（美国棋讯）回顾第18届在美国举办的世界象棋锦标赛，来自英国的欧洲唯一参赛棋手代表田菏，第一次参赛，取得可喜成绩，在男子个人赛中，力压众多高手，排名第七，令人刮目相看。
11月20日上午，田菏先手负（香港）郑彦隆。同日下午，田菏后手胜（加拿大）郑德铭。
11月21日上午，田菏先手胜（东马）叶乃传。同日下午，田菏后手胜（日本）曾根敏彦。
11月22日上午，田菏先手胜（马来西亚）黎德志。同日下午，田菏后手战平（中国）孟辰。
11月23日上午，田菏先手战平（越南）赖理兄。同日下午，田菏后手负新加坡吴宗翰。
11月24日第9轮，田菏后手战平（新加坡）刘亿豪。
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报导者：小C
The 18th World Xiangqi Championship hosted in Houston, is drawing to a close with an electrifying final that crowned new champions -- Meng Chen（孟辰）and Tang Sinan（唐思楠）of Team China.
Demonstrating the global appeal of Xiangqi, which is often referred to as Chinese chess, the one-week prestigious event ended on Saturday night, marking the first time the tournament has been held on American soil.
In the edge-of-the-seat Men's Final held on Friday,world Vietnamese star Lai Ly Huynh（赖理兄）clashed with Chinese Grandmaster Meng Chen in a game brimming with skillful plays and opportunities.
Lai appeared poised to clinch his first World Championship title, dominating the early stages of the match.
However, a pivotal error in the endgame led to a draw, pushing the match into a high-stakes sudden-death tie-breaker. Here, Meng's persistence and skill shone through.
Despite the challenge of moving second, he managed a stunning comeback to defeat Lai.
"Persistence. I told myself I need to be patient. I'm glad I got a second chance and I took it," said Meng, who won the title for the first time in his career.
In the Women's part, a dramatic narrative unfolded as Tang Sinan stepped into the spotlight, amassing a total of 13 points over two matches to claim the Women's World Champion on Thursday.
This landmark achievement marks Tang's elevation to the esteemed rank of Grandmaster, a significant milestone in her Xiangqi career.
Tang's victory was a testament to her dedication and skill, eliciting emotions of joy and gratitude.
She said: "It's the most important moment in my life! I feel honored to represent Team China and glad that I clinched it!"
Tang Sinan, alongside teammate Liu Huan（刘欢）, also played a crucial role in securing the Women's team championship for China.
The American team, with Matthew Boey（梅俊海）and Olivier Tessier（特斯尔）, showed potential despite not topping the leaderboard. Boey earned a commendable eight points, including a victory over teammate Tessier. Both players are determined to continue improving and return to the world stage.
The championship transcended competition, acting as a cultural bridge and fostering sportsmanship among players from diverse backgrounds.
"I had a good time! There's no easy game and players are strong. I'll continue working and hopefully I'll do better next time," said Tessier.
Reflecting on his journey with Xiangqi, Boey said: "It's a marvelous event. I started playing this game more than 20 years ago in the military. Learning Chinese and Xiangqi together improved my language skills significantly."
In the concurrently held 4th World Youth Xiangqi Championship, young Chinese players captured three gold medals.
Among them, Liu Baihong（刘柏宏）won the U16 boys' championship, earning the title of National Chess Master; Zhou Yufei（周雨菲）won the U16 girls' championship. Yuan Weihao（袁玮浩）and Wang Sikai（王思凯）secured the U12 championship and runner-up titles, respectively.
"The tournament has been a bridge between the rich traditions of Xiangqi and the enthusiasm of American audiences," said Hu Yushan（胡玉山）, Chairman of the Houston Xiangqi Association.
The World Xiangqi Federation (WXF), the American Xiangqi Association, the Houston Xiangqi Association, and the Houston Sports Authority are collaboratively hosting this significant event, which attracted a total of 84 participants from 13 countries and regions.
The inaugural World Xiangqi Championship took place in Singapore in 1990.
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Source: Go to China.org
发布者：Stephen Cho
日期：2023-11-26
（象棋通讯）2023年世界象棋锦标赛，来自中国的特级大师孟辰勇夺男子世界冠军。
第18届世界象棋锦标赛十一月二十五日宣告落幕，孟辰夺得冠军，成为中国的第十位世界棋王。
2023年的世锦赛，中国队共获得男子个人、女子个人、女子团体、十六岁以下男子、十六岁以下女子，及十二岁以下男子组六项金牌。
孟辰二十四日在决赛中，与越南名将赖理兄再度相遇，首盘慢棋较量，孟辰后手而子少，局势不利，艰苦周旋，亦攻亦守，终成和局。
根据规定，加赛快棋，孟辰先手终于战胜赖理兄。
第18届世界象棋锦标赛首次在美国举行，对象棋在国际的进一步推广，有着重大意义。
美国象棋协会主席兼北美象棋协会主席郑勤霖担任本届世界象棋锦标赛组委会主席。
作为东道主的美国代表队，派出总代表郑勤霖，领队古奇天，教练沈浩，男棋手黎英豪、武冕、梅俊海、欧里瓦.特斯尔，女棋手龚勤，少年棋手胡佰恒、武家玮、王黄嘉欣、刘近山、戴子轩等盛大阵容，创美国队历届人数最多纪录。
据报道，决赛当日的全场焦点，是男子组争夺冠亚军的决战，由预赛第一的孟辰，对垒预赛第二的赖理兄。
双方预赛时曾交手，激战百多会合打成平手。甲组联赛有过一局，赖理兄执先取胜。此番移师新战场，冲击世界冠军宝座，意义非凡。
如孟辰胜，则成为首位未获全国冠军而先获世界冠军的棋手。如赖理兄赢，将是首个非中国籍的世界冠军。
赛前抽签，赖理兄抽得先手，执红先行。
决战进行的同时，其他各台第九轮也同步进行。新加坡队吴宗翰取得季军，中国台北队葛振衣第四，中国香港队黄学谦第五，马来西亚队黎德志第六，英国队田菏第七，新加坡队刘亿豪第八。
新加坡队取得男子团体冠军，越南队亚军，马来西亚队季军。
决赛赖理兄红棋摆出中炮阵，来势汹汹，孟辰应以起左马，布局双方中炮过河车对屏风马左马盘河横车。这个阵法，赖理兄多有习弈，红方布局占先，兑换一车后，红渡过七路兵，黑冲过7路卒。
两边进入中局对杀，互攻当中，黑方上士打车、下士又打车，依例需要变招，孟辰长考之后，非常勇猛，第五十二手强行挥马踩相，弃马进攻，势在必得。赖理兄素以攻杀闻名。此时黑不兑炮，而是弃子，红夺子之后，赖理兄十分凶悍，以攻对攻，凭借多子之势，眼看着化解对方攻势，逼迫黑棋简化，净多一大子形成胜利在望。
但残局阶段，赖理兄没有抓住，孟辰不再给赖理兄任何机会，黑横过河卒撞掉红边兵，放弃底象，棋局转入马低兵光帅对高卒双士，已为必和。双方鏖战214手，黑将5平4，老将顺利出来，赖理兄只能叹息一声，停钟握手和棋，慢棋孟辰依靠强大的中后盘力量和坚韧的意志，在少一子的形势下打成和棋。
再加赛快棋，孟辰换先执红，摆出起马阵，赖理兄应以挺3卒，布局第二步红上右边马、黑起右正马。
双方各自布子，几个回合下来，红右侧的边马，轰然冲起边兵，之后又弃掉三路兵，从边线杀出了一条血路。最终，在快棋中，赖理兄面对不利局面，压力倍增，超时告负。
孟辰勇夺2023年第十八届美国休斯敦世界象棋锦标赛个人冠军，成为继吕钦、赵国荣、徐天红、许银川、赵鑫鑫、蒋川、王天一、郑惟桐、徐超之后，中国第十位世界棋王。
孟辰开创一个新的传奇，在天下英雄拼杀这么激烈的时代，他从业余棋手起家，拿到大师，拼到特级大师，一直打到世界冠军，短时间内达到个人成就的超级高峰。
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Source: Go to Qipu88
2023 Malaysia National Xiangqi Veteran Cup (Open)
马来西亚全国象棋宿将杯公开赛（50岁或以上）
比赛日期：2023年12月2日 - 3日（星期六 - 星期日）
比赛地点：雪隆精武体育馆，Stadium Chinwoo SEL & KL
主办单位：马来西亚象棋总会
主要赞助：青年及体育部
协办单位：吉隆坡象棋公会，雪隆精武体育会智育部
参赛资格：凡年龄在50岁或以上，只限⻢来西亚公⺠，性别不限
比赛棋规：世界象棋规则
比赛用时：采用电子棋钟；每方每局25分钟，每步加5秒，无需记录
比赛轮次：采用积分编排结合决赛赛制（7+1），共8轮（1局制）
优胜奖励：第一名：RM3,000，第二名：RM2,000，第三名：RM1,000，第四名：RM800，第五名至第二十五名也有奖
附加奖励：最具运动精神奖三份
参赛名额：比赛总人数定为100位, 名额有限, 先到先得
报名办法：免费报名
住宿方式：棋手自理，(主办单位将给予每位棋手部份住宿津贴)
报名联系：石健伟 016-3029331，王伟麟 017-8866156
闭幕晚宴：12月3日晚上7时，在碧华楼宴会厅 (Maba House Jalan Hang Jebat)
报名截止：2023年11月26日（星期日）
比赛日程： 12月2日（星期六）0900时报到，1030时比赛第一轮，1200时比赛第二轮，1330时午餐
1430时举行开幕仪式。1530时比赛第三轮，1700时比赛第四轮
12月3日（星期日）1000时比赛第五轮，1130时比赛第六轮，1300时午餐
1400时比赛第七轮，1530时比赛第八轮，1900闭幕晚宴、文娱表演及颁奖典礼
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Source: Go to 马来西亚象棋总会
Four days ago, Jilin's player Wang Kuo（王廓）, like many other players who came to the Men's Individual Championship Tournament, hoped to play well and get at least a Xiangqi Master's title thus fulfilling their long-cherished wishes. And four days later, on January 15, Wang Kuo defeated Grandmaster Zhao Xinxin（赵鑫鑫）in the play-offs, and beyond all expectation, stood on the podium to receive the 21st Individual Championship title and the coveted Xiangqi King trophy.
Wang Kuo the new Champion
The situation was best described as "unprecedented". Years ago, Tao Hanming（陶汉明）had won the Championship as an amateur player, and now Wang Kuo doing the same, both of them are from around the mysterious area of Changbai Mountain（长白山）.
Born in Changchun（长春）in 1990's, he was winning competitions in his age group as a child, he was taught by master player Liang Wenbin（梁文斌）early on. After graduating from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in 2016, he left the dazzling city of Shanghai and returned to his hometown, where he works in the Revenue/Judicial Services.
