The ending of "棋艺" (Chess Art)

The Ending Of "棋艺" (Chess Art)

Since yesterday, the Xiangqi community has had a shocking news.

Founded in 1979, the "棋艺" (Chess Art) magazine will face a "suspension of publication" in July this year.

Suddenly in an abrupt way, a very sad farewell and departure.

Perhaps the traditional paper publications are now out of step with modern world after all.

With this year's sudden Covid epidemic, the butterfly effect has spread to all economic and social fields, a straw that kills the camel.

When I was in the fifth grade, there was a kiosk on the way to school that sold snacks and stationery, as well as various bulk magazines and publications. When most of my school friends were immersed in silly jokes, fantasy tales booklets and pirated comics, I had complete different interests, I can play Xiangqi, Pai Jiu, Mahjong, these were popular games among the middle-aged and elderly people, often I would search for "strategies" from publications to improve my competitive strength.

Parents and teachers feel "reliable and safe" about Xiangqi. Probably thinking that Xiangqi has some educational effect, they were willing to let their children to play the game. Mine tacitly allow me to mingle with the "uncles and elders" in the park's Xiangqi stall, I got little pocket money in order to buy Xiangqi publications.

I vaguely remember that "Chess Art" had endgame puzzle at the end of each issue - these endgames were simply hard to solve for me as a teenager. What kind of gods and people can solve these, I asked myself?

The manager mostly turned a blind eye when I took up a magazine, but seeing that I often crumpled the pages, he could not bear it anymore - after an exchange of words, we happily reached an agreement : when I read three or more magazines for free, I should pay at least for one.

The good times of our agreement did not last long, for about a year later, due to the expansion of the road construction, the kiosk was forced to relocate, and I lost the privilege of "free reading of chess magazines".

Because of our frequent house moving, the magazines that I once treasured at home has since scattered and disappeared from my life.

Many Xiangqi fans regard "Chess Art" as a timeless treasure and have a full collection. These chess magazines that grew up with them have finally become historic icons.

The end of "Chess Art" has saddened many Xiangqi fans. In an era of online technology, new move and new variant, within 24 hours, will quickly spread across the country. A certain "layout solution" given by advanced software and hardware will soon be shared on websites, such as Weibo and WeChat groups. It only takes a minute at most to search for the solution of Xiangqi puzzle, there is no need to wait for "Chess Art" to reveal the answer next month.

Just as more Xiangqi fans do not necessarily have to face each other, and the chess pieces need not be physically laid out in order to play a game, people across the world can play against each other simply by pointing the mouse or tapping the screen.

"Chess Art" may disappear, but the spirit and legacy have long been scattered everywhere, like a night sky full of glistening stars.

We said goodbye to "Chess Art", but we can't forget its enlightenment to beginners and masters alike. The advancement of Xiangqi knowledge has been engraved in our minds and condensed in every move we make.

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Source : 新浪体育

Dated : 2020年05月14日

~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~

Xiangqi story from my heart

（译而再读之，亦是一种乐趣。译文曾于2006年2月22日发表）

(It is nice sometimes to read again the older post, this one was dated Wednesday, February 22, 2006)

Xiangqi story from my heart

~ by Da Mian Mao ~

Before I was 8 years old, no one in my village had heard anything about Xiangqi. The villagers did play a sort of game using muddy ploughing fields as chessboard, stones as chess pieces, even then this primitive native game attracted a big crowd whenever it was played.

When I was 8 years old, suddenly the whole village was much attracted to the game of Xiangqi, it seemed that everyone was playing it, old and young.

One evening, Hu Yong, a young helping worker of my family asked my father whether he knew how to play Xiangqi, on hearing this, my father was tensed, and quite emotioned, as if drunk, it took him a moment to answer a single word: yes.

Later I realized that my father was a good player, when he was young, he had a job working as a county committee's secretary, and when he established his reputation in the Xiangqi circles, a player from the greater county committee contacted father and arranged to play a game.

That same evening, all the leading members of the county committee having heard the news came along to witness the battle, at the same time to have a chance of meeting the visitor, leader of the greater county committe.

Before the match, a county committe leader told my father, saying surely you will not win the game. The meaning of this was that hinting to my father, you must not win it. Maybe my father did not take what was said seriously, anyway the outcome of the match was my father won the game, and quite a convincing win, in such a way that the greater county committee leader felt very uneasy, as if he had lost his clothes in public.

The humiliated leader patted my father's shoulder, said to the host, comrade Xiao Huang is all right, worthy of nurturing. Since then my father's career went downhill, later downgraded to local comittee, and afterward, father resigned his post and retired, went back to his native village.

In the village there was another good player, an old colleague of my father. One day both of them played a game in the back garden, this quickly turned out to be a big event and attracted such an enormous crowd, after the game, everybody rushed forward surrounding both players just like they were two great movie stars, and I was trying to deal with the exciting situation, just as if I was my father's business agent or manager !

Since then, I was infatuated with Xiangqi, at the age of 12, I reached the strength that I seldom met equal opponent in the village. I played more often with my father, people in the village said I got the true style of my father, but I did not think I had it, my father used to play the Rook and Cannon well, with powerful attack in sweeping and wide open style, while I was swift and adventurous in playing my Knights. Naturally, I was still not equal to my father, I had yet to obtain a better position from him. I felt sometimes as if my arms were cut or tied, for my father never allowed me to take back a move.

