Monday, September 26, 2016

Two Premieres at Hamburg



 
TWO PREMIERES AT HAMBURG:
 

 
THE FIRST YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF XIANGQI
AND THE FIRST OUTDOOR SET OF XIANGQI IN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN
 
By Dr. René Gralla, Hamburg (Germany)
 
 
There has taken place a historic event of Chinese Chess at Hamburg, Germany - because for the first time in the 2200 years of the history of Chinese Chess, there has been battled out a Youth World Championship of Xiangqi, and that very " 'Caissa Cup' 1st World Youth Xiangqi Championship" has been battled out on August 17th and August 18th, 2016, at Hamburg, Germany.
 
The event has been realized after the German journalist and Xiangqi-enthusiast Dr. René Gralla had presented a corresponding proposal to Mr. Xue Zhong, Deputy General Secretary of the World Xiangqi Federation (WXF), some years ago. And now that vision has become true: Mr. Xue Zhong - who actually lives in Munich and who already organized the Xiangqi World Championship 2015 there during the late days of August last year - has realized that vision of Xiangqi-girls and -boys from different countries deciding over the board who are the brightest of all those hopeful kids from over the planet. 
 
But why has that premiere of a World Youth Xiangqi Championship taken place at Hamburg, Germany, after all? And not in China - as one might have expected?!
 
Since China promotes Chinese Chess to be exported - as being part of Beijing's foreign cultural policy - , therefore the big port city Hamburg/Germany has been chosen to host the historic event because Hamburg that the Chinese expatriotes use to call "Han Bao" is the unofficial capital of the Chinese people in Germany. And since Germany is an important country in Europe, therefore China has chosen Hamburg to host that event since Hamburg is the gateway to Europe.
 
The 1st World Youth Xiangqi Championship has been organized at the scenic Chinese Tea House "Yu Garden" at Hamburg. The event has been part of the official program of the German-Chinese Year of Youth Exchange 2016. In order to underline the significance of that event, Ms. Chen Zelan, the Senior Vice President of the World Xiangqi Federation (WXF), and Mr. Wang Xinting, the Mayor of Xingyang (being is the cultural capital of Xiangqi), have flown in from China in order attend the event.
 
76 rising stars from four countries - namely China, Vietnam, Russia, and Germany - have competed in the event.
 
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In the end either Chinese or Vietnamese players have won the competitions in all the relevant age groups - and that was no surprise, of courseBut there have happened two other surprising things as having been part of the parallel program of the event.
 
First of all, there has been presented a colourful set of Chinese Chess in fancyful figurine style that has been produced by the German journalist and lawyer René Gralla ...
 
 
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and that set has been a great success: All the children wanted to play with that set!

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And not enough with that: There has been introduced to the public an innovative set of Outdoor-Chinese Chess that has been created  as well by the German Xiangqi enthusiast Rene Gralla on the basis of the design of Outdoor-International Chess! And that very set has been exhibited during the event at Yu Garden too.
 
 
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"That very set of Outdoor-Xiangqi in the design of International Chess underlines the fact that Chess is just one big family, be it Chinese Chess or International Chess!" That has been the statement by the creator Rene Gralla on the occasion of the 1st World Youth Xiangqi Championship at Hamburg.
 
 
 
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The creation of that set has been realized by a way that can be copied by every enthusiast of Xiangqi .
 


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Herewith the description of the way that very set of Outdoor-Xiangqi in the design of International Chess has been created by Rene Gralla:
 
- the "board" of Outdoor-Xiangqi will be marked by chalk on the ground, just have a look at the photos
- one takes five of the white Pawns and five of the black Pawns of International Chess in order to represent the Pawns of Xiangqi;
- the Rooks of International Chess will represent the Chariots of Xiangqi;
- the Knights of International Chess will represent the Horses of Xiangqi;
- the Bishops of International Chess will represent the Elephants of Xiangqi;
- the two Kings of International Chess will represent the opposing Generals of Xiangqi.
 
Plus: one needs one additional White Queen and one additional Black Queen - in order to represent the four Advisors of Xiangqi by using the two White Queens and the two Black Queens for that very purpose.
 
Finally one has to create the Cannon-pieces, and that works as follows: one takes two white pieces of Outdoor Checkers and two black pieces of Outdoor Checkers, and one fixes white and and black Pawns respectively on top of those white and black pieces of Checkers. In the end those combinations of pieces of Checkers plus Pawns of International Chess look like Cannons of Xiangqi, just have one more look at the photos.
 
And the fun of playing Xiangqi out there in the sun can get started!
 

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That innovative set of Outdoor-Xiangqi in the design of International Chess was a great success at Hamburg tooThe kids loved to play with that!
 
Therefore the WXF should consider to create sets like that too ... in order to invite more people to play Xiangqi in the outside. And that is very important  these days because all too many kids -  let them be from China or from everywhere else  - , use turn to International Chess rather than to Chinese Chess ... because all too many kids think that International Chess is supposed to be more "modern" than Chinese Chess! 
 
Therefore that outdoor set of fusion chess invites all people  - and kids in particular - to try out Chinese Chess again!