Some fans thought that the outcome of the Championship was a shocking upset, but in fact, it was not an upset, life rewards those who worked hard, he has been working tirelessly in a way that you can hardly imagined. Wang Kuo's reputation came out of the Northeast. In 2017, in the 13th National Sport Games Men's Open preliminaries, with Zhao Panwei, Sun Xinhao, Yao Hongxin, Ren Gang and other super strong players competing, Wang Kuo won with four wins and three draws to top them all, fans everywhere exclaimed: It turns out that Jilin still has such exciting masters!
In 2019, in the men's group of the 4th National Mind Games Open, he won 2nd place with 7 wins and 1 loss, and in 2020, he won sixth place in the qualifiers of the Chess League, the top spot of the "Airport Shuangliu Cup" Amateur Chess King Finals, with the title of "Amateur Chess King".
From amateur to Grandmaster around 30 days
It took only about some 30 more days for Wang Kuo to take the National Individual Championship trophy, he was simply superb, the social media have exploded, messages of congratulations, poetry, personal emotions, all kinds of talents emerged on the papers and screens endlessly.
Wang Kuo's phone at home was also ringing non-stop, aunts and uncles, cousins and nephews, friends and relatives, the leading officials of the Jilin Chess Academy all came to congratulate one by one, once the Xiangqi Crown was put up on him, he was worth a hundred folds. Let's calmly look back at Wang Kuo's promotion achievement in the Championship competition.
According to the rules, the 59 players in Group B premilinaries must reach the top 35 places to enter Group A, to qualify for the Championship tournament proper. In group B, Wang Kuo met the strong master Cao Yanlei（曹岩磊）, and was beaten as the Black's side. It was also the only game he lost in the entire tournament. Wang Kuo, losing the first game, changed his strategy, played steadily, drew four games and won two in the end, defeating Hubei's Liu Zongze（刘宗泽）and Shanxi's Zhou Jun（周军）respectively, joining the last batch of the promoted to Group A.
In Group A the single-defeat elimination system was adopted, in the 64 into 32, and the 32 into 16 knock-out games, Wang Kuo eliminated Hangzhou's Du Chenhao（杜晨昊）and Shanghai's Zhao Wei（赵玮）respectively, and successfully promoted to the rank of Xiangqi Master. After playing the game for so many years, once ranked as a Master, generally it is the biggest dream of every amateur chess player, there is nothing happier than that.
Wang Kuo was like a top magician now, the majority of amateur players after gaining the top 16 spot, usually they would most likely be eliminated well before the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Wang Kuo knocked down Xiangqi Master Wang Hao（王昊）, and people mostly paying attention to players such as Hong（洪）, Zhao（赵）, Zheng（郑）and others, and no one noticed the sharp sword that was secretly drawn out.
The semi-finals were composed of Zhao Xinxin, Hong Zhi, Zheng Weitong, and Wang Kuo, many people laugh when they see this lineup, hey, the three chess kings bringing out a bronze one, and the final must be either Zheng Weitong vs Zhao Xinxin, or Zheng Weitong vs Hong Zhi, one of the three "n crowns" is going to be upgraded to n+1 Champion.
Wang Kuo shocked the Xiangqi world
After a few hours, they couldn't laugh anymore, because Wang Kuo defeated Zheng Weitong with an extremely exquisite 3-Rooks versus Guards ending. It was only at this moment that the fans really turned their attention to this amateur chess player who had just been promoted to Xiangqi Master, what was the real reason? So powerful? So incredible?
Despite this, public opinion generally believed that Zhao Xinxin had a better chance of winning the Championship in the Final.
At half past eight in the morning, the Final began watched by tens of millions of Xiangqi fans.
In the first game with normal timing, both sides were relatively conservative, they made tentative and probing moves, did not dare to make any trouble, they quickly tried their best to make it a draw.
In the second game of ten minutes of rapid chess, Zhao Xinxin having the first move, he opened with his most convenient weapon "Pawns confrontation turned into Cannon behind the Pawn" formation, Wang Kuo's left-side Cannon crossed the river to blockade the opponent's Rook, and the right wing's Knight moving sideways allowing the Rook emerged out from the 3rd file. Xinxin seeing this, hurriedly rushed the 8th file Rook upward taking control of the river front line.
How to open up the 3rd file's Rook was the most important topic for Black at present, and Wang Kuo came up with the ruthless method of first sacrificing the 7th file Pawn by moving it across the river, then moved the 2nd file Cannon 2 steps back, while vaguely aiming at Red's 7th file. On move 17th, Xinxin's Rook attacked the undefended Knight. Wang Kuo drew out his concealed dagger, and the Cannon was moved from the 4th file into the 3rd file, sacrificing a whole Knight in order to launch the attack!
Wang Kuo, a player who had not even sat on the master's stool long enough, actually dared to sacrificed a piece in the opening stage against Xinxin, a number one player of attack, this called for great courage, a courage not seen on everyday indeed.
After the Red's Rook took the Knight, the Black's Cannon moved to 1st file, the double Rook fire power fiercely attacked Red's weakened left wing bottom rank, although Xinxin had piece majority, there were still problems in holding the situation, so he had to withdraw more pieces back for the defense, and when Black's Rook, Knight and Cannon fire power gathered to cross the river to launch the final assault, the Red's left wing Knight defence arrived in time, establishing communication with the river patrol Rook, exchanging and simplifying pieces, thus achieving a drawn situation.
A 5 minutes blitz game settled it all
In the third game, a terrifying five-minute versus five-minute blitz time began. Wang Kuo deployed the formation with Flying Elephant, Zhao Xinxin responded with the Crossed-Palace Cannon, and the two sides moved extremely quickly in the opening stage, the lightning moves hardly allowed fans to see all the tricks. Xinxin knocked out the Pawn with the Central Cannon, Red took the opportunity to advance the 9th file Rook to defend the Pawn's rank, bringing out the right wing Rook quickly. Black's advantage was to have a Pawn crossing the River, but to what extent can the role of this advanced Pawn be realized? The fact was that none at all, because Wang Kuo pounced extremely fast in the middle game stage with two Rooks and two Knights, and on the 20th move, Red played the 3rd file Knight to 1st file, threatening check with the Knight, combined with a powerful attack with the rib Cannon and Rook.
At this critical survival moment, Black's was under extreme pressure, quickened its own defeat by playing the Cannon from the 5th file into the 6th file, which was like injecting a lethal poison into the already bad situation, and Red's 2nd file Rook moved up one step, followed by a Knight check, followed by another Rook's attacking move, piling up more fire power, sending with a cool song to Xinxin...
At this point, the 2020 Jiucheng Cup（九城杯）National Chess Individual Championship was over, and the amateur chess king Wang Kuo officially became the twenty-first Champion, Zhao Xinxin the runner-up, and Hong Zhi the third runner-up.
Sixty years ago, fifteen-year-old Hu Ronghua participated in the individual competition for the first time, and no one would have thought that he would be able to win the championship from Grandmaster Yang Guanlin. Sixty years later, no one could have imagined that Wang Kuo, who was started as an amateur, would become the new chess king in the end, and history would repeat itself, amazingly!
Wang Kuo created his own legend, created the legend of Jilin, and also created a legend of the modern times, a new era of Xiangqi by amateur players to the Hall of The Great, he echoed with the person who shouted "the noble and prince will come from no difference and no distinction background" more than 2,000 years ago, and became a disciple of a different generation. From now on, Xiangqi has truely entered a period where professional and amateur players contested alike on one and same platform, which in turn has also inspired more amateur Xiangqi players to move forward towards their own great dream!
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Source : 百度.百家号
发布者：象棋微学堂
Dated: 2021-01-19
by Huang Shaolong (formerly Professor of Nankai University)
Huang Shaolong on the ideal of Xiangqi
I often went to the Lingnan Cultural Relics Museum（岭南文物宫）to watch Xiangqi exhibitions, the large board of demonstration was two-sided, one for Xiangqi and the other for Chess. The audience sometimes attended from one side and then moved to the other side, in this way both games were equally promoted, and that was how I got interested in Chess. In Chess the moves of Rook and Knight are quite similar to Xiangqi, and there are also many similarities in the principles of strategy and tactics, so it is easy to learn and be proficient.
At that time, I have read in the newspapers that Xie Xiaxun（谢侠逊）was also good at Chess and he vigorously advocated it. He once defeated the British champion in a multinational invitational tournament held in Guangzhou and won the championship, causing a great sensation. I was very encouraged by this and wanted to find out about the game for a trial.
It just happened that Tu Jingming（屠景明）, a famous Xiangqi player in Shanghai, was the chief editor of the Chess column of Xinmin Evening News（新民晚报）, and I subscribed to it in order to learn some basic Openings. In 1953, when the first Chess tournament was held in Guangzhou, I took part but was defeated in the round-robin stage by Xi Quan（洗权）, but later I won the championship by defeating him in the final.
Xi afterwards participated in the 1958 National Chess Tournament and finished third. At that time, there was also Gao Zhi, a famous Chess player in Guangzhou. I played against him and won. He had represented Guangzhou in the 1956 National Chess Exhibition Tournament. Later, both Xiquan and Gao Zhi moved to Hong Kong, and the two represented Hong Kong in the World Olympiad Chess Championship in 1966.
In 1955, Shanghai players He Shun'an（何顺安）and Tu Jingming visited Guangzhou to compete in Guangzhou-Shanghai Xiangqi challenge matches. On March 25th, the tournament got a day off, and the Guangzhou Cultural Park（广州文化公园）invited Tu Jingming to give me a public performance in Chess. Tu Jingming was good at both Xiangqi and Chess. The fans were attracted to our challenge match.
Tu got the first move and maintained his initiative, broke through my defensive formation, forcing my King to exposure. I waited patiently for a surprise counter-attack. Sure enough, I surprised him and won a piece, so that the two sides entered a state of intense battle.
At this stage it suddenly rained heavily, and the open-air exhibition was suspended, the friendly game was stopped and no longer continued.
Looking back now, although I didn't play Chess later, my study of it once broadened my horizons and allowed me to learn from the excellent cultures of other countries, and the learning and practice was to the benefit of Xiangqi. For example, theories such as the importance of center and analysis of the opening game inspired me to write "The Theory of Xiangqi Openings". In particular, I was very interested in the training methods of the Chess players, and found that their education levels were relatively high. For example, the Soviet chess player Botvinnik was a world champion and at the same time, a doctor of science and technology, and he later participated in the development of computer chess. The Soviet Union also had two other world champions, Tal and Karpov, they graduated from the University journalism and economics faculties respectively. Another example was the earlier world champion Lasker, a German philosopher and mathematician who served as Professor at the prestigious University of Cambridge and the University of Berlin. In the UK, Chess Master Levy was a Professor of computer science at the University of Edinburgh. In the Netherlands, the world champion Euwe was a doctor of mathematics. In the United States, Master Hestie was a Professor and had served as vice president of the American Chess Association, among other things. The above facts were thought-provoking and have a great influence on my choice of life path.
On the other hand, the Chinese Xiangqi talented players' situation was quite different. The famous Seven Provinces Xiangqi King（七省棋王），Four Grand Tian Wangs（四大天王），Three Phoenix of East Guangdong（粤东三凤）, Three Greats of North China（华北三杰），they all played at a high standard, but their culture levels were not high enough, their finance were also not up to standard, these of course were caused by the conditions of the old society. In the new society, things were improved, however the cultural level have yet to be improved. After the opening of the society, some players got chances into the University, that's a good affair, but basically much needed to be done to improve the whole situation.
