棋红火起来?

时下,我们拥有难得的和平环境,经济飞速发展,象棋手数量有所增加,在科技的辅助下,整体水平在提高,但是,象棋怎么还红火不起来?一方面还是赛事太少(当然,赛事太少也还有根源,这里暂不论述). 另一个方面,人们的期望值在提高了,审美疲劳现象突出,不再满足于期待和观赏那几个赛事,而期待有更多高规格、高奖金的赛事(甚至成为传统赛事),而这一期待,却在现实中得不到满足,因此还是只能“憋”着. 上述这两个方面此消彼长,矛盾是显见的. 试想,如果“棋赛”、“大棋圣赛”、“名人赛”、“银荔杯”、BGN等高规格赛事能像“五羊杯”那样一直办下来,甚至再增加一些传统赛事,象棋不火太难!

Monday, December 26, 2005

UK enterprise shines in China

2005年世界象棋大师赛于12月13日落幕. 在北京决赛中, 许银川以3比0击败黄仕清, 夺得冠军,获奖金15万元人民币,黄仕清获奖金5万元.

比赛由中国棋院和英国的世界智力大师公司合办, 采用淘汰赛制, 有16人参加. 许银川淘汰了韩晓东, 孙勇征, 李鸿嘉. 黄仕清淘汰了蒋川, 徐超, 苗利明.

The 2005 World Mind Masters finals ended on 13th of December in Beijing, Grandmaster Xu Yinchuan defeated Huang Shiqing by the score 3 : 0, winning the prestigious tournament plus a prize of 150,000 yuan, Huang Shiqing won 50,000 yuan.

The competition was jointly organised by the Chinese Chess Academy and World Mind Masters, a UK enterprise. 16 top ranking Xiangqi players participated. In earlier rounds, Xu Yinchuan eliminated Han Xiaodong, Sun Yongzheng and Li Hongjia, while Huang Shiqing eliminated Jiang Chuan, Xu Chao and Miao Liming.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Xiangqi au Jardin de Culture

有时, 互联网一些网页不能打开. 河北象棋网就是多天打不开, 不知什么原因?

传统的第26届'五羊杯'棋赛12月28日在广州文化公园开赛, 新年1月4日闭幕.

The Hebei Xiangqi website is down since the last few days, do not know why?

The traditional 26th '5-Rams Cup' tournament, at Park of Culture, Guangzhou, will start on 28th December and finish on 4th January 2006.

La Page d'Hebei Xiangqi n'est plus depuis ces derniers jours, je ne sais pourquoi?

Le 26eme grand tournoi traditionnel de 'Coupe de Cinq Moutons', au Parc Culturel de Canton (Guangzhou), commence le 28 Décembre et se termine le 4 Janvier 2006.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

In the beginning

在几次尝试之后, 创造了! 是扣人心弦的, 有圣诞和新年的快乐. 象棋, 它在哪里?

After several tries, this has been created ! It's an exciting and joyful moment, there is the atmosphere of merry Christmas and happy New Year. Xiangqi, a board game, where to find it?

Après plusieurs essais, ceci ait été créés ! C'est un moment passionnant et joyeux, on a l'atmosphère de joyeux Noël et heureuse nouvelle année. Xiangqi, un jeu connu aussi sous le nom jeu elephant, où le trouver ?