Players should play well to win tournaments and championships, but improving players' culture is indispensable. Because when the Xiangqi skills and experience reached a certain level, it is necessary to improve the theoretical level, on the one hand, to summarize the players own practical experience, and on the other hand, to learn from the theoretical achievements of other masters, all of which required corresponding educational accomplishment. Otherwise, the strength of the players' game may stagnate.
After reaching the master level, players not only need to continue to improve their knowledge and skills, but also need to make contributions to the advancement of the game in many aspects, as the initial knowledge of Xiangqi skills is not enough. The improvement of educational level means to enhance one's understanding of science, art, and literature, deepen one's cultural accomplishment, and enable oneself to achieve a more comprehensive development. Otherwise, it is not in line with the requirements of modern time. Limited to just tournaments and competitions is too narrow a world.
Looking back at the Tang and Song dynasties, chess was listed as one of the four major arts along with the qin, calligraphy and painting, and it was a compulsory course for cultural people. The invention of Xiangqi originated from the nurturing of the culture of Yixue（易学）learning, and its fundamental attribute is culture. Therefore, it is only natural that Xiangqi masters should have corresponding cultural accomplishments, especially in today's modern society in the 21st century.
Amateur Xiangqi players should pay more attention to receiving cultural education, and in the knowledge-based economy society, high education can usually obtain a higher economic and social status, lay the foundation for participating in amateur chess activities, and can contribute to supporting the cause of chess.
On a deeper level, improving culture is not only a matter for the players themselves, but also a need to improve the social status of the game. Since the development of the four ancient arts, there have been conservatories, art academies and other institutions of higher learning, which have cultivated musicians, calligraphers and painters with high cultural status in society and are respected by people. The state does not run a Xiangqi academy, and the Xiangqi master is only an idol in the minds of the fans, and therefore the influence in society is much smaller. In the final analysis, it is because the cultural quality of the people in the Xiangqi world is not high and they have not been able to keep pace with the times.
When I was a teenager, I witnessed the hardships of the older generation of Xiangqi players, observed the cultural gap between domestic and foreign chess players, realized the importance of culture to general players, and gave birth to the ideal of taking into account both the skill in the game and the academic learning, that is, young people should practice chess on the one hand, and learn culture on the other hand, which is an ideal model for the growth of Xiangqi players in the new era.
Requiring a higher game skill and a higher level of education, can that both be taken into account? The answer is yes, the Chess players we mentioned above are living examples, why can't we do it? The key is the selection and training system. At that time, I only had vague ideals, and it was still unknown whether I could achieve them, as all depending on the objective environment, personal efforts and opportunities. Decades later, I finally achieved this dream and became a Xiangqi Master and a university Professor. Moreover, I have also teached and cultivated some students who are both national first-class Xiangqi players and university PhD, which shows that the path of excellence in Xiangqi and academic study is feasible.
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Source: 个人图书馆
发布者：象棋残局解析
Dated: 2023-02-24
by Huang Shaolong (formerly Professor of Nankai University)
After living at my uncle's house for more than half a year, at 12 years old I went to Hong Kong from Guangzhou with my parents to continue my schooling. In terms of Xiangqi, leaving my uncle's guidance and coming to the new unknown city, where will my chess destiny go? It seems that one can only rely on oneself to strive in the vast ocean of the game of chess.
In the 50's of the 20th century, Hong Kong had a more vibrant style of Xiangqi life, with activities set up in playgrounds, teahouses, and even the radio stations, and many newspapers also publishing chess columns. At that time, the Xiangqi masters were mainly Li Zhihai（李志海）, Su Tianxiong（苏天雄）, Li Zijian（黎子健）and Liang Qingquan（梁慶全）.
Li Zhihai is originally from Xinhui County, Guangdong Province, a graduate of the first vocational school in Guangdong Province（广东省第一职业学校）, he had excellent intelligence, often went to Xiangzhen Teahouse（祥珍茶楼）to play Xiangqi in his spare time, and the owner Lu Hui（卢辉）at first gave him odds of one whole Knight, but after two or three months, he only let him have the first move. Li Zhihai's ability improved significantly. In 1947, Guangzhou held a city-wide chess tournament, and 18-year-old Li Zhihai made his debut on the big field, with plenty of vigour and spirit, he defeated veteran players Wu Wenying（吴文英）and Su Xiuquan（苏秀泉）one after another, winning the championship and becoming a sensational player.
Soon Li Zhihai visited Lu Hui and asked to be his formal apprentice. Lu Hui said: "Where did I hear that winning the championship yet asked for an apprenticeship?" But seeing Li Zhihai's repeated requests, he laughed and accepted. Later on, Li Zhihai came to live in Hong Kong, he won the Hong Kong Xiangqi championship, wrote many chess books, gave lectures, and toured Southeast Asian countries, he was triumphant and famous.
Su Tianxiong was a veteran player, who had already made a name for himself in the Guangzhou chess circle in his early years, and later went to Hong Kong to further his skills and opened a special chess column in the newspaper, and at one time became the leading player in Hong Kong. Originally from Guangdong's Dongguan, Li Zijian had studied Xiangqi under Zeng Zhanhong（曾展鸿）, and once defeated the famous Hubei player Fang Shaoqin（方绍钦）, shocking the Hong Kong chess world. Liang Qingquan was originally a rookie in the Guangzhou chess scene, and he also became one of the famous players when he came to Hong Kong.
When I came to Hong Kong as a child, I didn't know anything about the Xiangqi background, I didn't know anyone, I was only guided by my interest of the game, and wherever anyone played, I liked to be there. In the vicinity of Sham Shui Po Secondary School, where I studied, there was a half-blind old man who used to play the game on the side-road. He called out the move, a child helped moving the chess pieces.
Every day after school, I would squat there for more than half an hour, watching and guessing by myself, I learned a lot of the game and the endgame tactics.
The players were ordinary chess fans with limited skill, so the old man can win regardless of whether he played Red or Black, giving people a sense of mystery. One day, when no one was playing, my classmates on the side encouraged me to play with the old man.
When the old man saw that I was a child, he let me play first move. After 3 games, I won two and drew one, which was really unexpected, and the onlookers applauded. When I got home, I thought to myself, I can win against adults, how amazing, and I naturally felt more confident.
Later, when I studied the endgame compositions, I learned that these compositions were recorded in ancient text books, as long as you are proficient in practice, you will be able to deal with these games on the spot. The composed endgames by these itinerant Xiangqi players have many illusions and hidden traps to confuse people.
If you can't think deeply and can't uncover the game's mystery, you will often be misled and be defeated. At first glance, the old man seems to have superb chess skills, but in fact, he is familiar with the ancient text books and understands all the endgame variations.
The game of Xiangqi inspires people, and some complex problems of the game will also be encountered in life likewise, one only seeing illusions with just a first sighting, and dealing with them without sufficient consideration is often wrong, so we should analyze more and think twice before acting.
Soon I was transferred to Xiangjiang Middle School（香江中学）for the third grade of junior high school, and many of my classmates in the school liked to play Xiangqi.
Among the classmates, Chen Wenxing（陈文兴）was quite fascinated with the game, and even on Sundays he would ask me to go to a small park to play chess for half a day. Chen Wenxing was a chivalrous character, competitive, he liked to attack when playing, and after playing dozens of games with me, his strength had increased greatly. Chen Wenxing and I formed a good friendship, and no one would have thought that more than 30 years later, we would meet again. Soon the school held a Xiangqi tournament and I won the championship.
One day the class put up a wall-newspaper, the class teacher asked me to be the editor, and also asked the students to contribute. I put a chess game in the entertainment column, entitled "Novice Chess and the Greedy Pawn", if the Red Rook in the game takes the Black Pawn casually, the game will become a draw, but if it spare the Pawn then Red can win. The name of the game is very interesting, although the value of the Pawn is small, greediness is often seen among the newcomers and novices. That's not how life is! One shouldn't envy other people's gains, however small, otherwise one will be known as selfish.
I think that the way to improve in chess is go out into society and seek more playing opportunities. One day, I happened to find a chess column in an evening newspaper, edited by Su Tianxiong, which contained an endgame puzzle each day. I liked that very much, so after school I went to the news-stand at the entrance of the teahouse, flipped through the chess column for a minute or two, and immediately went home to write down the chess game diagram, and tried to work out the answer. I do this every day, and after accumulating the puzzles over time, I have unconsciously learned many classic and skillful attacks and checkmates methods.
There was also a tabloid, edited by someone with the pen name "Canglangke"（沧浪客）, which published every week an article on the Opening, which I loved to read, and bought it with my pocket money. It broadened my chess horizons, let me know that the Opening had a certain discipline, and for the first time I knew about the theory of the Central Cannon, the Screen Knights, and the Counter-Palace Knight, these theoretical knowledge was used to guide the actual game and was really effective.
On another occasion, I went with my mother to visit a relative, and his house was connected to a cable radio broadcast called "Li's Voice"（丽的呼声）, which included a Xiangqi program hosted by Hong Kong champion Li Zhihai, setting up a puzzle and answering listeners' questions. At that time, the chess puzzle was called "Sounding in the East and Striking in the West"（声东击西）, I wrote down the chess diagram and went home to study, came up with the answer and sent it to Li Zhihai, and sure enough, it was the correct answer and I got the puzzle's prize. It was the first chess prize in my life, and I was overjoyed.
As time went on, I learned that there were four major champions in Hong Kong, in addition to Su Tianxiong and Li Zhihai, there were also Lai Zijian and Liang Qingquan. It would be nice to be able to see them perform in person! Sure enough, I heard from my classmates that there was a chess performance in Liyuan Playground（荔园游乐场）, so I decided to watch it in the evening. I saw two people playing the game, a large chessboard was erected next to them, and the demonstrator put up the chess moves made by the players for everyone to follow and enjoy. After inquiring that one of the players was Li Zijian, I was very excited, and I was reluctant to go home until I saw the ending. When I went to watch chess again, I had a newer experience. When the players showed their skill, the audience shouted and cheered. When the players came out with a strange or weird move, the audience questioned and argued among themselves. And when the attacking player missed a winning opportunity, the audience sighed and regretted it very much. I have become a part of the audience, and my emotions have naturally fluctuated too, as if I can't help but go with the flow in the ocean of chess, sharing the joys and sorrows of the chess world with the fans, I have really become a chess fan indeed.
As my chess skills improved, I was eager to ask professional chess players for advice and try out how good I could be. But as a 13-year-old kid who doesn't know anyone in the chess world and doesn't have enough money to pay for tuition, this was not easy to say! When I was in a dilemma, a marvellous thing happened, and the good luck beckoned to me.
One day I went to Liyuan to watch Liang Qingquan's challenge demonstration, the challenger playing Red opened with an attack of Five-Seven Cannons and Transverse Rook, and Liang Qingquan held the Black pieces and also used the Rook to counter-attack, and it was the turn of the Red side to move after 10 rounds of the game. An old man sitting next to me said to himself, "If the Red moved the seventh file Pawn up, then it will have the advantage later if it crosses the river." After listening to this, I thought for a while, and felt that there was something wrong with his words, so I explained to him in a consultative tone that, if the Black side attacked the Rook with the Cannon, after 8 more moves, with Rook and Cannon both exchanged, the Black side will have the advantage. After hearing this, the old man felt that my analysis made sense, and said that such a child who could figure out the variation ahead of 8 moves, that was so impressive and praiseworthy, and invited me to have a meal with him and talk further about chess at the end of the game. We don't know each other, the elder person was in his 50's, it's strange that Xiangqi had brought us together and we became a pair of unforgetful friends!
The man's name was He Leru（何乐如）, originally from Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, who was a clerk in a small company in Hong Kong at that time. After we played a game, he found it difficult to cope with my style, so he thought that my chess had a promising future, he enthusiastically took me to meet and play with professional players, and also told me that if I lost, not to worry, he would pay for my tuition fee. He first took me to Xiaoqingwan Restaurant（霄萁湾餐馆）to find Wu Zhaoping（吴兆平）to play chess, Wu Zhaoping was a famous player in Guangzhou in the early years, with a strange chess style, fierce in attack, known as the "Tongtian Sect Master"（通天教主）, good at playing handicap and letting the opponent the first move.
When I saw Wu Zhaoping, he was already a player of over half a century old, and he began to let me odds of two moves ahead, and I won games more than I lost, so we changed to normal first move, and the results were more or less balanced. He Leru then took me to the Causeway Bay Chess Academy, to find Hong Kong's first-class player Bai Leyi（白乐奕）. When Bai seeing that I was a child, he proposed to give me odds of a Knight, in less than an hour I won two games in a row, then the odds was downgraded to two first moves, but also I came out the better side, and finally he let me have first move, this time then I lost more games than winning. In the past half a year, He Leru has created a practical chess practice environment for me, this way of playing Xiangqi, I have to work hard, and the other party also needs to show real quality and skill, so in the end I have gained a lot of practice. Later on, when I returned to Guangzhou to continue my academic study, He Leru often sent chess games material for my reference, and the friendship between chess players was deeply touching. It's a pity that his financial situation was very basic, he lived a difficult and poor life in his later years.
I often met people who helped me all along, and I didn't realize at that time how helpful it would turn out in days to come. Just like the players in the game, some of their moves are lurking in their far-reaching power without themselves realizing it. A few years later, when I remembered it's time to find out Mr. He Leru and to tell him that I wanted to repay the kindness of his acquaintance, it was too little too late, because he had already passed away.
After my school study in Hong Kong for two years, although I had left my uncle's guidance for a long time, I was able to rely on my own initiative to break into the chess world, and met the help of a lot of kind chess friends, and dared to challenge professional players, willing to delve into the theory and practice of chess skills and knowledge, and as a result, my Xiangqi improved greatly.
It turns out that the fate of life is in your own hands. It's like a game of chess, as long as you don't make mistakes, you can be invincible, and once the opportunity did appear, you should seize it and proceed accordingly to the very end, and so to be successful.
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Source: 个人图书馆
发布者：象棋残局解析
Dated: 2023-02-22
Zheng Yanlong（郑彦隆）won the Hong Kong Xiangqi Individual First Division Championship!
On 26 March 2023, the Hong Kong Open Xiangqi Individual Championship, hosted by the Hong Kong Xiangqi Federation and funded by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, came to a successful conclusion. The competition was resumed in March after a three-year gap due to the pandemic.
Games were conducted for four week-ends interval, arranged into four divisions: A, B, C and Women, with a total of 137 participants. After the month-long tournament, which was intense and bitterly fought, the newcomer Zheng Yanlong defeated veteran champion Huang Xueqian（黄学谦）and became Hong Kong's Champion for the first time.
The division A tournament used the "8+1" format, which was an eight-round Swiss affair, the top two players going into qualifying final for 1st and 2nd places.
Zheng Yanlong playing Red, made the first move, opening with the "Angel's Guidance", and Huang Xueqian opted for the counter-attack system. It was a Screen Knights, Double-Headed Snake（屏风马两头蛇）versus Delayed Central Cannon（后补中炮）battle. Huang Xueqian tried to break through in the central file, but Zheng Yanlong successfully neutralized it. The two sides were evenly matched in the middle game, but on move 30th, Huang Xueqian made a weak Guard's move, allowing Zheng capturing his Cannon! The game then took a sharp turn. At the 57th move, Zheng won the Hong Kong Championship for the first time, and also obtained the title of Xiangqi Master of Hong Kong.
Ms Huang Jiabao（黄嘉宝）, General Secretary of the Hong Kong Xiangqi Federation, presented the award to Zheng Yanlong, the new Champion.
The division B as always, was the group with the most players, the top eight players in this division are to be promoted to division A for next year's competition. In the end, Wang Zhiwei（王智韦）and Wu Nuoxing（吴诺行）both got 7 wins and 1 draw, however, Wang Zhiwei won the Championship due to a slightly better tie-break. It is remarkable that Wu Nuoxing is promoted to the first division at the tender age of 14, tying for the record of the youngest promotion player in Hong Kong.
International Xiangqi Master Li Jinghua（李镜华) presented the award to Wang Zhiwei, winner of division B.
In order to further promote the development of the Hong Kong Xiangqi Competition, division C was newly added this year so that more newcomers can participate in the tournament.
At just 11 years old, Cai Shihong（蔡时泓）won the Championship in division C, and Hong Kong Xiangqi Master Huang Xueqian presented him with the winner's prize.
Ms Liang Weishan（梁玮姗）became the youngest player in history to win the Women division Championship.
In the competition, the 15-year-old Liang was not afraid of facing a group of senior players, she did not lose a single game in the 10-rounds of the double round-robin, dominating the Women division with relative ease, while Chen Yanping（陈艳萍）, even as she is visually impaired, won the runner-up in the competition.
2023 Hong Kong Open Xiangqi Individual Championship Results (1st to 4th places):
Men's division A: Zheng Yanlong, Huang Xueqian, Chen Zhenjie, Liang Damin
Men's division B: Wang Zhiwei, Wu Nuoxing, Huang Zhengwen, Yang Ziyan
Men's division C: Cai Shihong, Shen Jiaxi, Ma Weiliang, Shan Weihao
Women's division: Liang Weishan, Chen Yanping, Kuang Ziqiao, Wu Ziying
2023全港公開象棋個人锦标賽成績（第一至第四名）：
男子甲组：鄭彥隆、黃學謙、陳振杰、梁達民
男子乙組：王智韋、吳諾行、黃正文、楊梓延
男子丙組：蔡時泓、沈家熙、馬維亮、單偉豪
女 子 組 ：梁瑋珊、陳艷萍、鄺子翹、吳紫熒
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Source: World Xiangqi Federation
共藏多少意，不语两心知---浅谈自己对象棋的认识
How many meanings are hidden together, and they know each other without saying anything.
by Wind Snow of No Turning Back
1. What is Xiangqi?
Xiangqi is a kind of self-cultivation entertainment, it is also a tool to enhance friendships, improve oneself, and communicate with one another. It is a platform to communicate one's thoughts by moving the chess pieces.
2. Before the practice of Xiangqi, practice the moral first
Moral character first, be a person of character. In the same way, the more people with evil thoughts, the more will be the harm.
3. Treat the people you play with humanly
I used to like to put others in dead-end for fun, and even treat the other party like an enemy, fortunately, I once read an article that corrected my mistake --- in fact, the person who plays chess with you is your friend, you play chess together to improve, what a good fate. With this attitude change, I have gradually learned to respect others and be a seeker of truth rather than just a winner or a loser. I learned to consider the other person's feelings, talks and discussions are limited to the game only, and no longer to hurt people intentionally or unintentionally. For example, I can say thing like "There may be something wrong with this move, what do you think?" We like to improving our game standard together. Humility helps to make people progress, a calmer atmosphere is easier to achieve it.
4. Serious attitude
Every move should be played carefully, play to your best strength. I used to play chess casually, but after reading the "Romance of the Sino-Japanese Weiqi Match" and the novel "Chess Soul", my attitude towards chess has changed, I must always do my best, because I understand that only in this way can I forge ahead and also discover my shortcomings.
5. Computational power is a shortcut to improvement
Mental calculation to solve consecutive mating moves or chess puzzles, good basic foundation, blind chess practice, are ways to improve your computing power. Learn the correct way to calculate the moves.
6. There is no one else better in front of the chessboard
When playing Xiangqi, it is inevitable from time to time to encounter a stronger opponent, you should try to think "no one in front of the chessboard is better", just lower your head and think about chess, don't think about victory or defeat, nor the reputation, or worldly interests and all other things outside the chessboard. Concentrate on the content of the specific move, the opponent's intentions, what are my choices, how will the opponent respond, and is the final picture satisfactory enough? And so on.
7. Courage --- see clearly your opponent's sword and forward you make the reply!
8. Recognize failure correctly
What is failure? Failure can allow us to find shortcomings, from this point of view I think it is a good thing, but don't lose a game casually, every move should be of the strongest hand! In this way, through review and analysis, you can discover your problems in thinking, technique, and your next higher level. You have to be able to learn when you lose, and try not to make the same mistakes again. When Chang Hao lost to Gu Li in the Chunlan Cup final, there was a sentence that inspired me very much, the player said "I was not sad because I lost to my opponent, I was sad because I didn't complete a good game."
9. Having the following five faculties: attack, defense, overall situation, set piece design, sense of strengths and weaknesses.
10. The right attitude to the game: participate, enjoy, and strive to win.
Not worry too much about winning. Once there was a game where I hoped to get seven wins in a row, but the pressure of winning at all cost was too great and it backfired.
11. Self-confidence
A chess player should have super confidence --- if it's not me victorious, who can be? One day, I saw someone in the Olympic Year channel, and I got an inspiration, Zhang Shan was the shooting champion in 1992, and he mentioned an allusion, saying that when the Buddha initiated in his preaching, he pointed to sky with his left finger and with his right to the earth saying : "All over Heaven and Earth, I am the True One!" Imagine what it would be like to have this feeling when you are competing, haha, confidence is the number one secret to success!
12. Constantly try to make a break through and ameliorate your own chess style, and always think about how to improve yourself.
13. Build up an examplary model, when you don't know how to solve a problem, see how the examplary model does it, and imagine what you would do if you were the model?
Good role model: A) Xu Yinchuan, modest, dedicated, full of Confucian culture, deeply inspired by serve the world philosophy. B) Lee Chang-ho, a silent person like a Buddha, "Stone Buddha" Lee Chang-ho looks a little dull at first sight, he is often silent and has a feeling of being out of this world. C) SAI is very fond of the game and has a domineering spirit.
14. What should I do if I played a bad move?
Start from scratch again, don't regret the past, but try to do a good job from now on, don't give up if there is still a glimmer of breath, living means not to give up!
15. Tranquility and Calm is to go far-reaching
Only a tranquil and calm state will not be disturbed by any emotions, and can better allow the completion of the game with the opponent, as if both of you are working together to complete a work of art.
16. Xiangqi helps one to understand true meaning of life
Life is like Xiangqi, through playing, I understand something, I am writing these few lines as a short summary, I think I will make more progress, I hope everyone can understand after reading it. Especially friends who play Xiangqi.
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Source : 天亦老的博客
Liu Yici and the "Angel's Guidance" Opening
Liu Yici（刘忆慈）was a renowned Xiangqi player, people first knew him in "Xiyutai"（喜雨台）of Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province. In the mid-fifties, he participated in the National Xiangqi Championships, won twice third place and once fifth place. He played the "Angel's Guidance“（仙人指路）Opening, with rich characteristics and new innovation, and he was known as "Immortal Liu". Until his death in 1982, he was a celebrity in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangzhou, Beijing, Tianjin and all over the country for more than 40 years.
Liu Yici was 1.75 meters tall, big ears, well built, was kind and helpful towards people. Born in Hangzhou in 1916, he loved Xiangqi since childhood. In 1928 his parents sent him to Xu Chunquan's（徐春泉）oil paper umbrella shop as an apprentice. Xu Chunquan was already a famous chess master in Hangzhou, nicknamed the "leopard", one of the "five tigers and one leopard" in the "Xiyutai" chess arena. When Xu played the game in the shop, he kindly allowed the apprentice Liu to watch from the sidelines, which also led to the improvement of Liu's Xiangqi skills. Later on, Xu asked Liu to try his hand. Since then, Liu's Xiangqi skills got further improved. When Liu Yici went to Xiyutai, he studied under the guidance of Zhang Guanyun（张观云）and Xu Chunlin（徐春林）.
Once, the boss Xu Chunquan and Liu Yici playing a game, Liu started with the "Flying Elephant Game"（飞象局）Opening, and soon entered a close range battle, the "leopard" after exerting all his strength, still could not make any headway, and the boss was defeated by Liu. Xu was not that happy, but later on he realized Liu was a talented player with great potential.
Xu Chunquan had a younger daughter, Liu and she got along well in the store. The romance built up gradually. In the autumn of 1933, Liu became the son-in-law of Xu. In addition to helping Xu taking care of the store, he had more time to play chess, and his skills were further improved. He also ventured to Shanghai and the surrounding towns.
Around 1936, the Chengnan Club held the "Hangzhou Celebrity Players Invitational Tournament", those invited were Li Jiachun（李嘉春）, Zhao Jinrong（赵金荣）, Cai Ah Fu（蔡阿福）, Zhang Yirong（张益荣）, Feng Meisun（冯楣荪）and Xu Chunquan（徐春泉）(Leopard), as well as rookies Dong Wenyuan（董文渊）and Liu Yici（刘忆慈）. During the competition, the umbrella shop was temporarily closed, Xu and his son-in-law both joined in. As Liu Yici came out second in the competition, he was recognized as a celebrity player of Hangzhou.
When in Shanghai Liu played friendly exchange match with famous players such as Zhu Jianqiu（朱剑秋）, Zhu Shouyi（朱寿颐）, Li Wushang（李武尚）, Ye Jinghua（叶景华）and others. Because of Liu's solid style and nice manner, he was having good influence in Shanghai and other places. For this reason, the Shanghai chess community knew that in addition to Dong Wenyuan, there was also a Liu Yici in Hangzhou, they were the two emerging Xiangqi pillars of the famous city south of the Yangtze River.
At that time, compared with Dong Wenyuan, Liu was better at opening and positional game, Dong was better known for his clever moves in mid-game. In the endgame stage, Liu was more of academic style, Dong was good at the free style of unexpected. From the late thirties to the sixties, one was known for his wit and fairy play, the other for his solidity.
Preparing for an invitation tournament in Guangdong, Liu and another young player, Li Yiting（李义庭）of Hubei, planned to go to Guangzhou to play against Yang Guanlin（杨官璘）and Chen Songshun（陈松顺）, two leading players in the South. Liu and Li were playing in a warm up match game in Shanghai, in the endgame, Li had a Rook, a Knight and two Guards, and Liu had two Rooks, the game was generally regarded as a theoretical draw. At that moment, Li Yiting suddenly stood up and accepted defeat. Hundreds of spectators in the auditorium demanded an explanation why. For a while, Liu didn't know what to do, Li had already replied: This end game refers to the classic case of a single Rook winning against a Knight and a pair of Guards. This explanation satisfied the vast number of chess fans. On the way home, Liu said to Li : "Although I won the game, I can say honestly that I have won only half of it." They both respected each other very much.
In 1956, the first national championship was held in Beijing. In the early autumn of that year, after a series of preliminary rounds and the semi-finals, Liu Yici, Chen Xuanyuan（陈选源）, Wei Senkun（卫森坤） and Jin Hucheng（金虎城）competed for the finals.
The competition was a high-level one. Leading players including "Invincible" Yang Guanlin of the south, "Northeast Tiger" Wang Jialiang（王嘉良）of the north, "Sichuan Swordsman" Liu Jianqing（刘剑青）of the west, and He Shun'an（何顺安）of the east. In order to excel in national competition, in addition to excellent technique and good physique, if one has new moves in the opening, that will help a lot. Liu Yici thought of "Angel's Guidance", which he had studied for many years, and it was time to show his skills. Liu Yici finally won the third place in the competition.
In the final stage of the second national competition in 1957, Liu met "Yang Invincible" again, so he went for the advance of the seventh file Pawn, the now famous "Angel's Guidance". For this kind of start, "Yang Invincible" was no stranger. Liu Yici centralized his Cannon, positioned his Knight to the side, advanced the other Cannon up the river bank front, thus obtaining a more favorable situation, Yang was under a lot of pressure, later the game was tied, thus proving the practical value of the new Opening. Liu Yici's play immediately caused a sensation, because it opened up a new passage, a new system from the past three or four hundred years. In the game against Li Yiting, Liu used the same again, and in the end won third place in the competition. As a result, the world has since called him "Liu Xianren".
Looking back at Liu's innovation, we should not only see his painstaking research, but also the influence of his Xiangqi teacher and coach. When Liu was a teenager, there were two Xiangqi teachers in Hangzhou, Zhang Guanyun and Xu Chunquan who guided him. Zhang was very interested in "Angel's Guidance", in addition to teaching him a few hands, he also said to Liu: "The chess path is endless, I can't afford to spend time because my family is too poor to support me all the way, but you can carry on the study further." These words had a great impact on Liu, and after his relentless research and study, he truely innovated, at least in the Opening, and it can be said that he was worthy of Zhang the teacher.
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Source: 棋谱88
Early this morning, the reporter named Big Elephant（大象）led Grandmaster Liu Dianzhong（刘殿中）and his entourage to set off from Yan'an to the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, the origin ancestor of the nation according to legend.
Maybe it was because he had a good rest last night, and Grandmaster Liu was talking and laughing along the way. It seems that last night's simultaneous exbihition unexpected lost game did not affect the old man's mood in the slightest.
The following are some of the interviews on the road, which are recorded as below:
Big Elephant: I remember that someone proposed to internationalize Xiangqi and make the chess set into three-dimensional pieces, why is it no more follow-up talk about it nowadays?
Liu Dianzhong: When Xiangqi was first excavated, the pieces were of the figurine appearance, later on for convenience sake they were gradually changed into flat disc, this really played a big role in the popularization and development of Xiangqi. The reasons were firstly, it is easier to carry and save space, secondly, when short of material, people can just find some paper or carton and write the piece names on them, how convenient!
Big Elephant: Now some people on the Internet say that Weiqi is much more complicated than Xiangqi, and Lao Nie and others think that Weiqi is more qualified to represent China's national game than Xiangqi, what do you think about this?
Liu Dianzhong: To say that Xiangqi is simpler than Weiqi is nonsense. I can just pick up a Xiangqi puzzle, and I dare say that those who play Weiqi would not be able to solve it for half a month! On the other hand, if they take the so-called Weiqi puzzle that they think is very difficult, we our Xiangqi players can solve it far easier, and surely that it will be sorted out say in less than three days.
Big Elephant: There are a lot of draws in the game of Xiangqi now, what do you think?
Liu Dianzhong: It is said that there are many draws in Xiangqi, however, there are also many draws in the other chess too, so why don't they change it?! Some of today's players are too enterprising, too utilitarian, and play tacit chess, or even concede chess. Therefore, it is not a chess problem, but a human problem. You can check the chess games we played in the seventies and eighties, every game was painstaking, serious work, and many of these games are very exciting even for nowadays.
Big Elephant: So what do you think of Grandmaster Hu Ronghua's plan to count a win for Black if game is draw?
Liu Dianzhong: The Black's counted victory in Xiangqi proposed by Lao Hu is pure nonsense. Originally, Xiangqi game has three results: a win, a draw or a loss, but his plan means there will be only two results remaining in Xiangqi game, would you not say that is too simple? However, his cooperation work with Shanghai TV in a Xiangqi entertainment program called "Play Xiangqi and Play It Big", he has done a very good promotion job!
Big Elephant: The Xiangqi 1999 rules and the Xiangqi 2011 rules, which do you think is more practicable?
Liu Dianzhong: The rules of Xiangqi are constantly kept changing, which make a lot of players feel very tricky and confused. Many players having played Xiangqi all their lives, do not understand what the rules actually are. In fact, Xiangqi can absorb some reasonable regulations of the Asian regulations. These regulations are easier to operate, and it is also more in line with some conventional ways of playing for ordinary people.
Big Elephant: Now many people hope that Xiangqi can obtain increase of the prize money and thus promoting strongly to the world as soon as possible, what do you think things will happen in the future?
Liu Dianzhong: This brings us back to the old topic of egg-and-chicken again. The mass base of Xiangqi is so good, but there is no news media to pay attention to it, and without the attention of the mass media, there will be no great influence of the product, and no one will be willing to invest without mass influence. Without investment, how can we talk about promoting the game to the world?
Big Elephant: What do you think of the current level of play of Xiangqi masters?
Liu Dianzhong: Nowadays, there are too few title holders of Xiangqi masters, we have only Grandmasters and Xiangqi masters, resulting in a lot of differences in the level among Grandmasters and among national masters. There are many players who got the title of Grandmaster as if they have got a precious academy diploma, they lacked the initial motivation and do not want to make progress anymore. There are even a few players who don't even dare to play, as if afraid with their master title.
Big Elephant: I don't think there are as many titles as our Shaanxi Xiangqi group (76119952). There are at least six levels in our group: third-level player, second-level player, first-level player, and third-level master, second-level master, and first-level master.
Liu Dianzhong: Hahaha...
Non stop talking and laughing all the way and we finally arrived at the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor safely...
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Source : 陶山老妖的博客
Dated : 2014-June-12th
Obsession with Xiangqi
The years are long and interminable, who can draw a square circle with Xiangqi? How many times have you won or lost a game of chess? Alas, success is in such a hurry, defeat is also in such a hurry.
Xiangqi is not a simple game, but an all-encompassing art and science. "The heart is like a spider silk swimming in the heaven's blue, and the body is like a cicada's envelop turning into a withered branch" is a silent beauty belonging to the chess player. "Winning brings in happiness, losing also can give us some thrill" is an open-minded elegance belonging to a player. "The world is like a game of chess, each of the game is not the same" is a profound perception belonging to the individual player.
It is said that life is like chess, but I think chess is chess, life is life, and there are differences and similarities between the two. Chess is chess, but not always so, it can be played, but it cannot be always played. There is never an absolute standard of right and wrong. The saddest thing may not be to lose a game of chess, but to "play chess without knowing how the world changes", and the most gratifying thing may not be defeating the opponent, but to realize the true meaning of "harmony is among the most precious things in the world".
Every chess piece can be transformed into some sort of light and energy of the soul, for the chess lovers, they not only loved these pieces, they are also deeply dependent on them, chess playing has long become an indispensable habit in their life. The image of the chess pieces merges with the player's flowing blood and the pale bones inside the body. There is no end and there is no limit.
Chess is elusive. The chess score is as vast as the sea. No matter how hard I try to look, to touch, and to perceive the chess pieces, I can't stop the passage of time which runs like clear water, and I can't really understand the chess that are as subtle as the mysticism of Zen, as elegant and graceful as the poetry, and as strong and swift as a sword, and all kinds of mysterious beauty contained in the game, I can only tasted a little bit, an insignificance bit.
I used to naively think that I was a master, and that such an elevated feeling was hard to express, but when I finally felt the ethereal nature of chess again and again, I began to feel deeply my own insignificance and inconsequence.
I am much happy for the game, yet I have never been able to step out of the world of chess. I know that the charm of chess is not entirely in chess itself. When you play chess, you play your feeling, your emotion, the mood, the atmosphere.
Chess has its winning moves as well as its losing moves, and people have their own successes and their failures. Giving up or to hang on is sometimes a choice that you can't really control at all. In this world which blows hot and cold, who can explain why there are winnings and gains, why there are mistakes and failures? There are some chess games played that I know I don't fully understand, but I have a soft spot for them, so really I'm not a great player, and sometimes, I'm just a complete outsider.
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Source : 蝴蝶飞的博客
Dated : 2014-August-1st
Liu Guobin: worth at least hundreds of thousands yuan
30 Xiangqi pieces excavated
Recently, while conducting archaeology project near Wan An Town（万安镇）in Chengdu New District area, the Relics and Archaeology Team unearthed a Xiangqi set in a tomb from the Northern Song Dynasty period. Due to such a long buried time, the chess pieces were stuck and glued together. These pieces were made of bronze, there were 30 in total, 2 pieces fewer than the modern Xiangqi set. We may ask which two pieces are missing? This needs to be further studied and investigated.
Xie Lin（谢林）, the head of the archaeological project, said that the tomb where the Xiangqi pieces were unearthed was from an ordinary family, the Xiangqi set was found next to the calf bone of the tomb owner, which suggested that the tomb owner may have been a chess enthusiast during his lifetime. It is understood that this bronze set is the first of its kind excavated in Chengdu so far, hence of great research value. At present, archaeologists are working on cleansing and the protection work, later these pieces will be exhibited openly to the public.
"Xiangqi has a long history of development, it only completed and settled in its present form at the end of the Song Dynasty. This tomb in the Northern Song Dynasty period revealed to us only 30 chess pieces. Was it that two pieces were lost when they were buried with 32 originally? Further cleansing up and more research are needed. Xie Lin said no accompanied chessboard was found in the excavations, and he speculated that it might have been because it was made of wood that had long been corroded.
It is understood that in this tomb, in addition to the bronze chess pieces, there was also a sunflower lace bronze mirror, as well as low-temperature fired armed-men terracotta figurines, civil official terracotta figurines, and pottery dogs.
Guess: How the ancients played Xiangqi
Suspense 1: How to distinguish between "friend and foe"?
Today's Xiangqi is mostly of wooden pieces or plastic, with red and black colors to distinguish between "friend and foe". The chess set unearthed in Chengdu were made of bronze and had no color distinction. So, how was it distinguished at that time? Perhaps, other archaeological discoveries from the same period can give us some inspiration.
Among the cultural relics of the "Song Dynasty Kiln Collection" unearthed in Zhangming Town, Jiangyou（江油-彰明镇）in 1983, there were two sets of bronze chess pieces from the Song Huizong（宋徽宗）period, which were almost identical in shape. The chess pieces have a rafter on the outer edge and an engraved ornament on the inside, a total of 32 pieces. The front of the chess piece is engraved with the text "General, Shi, Elephant, Rook, Horse, Cannon, Pawn", and the back is engraved with a pattern corresponding to the text... Some experts speculate that the bronze chess at that time may be distinguished by words on one side and patterns on other side.
Suspense 2: Why are there two pieces fewer?
Researchers believe that Xiangqi, which already truly similar to the modern one, was invented in the Five Dynasties period（五代时期）. From the initial 7-party game, to only two opposing sides, there have been several big developments and important changes in between.
The chess set excavated by the Chengdu archaeological team has only 30 chess pieces, which is two fewer than today's set. The Northern Song Dynasty coincided with the period of great change in the history of Xiangqi, was it at that time that maybe one of the set of pawns, elephants, or cannons (2 pieces) was added? Or did it accidentally get lost during the burial? Who knows? The answer will only be revealed until the next step in archaeological research is done.
(Report by Zhang Yuanling, photo by Lei Yuandong)
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An expert collector of Xiangqi
Liu Guobin（刘国斌）, an expert in Xiangqi collection, said : Northern Song bronze chess pieces are worth at least hundreds of thousands yuan.
"If it is a Northern Song Dynasty chess piece, its archaeological value is immeasurable. Specifically, its economic value is at least hundreds of thousands of yuan. Liu Guobin, who was the director of the Xiangqi department of the National Sports Commission, said.
Liu Guobin is also a famous collector in the domestic Xiangqi community, he said that before this recent discovery, Luoyang and other places have also unearthed Xiangqi of the Northern Song Dynasty, according to the traditional understanding of the chess community, the number of pieces at that time should also be 32, this time Chengdu unearthed only 30 bronze chess pieces, that should be missing two pieces.
(Report by Jia Zhiruo)
Source : 蝴蝶飞的博客
2016-5-28
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The venue was at the scenic Zaolin Bay (枣林湾). The sponsors were numerous including Jiangsu Yizheng Zaolin Bay Tourism Office, Yizheng Municipal Bureau of Sports, Radio and Television, supported by Yangzhou Xiangqi Association, European Xiangqi Federation, American Xiangqi Federation, Yangtze River Delta Xiangqi Association, Shanghai Xiangqi Sports and Culture Center and Yizheng Sports Federation. The tournament main organisor was Yizheng Xiangqi Association (仪征市象棋协会).
Xiangqi has a long traditional background, the way of the game naturally gathered lots of players' wisdom. The city enjoys good popularity of the game. Even Yizheng Qingshan Primary School which is located in remote mountainous areas, yet it is the first school in Yangzhou teaching Xiangqi as special main subject, and all the 50 pupils in the school can play Xiangqi. Since 2012, Yizheng City has successfully held seven consecutive versions of the Yizheng Xiangqi International Open, which has not only been favored by top players in the domestic amateur circle, but also sought after by Xiangqi enthusiasts around the world.
"After the holding of seven tournaments, the Yizheng Xiangqi International Open has become one of top amateur Xiangqi tournaments in China." Cheng Minghong (成明宏), president of the Yizheng Xiangqi Association said that this year's tournament attracted 262 players from 16 countries and regions on four continents, "including 23 foreign Xiangqi players." Zhu Yueping (朱岳平) from Italy is the national champion of Xiangqi in Italy and the runner-up of the Shenzhen Xiangqi International Open. Another Italian player, Fang Dingliang (方定良), is an international master and had won third place in the European Xiangqi Championship.”
In addition to these foreign masters, domestic amateur masters have also been attracted. "For example, Chen Liugang (陈柳刚）is well known as China's Qi Wang of the 'three southwestern provinces', and Liu Zongze (刘宗泽) who represented Hubei Province, is one of the 'troikas' in the domestic amateur community. In addition, many top players from various provinces and cities participated too, making the level of the tournament one of the top in China." Cheng Minghong said.
Competing five times in a row, the Vietnamese guy loves Yizheng the most. Zhang Zhongjian (张忠坚）from Vietnam, is in his fifth time in Yizheng to compete. He told reporters that he used to go to school in Nanjing. "After coming to China, when I came into contact with Xiangqi, I found it particularly attractive." Zhang Zhongjian said that his master coach is Yan Zuanzhao (言缵昭), a xiangqi champion in Nanjing, "I often participate in those competitions around Nanjing when I learn Xiangqi with Teacher Yan, and I have been taking part in Yizheng competitions since 2016."
Zhang Zhongjian told reporters that in all the competitions he entered into, Yizheng's events were the most participated, even if he has now gone to Tianjin to study, this year after the resumption of the event, he still rushed to Yizheng to take part, "because Yizheng is the best place, with beautiful scenery, good environment, nice food, comfortable accommodation, so I like to come to Yizheng very much."
It is worth mentioning that in this competition, Zhang Zhongjian's master coach in person also appeared, and they staged a 'master-apprentice showdown' in the fourth round. "In the end, I still lost to my coach, but during the middle game, I have had a drawing possibility. I still can't get off the master, and I have to go back to the drawing board to practice more." Zhang Zhongjian said that although he lost the game, he is already very satisfied with his current performance, "At present, I have a 3 wins and 4 loss score in 7 rounds, which is already very good, when I first participated, I didn't even get a single game of draw, but then it was better and better every time, and this time I have scored 6 points."
Zhang Zhongjian, who will go to Shanghai for a PhD course next year, said that Shanghai is closer to Yangzhou, "I will definitely come to Yizheng again next year!"
It is reported that a total of 13 rounds of games will be played in this competition, and the Xiangqi players who win the championship will exclusively enjoy a championship prize of 16,000 yuan. All competitions will end on the afternoon of the 22nd.
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来源：扬州发布
Source : 我苏网
2023年10月22日
（象棋通讯）2022年2月23日-2月27日，第三届新加坡“五粮液杯”象棋比赛，副会长林关浩视频专访：
这个比赛原本要在去年举办的，但是因为这个环境，这个疫情，那么我们一拖再拖，非常幸运的在中国白酒云总的大力支持下，终于今天能够开幕，也获得了多位棋手报名参加。这一次参加的比赛里面有很多高水平的，例如其中有一位是吴宗翰，那么他可说是多届的新加坡的个人冠军，是一个水平可说是新加坡最高的，其他的好几位呢是属于甲级的棋手。
所以我觉得这一次在中国白酒协会的赞助下，获得了这个棋友棋界的很大的一个响应，象棋就是能够启发人生，而酒也是一项在通过喝酒的故事里面，诗歌里面，也知道这个跟人生有很大的关系，这两个结合在一起的话，是非常非常融合，更能够去创造一个美好的人生的一个前景。
新加坡属于一个多元种族的一个国家，那么实际上新加坡的领导人，当时，我们的陈振声部长跟我讲过，象棋不能够太中国化，所以近年来，新加坡象棋总会，就推动了一个图形象棋，这个图形象棋，主要通过英文来解释象棋入门里面，我们就是会招收一些马来同胞，印度同胞，那么同时，每年在七月的时候，7月21号，有一个种族和谐日，我们当天，会举办一个比赛，而这个比赛，能够让非华裔的人士，能够来下象棋，或者参加比赛。
我们就是女棋手其实不是说很少，那么实际上也是很多女孩子好喜欢下象棋，但是要达到一定的水平，是不容易的，所以新加坡过去在亚洲赛或者世界赛，每一次都有派人参加，这个说明了新加坡在这个女子象棋事业的发展里面，还不是完全的就是零。
为什么象棋能够在学校里面能够变成一个项目来活动，因为大家都知道，象棋能够锻炼你的意志，修身养性，锻炼你的耐心，那么其实棋如人生，人生如棋，如果你把棋下得好的话，那就会很好的去规划你的美好人生。
学校的课程里面，没有一个科目是这样的，叫你怎么去规划你的人生，怎样去好像计划啦，做得更好。今年我们很多计划，我们五月会去有一个所谓第31届东南亚比赛，在越南，那么这个意义在哪里呢？就是第一次象棋被纳入东南亚运动会，跟好像游泳，田径，乒乓，篮球等等合在一起，这个意义非常的重大，无形中，也会提高象棋的地位。
另外一件事情是九月，在中国杭州他们办这个第19届亚洲运动会，那么象棋非常幸运的，第二次被纳入亚洲运动会里面的竞赛项目，那么这样一个能够对这个象棋，打下一个兴奋针。让这个象棋的发展，到达一个令人鼓舞的地步。
这两个比赛，都就是新加坡的奥友会，都已经准备派队参加，所以我们新加坡象棋总会已经提名一些优秀的棋手，给他们批准。我们象棋总会面临的困难就是我们缺乏这个经费，缺乏这个资金，幸好这几年来，有这些永久名誉会长，名誉会长，大力地赞助，同时，政府响应这个赞助，一元对一元，所以因此我们还可以生存下来，这个是我们非常幸运的，希望新加坡青少年们能够热爱这个象棋的发展，因为象棋能够做启发我们的人生，锻炼我们的思考，同时能够修身养性，我相信多下象棋，我们就能够无形中的得到感悟人生。人生如棋，棋如人生。
Source : YouTube视频
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The reason why it caused such an unprecedented sensation is because many people did not really expect his dream of success can be realized anymore now or ever.
Firstly, the world of Xiangqi is full of talented young and not so young players, they either progressed very rapidly or hold on steadily, and the 34-year-old Wang Yang is obviously not dominant in terms of age.
Secondly, Wang Yang is known as the "second person" and the "uncrowned king" of Xiangqi. He has nearly won the individual championship, for a total of five occasions, sadly all of them ended in near failures. And today, the uncrowned king suddenly burst into life, when people thought that there was no drama, causing an unexpected sense of joy to everyone.
In the individual championship this year, the format is a single knock-out match to move ahead, losing a game means out and finish, in the end the final champion must be a ruthless character who does not lose a single set from beginning to end.
At that time, among the 64 participating players, there were 16 grandmasters (8 of them previous individual champions), 37 masters, and 11 strong amateur players. It was as if ten of thousands of troops had to force their way across a single wooden bridge, the momentum was magnificent, the atmosphere was terrific and dramatic.
This time, Wang Yang forged ahead all the way, and 6 Xiangqi grandmasters or masters were left behind him, all defeated. They were Wan Chunlin（万春林）, Xie Gui（谢岿）, Xu Guoyi（许国义）, Hong Zhi（洪智）, Jiang Chuan（蒋川）, and Chen Hongsheng（陈泓盛）.
In the quarter finals, Wang Yang faced his senior Hong Zhi. They are team mates and also fierce rivals. In the final stage of the 2005 Taiyuan National Individual Championship, Wang Yang lost to Hong Zhi due to excessive nervousness in a favorable winning situation.
In the process of the final match against Chen Hongsheng, Wang Yang was neither hesitant nor reckless, he firmly attacked the weakness of the Red side of the 7th file back-rank Elephant, and took advantage of the right wing Rook and Knight-Cannon superiority to occupy a good position, forced the Red side to exchanged two Rooks for one, and finally defeated the Red with the siege tactic.
Afterwards, a reporter interviewed Wang Yang, knowing the final opponent was Chen Hongsheng instead of Zhao Xinxin, was he glad in a way? To this, Wang Yang replied: "No, no such idea at all. Of course I was really eager for the championship, but at that time I only focus on the game, I was very calm, maybe because I had experienced so much in the tournaments over the years."
That's true. In a thoughtful way, the only way to succeed in anything is to concentrate on the thing itself, not its added value.
If instead what Wang Yang thought at that time was: "Finally I reached the final again, this time if I do not win there may not have opportunity for me again, I must beat him, he is not as good as me, oh yes I want to thank him for eliminating several strong opponents, clearing up my way. If I win this championship, I can participate in several national championship invitational tournaments in the future, so that I will have more income, I can move my family to a bigger house, by the way, I plan to take the whole family to the Maldives for holidays next summer..."
If Wang Yang thinks about these undeserved distractions, then the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will be missed again, and the title of today's article is likely to be "Super dark horse Chen Hongsheng won the 2018 individual championship!".
But Wang Yang didn't let that happen.
After winning the championship, Wang Yang confessed that he was very happy that his dream for many years had finally come true. Ten years ago, he would have been so excited he would not know how to handle the situation, but he is more calm now. This kind of calmness is a mature mentality that has slowly turned from fanaticism to cool and collected.
He believes that winning the individual championship is just a natural result of his hard work. As in the sentences:
"Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
This is the famous quote of the British poet Robert Louis Stevenson, and it is also Wang Yang's favorite poem, every time reading these sentences, surely they created a sense of peaceful belonging, a sense to go with the flow of time after all the dust and fuss have settled.
Generally speaking, when a person is in great joy or in great sorrow, it is difficult to maintain peace of mind, and almost nothing can be done (who can sleep after winning the championship). But Wang Yang, after the individual championship game, he mostly would as usual proceed to eat, play, and train as if nothing special has happened.
As the beneficiary of the single-elimination system, Wang Yang also talked about his views on the championship format, he felt that the previous individual competition adopted, winning the championship depended too much on the fortune of other players, the fate is not completely controlled by oneself in a way. In the elimination system, fate is basically determined by the players' own strength. Winners stay, losers out, no opponent's points in the equation, clean and simple.
Wang Yang said: "In fact, it is the same way to do things as a person, thinking too much is to court troubles, simply to live, and simply to pursue one's own thing. Although I have fulfilled my dream in the competition, I still plan to continue to play the game seriously in the future, do a good job of everyday live broadcasting, and have the opportunity to visit various places of the world. I want to play ten thousand games, and also want to travel ten of thousands of miles."
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Source : 樱伝圣殿
2019-April-28th
I had planned to get married at 1st October of 2009, but because of work, I didn't go back to my hometown until the Spring Festival to get married. My hometown is in Urumqi. After graduation, I went to work in Chengdu, everything was relatively plain and smooth, I already found my loved one, had a good job, working as an engineering manager in a construction company. Times have faded away some strange memories deep in my heart. But just this Spring Festival, after my wedding...
The day after the banquet, my wife got up early and at breakfast she told me that I rummaged through the drawers last night to find something, and that caused her not sleeping well, and I didn't have any recollection of the nocturnal activity at all. Then as if to remind me something, I found the chess set on the table!
My whole body shivered for a few seconds, why is this chess set on the table, it should have been tied and sealed in the drawers all the time! On hearing the voice of my wife, I came back to my senses.
About this chess set, it goes back to when I was in junior high school. At that time, I was obsessed with playing Xiangqi, and when I defeated my peers, I was no longer satisfied with my usual opponents, so I often watched games played by the elderly downstairs and I often joined in and played with them. Grandpa Qi was the person who played Xiangqi with me the most at that time.
Grandpa Qi's wife died early, Qi had two sons and a daughter, all settled in their different ways, they have not come back home often. Grandpa Qi has been living alone, the children will occasionally come back to see their old dad. I have been playing downstairs with Grandpa Qi two games every day after school and also on weekends. People say that the two of us have forgotten each other's generation gap and have a very good relationship, and even when his children came back, they would invite me for dinner!
However, until one bad day I committed a mistake, I felt I didn't have the courage to play chess with Grandpa Qi anymore, I avoided him every time as much as possible, I was afraid of his reprimanding eyes. Several times I walked past him with my head bowed, and I heard a faint sigh then!
I was in the second or third year of junior high school, when Grandpa Qi was more taken care of by the Elderly committee as he was living alone, they asked him to look after the little shop run by the neighbourhood committee for a few hours a day, the shop is some few yards away downstairs from my house. That day, I went down to play chess, at the same time wanted to buy myself an ice lolly, but there was no one at the little shop, door was locked, and the freezer placed outside was also locked. I discovered the door of the freezer could be lifted a little bit, just so that one of my hands could reach in, and at that time, I saw that there was no one around, so I wanted to reach in and get it. But when I just reached in and took it, Grandpa Qi appeared, I briskly saw his angered expression, and I knew what I was doing was wrong. I quickly retreated and left the place, later I slipped back home! Since then, I have been hiding from Grandpa Qi!
Even when being a third year student in senior high school, I haven't touched or played Xiangqi for 3 years! I can always think of Grandpa Qi's eyes that day. I deliberately avoided the game.
After the college entrance examination over, I was anxiously waiting at home for the notice of exam results by post. One of these nights, something terrible happened!
The weather that day was muggy and hot, as if it were going to rain. I didn't fall asleep until after 2 o'clock in the morning. But not long after falling asleep, in the haze, I saw someone at the door. I can't see the thing clearly, I was afraid. I felt like I was in a bondage. I shouted desperately: "Who!" My mom came out of the bedroom and asked me what was wrong, and I said I saw a man at our doorstep. After that I slept with the lights on. But the following night, shortly after I had just fallen asleep, the man I saw at the door yesterday was sitting on the edge of my bed, and I was terrified, and after hearing a sigh from him, I yelled again, which also woke my mother. My mother looked at me sweating profusely and didn't know what to do to calm me down.
On the third day, when I came back home from school, I saw that there were many people gathered together, my mother was also there, and Grandpa Qi's children were also there. Grandpa Qi had passed away, he had suffered a cerebral stroke at home and died 2 days ago. I was confused, could it be that Grandpa Qi came to try to find me? Listening to my mother, she said because the Elderly committee found out that Grandpa Qi had not been in the shop for 2 days, and mum didn't know what the situation was, she called his children, and when they came back, they found that he had died at home, and he had been dead for 2 days already. I said, "Mom, what I saw two nights ago, could it be..." My mother said that Grandpa Qi had a good relationship with me before, probably he was wanting you to save him.
I attended Grandpa Qi's funeral with much mixed feelings, and after the funeral, Grandpa Qi's eldest son looked for me and said that when sorting out his father's belongings, he had found Dad's gift for me : a very beautiful box of chess set and a birthday card, the date was dated my third year of junior high school. Recalling that day of the ice lolly incident, it was only a few days before my birthday. But because of my escape and my avoidance, Grandpa Qi's gift has never been given into my hands!
I collected the gifts that Grandpa Qi given me very carefully, put it in the drawers, but I never dared to open it and take the pieces out, and I always felt that I owed Grandpa Qi something. That chess set was never have occasion to be displayed once.
Back to this year, when I got married, the chess set had then appeared as if unexpected in front of me once again, it was on the table, but the birthday card was still in the drawer. Why is this so? Every time I think about it, I feel a bit uneasy.
I think Grandpa Qi has not forgotten me, and he has forgiven me a long time ago, and on my wedding day, he wanted to give me a gift in his way. I was deeply moved, but I am an ordinary person after all, for these strange things, after all, I will be always apprehensive, I told my mother so. Before I left my hometown for Chengdu, accompanied by my wife, we went to visit Grandpa Qi's grave, I have the opportunity and courage finally to say: "Sorry!”
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Source : 天亦老的博客
Dated : 2015-March-13th
马来西亚沈毅豪：我的象棋梦想比收入更重要
Shen Yihao of Malaysia : My Xiangqi dream is more important than my income
In the sixth version of the "Yang Guanlin Cup" National Xiangqi Open Tournament, there is a Xiangqi player from Malaysia, he is tall, fair complexion, and polite. He has a dream of one day becoming an International Grandmaster.
His name is Shen Yihao（沈毅豪）, a full-time coach of the East Malaysia Chuangxing Xiangqi Academy.
Before 2014, Shen Yihao had not yet become a full-time chess professional, when he was employed in the Malaysian telecommunications industry, with a good salary, of a monthly income of about 8,000 yuan RMB, which was already a relatively comfortable life in Malaysia.
2013 was a year of confusion in Shen Yihao's life. What direction to take? Go left, or right? He eventually decided to quit his job and get himself to become a professional Xiangqi player.
Shen Yihao, 30 years old now, has already started a family, and his wife is very supportive of his idea of playing chess, but his mother does not agree. When Shen Yihao just submitted his resignation to the company, her mother was very surprised, she could not believe her son doing that, she only knew that he is going to engage his whole life in Xiangqi in Malaysia.
It is a profession few people dare to contemplate. Mother believes there is not much way out in the future.
Previously, Shen Yihao had saw the reported news, that there are many amateur chess players in China who live a pure life of playing chess on the one hand and teaching chess on the other, and feel that it is a life he wants.
"I pursue my dreams, and my dreams are more important than my income. One day in the future, I will reach the status of an International Grandmaster, and I will also be able to obtain commercial advertisements to generate more income, just like the two International Grandmasters in Malaysia, Lee Ka Hing（李家庆）and Wong Yun Hing（黄运兴）. ”
Shen Yihao's dream of chess is related to the inspiration of Grandmaster Jiang Chuan.
On September 1, 2013, Jiang Chuan was invited to East Malaysia for a Xiangqi exchange activity, doing blind chess demonstration against 6 people, the result was only Shen Yihao drew with Jiang Chuan, and everyone else lost to Jiang Chuan. Jiang Chuan praised Shen Yihao and told him that in order to improve his level, he really needed to go abroad and participate in more international competitions.
From that moment on, Shen Yihao, who was full of interest in chess, finally made up his mind to take the road of Xiangqi as a profession.
Shen Yihao's Xiangqi level, according to the results of the first eight rounds of the "Yang Guanlin Cup", with four wins, two draws and two defeats, totalling 10 points, among many overseas masters, is already first-class.
It is worth mentioning that last year, he won the Malaysian National Championship, the National Quick Chess Championship, the National Youth Tournament Runner-up, and the Individual Runner-up of the Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei Invitational Tournament; On June 2nd this year, he played a blind chess exhibition against 10 persons in China, with five wins and five draws, so his level of play can also be seen by all.
Shen Yihao's dream of Xiangqi is supported by many friends in the chess community. One of the participants in the "Yang Guanlin Cup" is Lin Yuefeng（林岳峰）, the founder and general director of Malaysia's First Professional Chess Academy. "He was bold and did what he said. I am the one who has come over the same way, the path he is walking, I have walked too, and I fully support his choice. ”
Lin Yuefeng says that Malaysia's Xiangqi activity has been growing, and children from many Chinese families have the opportunity to contact themselves with Xiangqi. Among the Chinese population in Malaysia, the proportion of chess playing is high, at least five out of ten children know how to play, because their older generation can play it, which really due to the transmission of culture.
Overall, the Xiangqi environment in Malaysia is still improving, and many companies are willing to invest in sponsoring tournaments. In recent years, the Malaysian Xiangqi Federation has been well managed, requiring players to dress neatly and wear tie during official functions and receptions, and the tournaments arbiters to pay more attention to their own public image, which has allowed sponsors to see a very high level of professionalism, and so they are more happy to give sponsorship.
"In the long run, it should be good to engage in the profession of playing and teaching," Lin Yuefeng encouraged Shen Yihao to continue to move forward along his chosen road.
"There is no road longer than a foot of a person, there is no mountain higher than a man."
It is believed that Shen Yihao's Xiangqi dream will come closer and closer to realization as he becomes more and more experienced in the tournament competition.
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Source : 铁将-不动的博客
新加坡出现绝顶象棋高手，打平许银川及王天一，击败中国棋王蒋川，勇夺冠军。
For a very long time, the world Xiangqi arena has been the playground of the Chinese team, and during the time of such Grandmasters Hu Ronghua, Lu Qin and Xu Yinchuan, players of other countries and regions were powerless to fight back.
However, in recent years, these players have gradually begun to grow in strength, they are starting threatening the status of the Chinese team.
In many international competitions, on the podium of the winning champions, there are other national and regional teams, the most extreme is Grandmaster Wang Tianyi together with Grandmaster Zheng Weitong participating both at the same time, and their championship ambitions were sidelined!
Now it is just like reflecting the national individual competition in China, where amateur players can also win the championship. The game of Xiangqi inevitably advances, and with the changes of times players have made a lot of difference.
A top chess master now appeared in Singapore, tying with Grandmasters Xu Yinchuan and Wang Tianyi, defeating the Chinese Qi Wang (Chess King) Jiang Chuan（蒋川）, and winning the championship, he is named Wu Zonghan（吴宗翰）.
In a four-nation tournament between China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, Singapore player Wu Zonghan played brilliantly in the final stage, defeating the Chinese Grandmaster Jiang Chuan in the endgame, and took the championship.
In this final game, Wu Zonghan played a very cold trick in the early stage of the opening, with the idea to seize the opportunity through the change of array.
Entering the middle game, the Black side did not choose to retreat, but forcibly marched the cavalry forward into battle, sacrificing the Cannon on the left wing.
Wu Zonghan was not afraid to engage battle, boldly and forcibly took the sacrificed piece, and then stood up against Jiang Chuan's fierce attack. The Red forces resisted the counter attack, bringing the situation under stable control, with advantage of majority of pieces.
Then Red with Rook, Knight and Cannon launched a final decisive attack, the two sides exchanged Knight for Knight, the Red's Rook and Cannon cooperated closely, plus there were two Pawns advancing, the Black side could not continue the game, he was helpless to resist further, Wu Zonghan triumphed and won the championship.
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Source ：狮城新闻
2021年08月25日
My Chess Dream of Broken Blue Bridge
by 随缘321
Different environments and lands will shape different people. People in the South are usually different of the North. In the Southern cities, signboards of Xiangqi and Card Clubs are more openly displayed, the activity more plenty and more convenient. In the North, the activity is not that openly supported, and it is up to the local authority to decide.
A friend of mine has recently opened a Xiangqi and Card Club（棋牌会所）in a Southern coastal city, it is situated right in the city center, in the 3rd floor of an Hotel, with dozens of rooms to conduct club's activity. Having large scale and luxurious setting, with bars, lounges, plenty of mahjong tables, pool tables, table tennis, with abundance of snacks, tea and so on. In-room sofa, couch, air conditioning, TV, WiFi, restrooms, all are available.
Xiangqi spans the major fields of Culture and Sports, and is officially recognized and enjoyed by the population. Chess and Card Clubs across the country, under the big flags acting like a sort of tiger skins, putting chess in front of the signsboards, in reality however, in these Clubs, there is almost no real Xiangqi activity, just like in the market, people selling Wife Cakes（老婆饼）without wife, just using the name only.
My good friend, making things to appear for real, has asked me to set up the Xiangqi room in his Club, he only charged me a minimum monthly utility bill, covering partly for water and electricity, and I was very happy and thrilled, now my dream comes true. I just need ploughing, regardless of the harvest, so I bought brand new tables, chairs, benches, Xiangqi sets and many other supplies. If someone comes to my Xiangqi room to play, I will only charge him or her for the tea, the idea is that through Xiangqi one will meet many new friends, and hopefully the attraction of the game entertainment will be in full swing.
There are many Xiangqi fans in the city, playing the game is quite popular, in parks, streets, alleys, and squares, you can see many people bringing their own chess set with them, calling their friends and together they will have endless fun. The establishment of the Xiangqi room, in my opinion, coincided with the good timing. Like planting of trees, you will enjoy the shade under the trees. I printed lots of business cards, distributed them everywhere.
After a while, seeing no movement or response, I went to the square to find someone or anyone to play, so a few chess people caught up with the business cards, took them to the hotel looking for the Xiangqi room, when they just entered the luxurious hotel lobby, a few of them looking around amazed, a bit of suspicion on their face, hesitant, and embarrassed. As soon as the elevator door opened, the group immediately scattered, and one of them blurted out and shouted: "pyramid schemes, scammers".
Because of the helping of my good friend, my running cost is not that expensive, if the business does not work smoothly, at least I can entertain people who come to play Xiangqi for free. My hard work paid off, and in the days coming, I actually found one or two people who came to the chess room to play, I brewed monk-fruit tea, handed over cigarettes, I did not charge them at all, I explained to them the reason, cleared as much as possible the other party's doubts and misgivings. Despite all these, those people did not come back again. I called them by phone, and they said that they were sorry to disturb me too much. I ponder on the matter, finally I think this is because the Xiangqi room looked too luxurious, lavish and opulent, unlike the atmosphere in the park or street corner.
The Chess and Card Club has never got improved, few people came along. Now the weather is getting hot, I am a person from a cooler place, not accustomed to the hot weather, then my family came and picked me up home. It was a Dragon Boat Festival the day before leaving, my good friend gave me a lot of rice dumplings（粽子）, it was really delicious.
I haven't been seeing him for a long time, if I have time I will go to see him again during the Dragon Boat Festival, and to bring back again more delicious rice dumplings. The Dragon Boat Festival has again arrived, so I take up pen and write down some words as memory of our friendship.
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Source : 象棋大师网
Dated 2019-June-9th