At the age of 16, I left home to get my living, I travelled and worked in different places. One evening, my boss called me and we played a game in the office. While I was holding a chess piece, hovering it over the chessboard, the memory of my father playing a game with the committee leader came back to my mind, I hesitated slightly, and the boss won. He was very happy, he took a deep breath, laughed heartily. Yes, he had beaten a good player. Once again he had proved to himself his wisdom had succeeded in seeking the feeling of youth.

But for me, this way of playing the game was most unsatisfactory. I longed for the old days of carefree playing with my father. I keenly wanted to return back to my native village and sit down and play games with him.

I had left my village, in a blink of time, already 7 years. During this period, my father became older, bending a little, however, his attitude in life of never say die was still with him. When I arrived back at the village station, my father came to meet me, snatching my luggage, he said, son, have you made any progress in chess? I said, yes. Father laughed and said, I would not be scared by your progress, I am going to teach you a lesson and capture all your pieces on the chessboard.

Deep in my heart, I wanted to give my father a hard fighting game, however, I did not want to destroy my father's confidence and joy of the game, how can I ?

I lost my first game. Father said I was not concentrating enough on my game.

I lost again in my second game. Father took a puff of the smoke, and after a while, he said, son, your chess had progressed a lot. I said, no, I had not progressed as you may think, the old hand remained a better player than the new hand. Father said sombrely, my son, you have changed, you have learned to lie, you have learned to flatter, courting the world's favours. Finally, father sighed and said something with deep signification, he said, when you can win against someone, yet you lost it to the same one, this is disrespectful to yourself, this is toying with others, like a cat toying with a mouse. However, nowadays people like to be toyed, they do not like to be respected.

Since that day, father had not played another game with me again. We even avoided mentioning the word 'Xiangqi'. In our home, the chess set remained in its place, unmoved, covered with a layer of dust, a very thin layer of dust.

Source : Guangdong Xiangqi Website

~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~

Rivalries Among Grandmasters

Grandmaster Wang Tianyi（王天一）, the leading Chinese Xiangqi player, had sometimes lamented rival Grandmaster Zheng Weitong（郑惟桐）of declining to share the point of an obvious drawn game, and to carry on playing a kind of chess grinding（磨）in the endgame stage. He also complained that Zheng Weitong liked to circling around him when he was playing in order to influence his play, further, he even accused Zheng Weitong of once carrying an electronic shielding device as if to prevent him from possible software cheating.

The writer (of the article) felt that Zheng Weitong's above-mentioned three practices seem to be of human nature. In the chess world, quite many players are used to the practice of grinding their opponents (to a halt) in a balanced and even endgame, this is understandable. Take for example Grandmaster Lu Qin（吕钦）, in the 2021 Fortuna Cup also did practice the grinding tactic against Grandmaster 'Siberian Tiger' Zhao Guorong（赵国荣）. In a simply balanced and drawing endgame, Lu Qin moved on and on, in the hope that Zhao Guorong may accidentally step into overtime, this was indeed bordering on unethical chess, since even when an amateur chess player was playing instead, Lu Qin cannot win in a theoretically drawn endgame.

Many chess fans laughed at Lu Qin for getting into the shoes of Zheng Weitong. Even with Grandmaster Xu Yinchuan（许银川）, who has a fairer style of Xiangqi playing, has worn down Grandmaster Meng Chen（孟辰）for more than a hundred moves in an equal and balanced endgame of two Knights versus two Knights, and won in the end by sort of brutal force, picking up a whole point when his opponent lost momentarily concentration. Not a fair and gentlemanly way of winning really.

And Wang Tianyi, though lamenting Zheng Weitong's grinding trickery, he himself grinded his senior Zhao Guorong in a theoretically drawn ending for more than a hundred moves in a 2019 1st Division League's game. It can be seen that grinding your opponents down is something that every chess player will do when opportunity arise, so there is no need to blame Zheng Weitong too much on this matter!

Source ：新浪网 作者 我说车你评论

~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~ 　

同舟共济 力战成和

Here is an interesting game between 2 players of the same UK team, Alain Dekker versus Peter Wood in 3rd round of the Paris World Xiangqi Championship 2005:

两名英国队棋手在2005年巴黎第九届世界象棋锦标赛第3轮相遇，迪克对比德乌，激战成和 ：

  
  Alain Dekker v Peter Wood

  1. 兵三进一  (P3+1) 
     马２进３  (N2+3)
  2. 炮二平四  (C2=4)
     炮８平６  (C8=6)
  3. 马二进三  (N2+3)
     马８进７  (N8+7)
  4. 车一平二  (R1=2)
     卒３进１  (P3+1)
  5. 马八进九  (N8+9)
     炮２进４  (C2+4)
  6. 兵五进一  (P5+1)
     炮６平５  (C6=5)
  7. 仕六进五  (G6+5)
     车９进１  (R9+1)
  8. 相七进五  (B7+5)
     车９平６  (R9=6)
  9. 车九平六  (R9=6)
     士４进５  (G4+5)
 10. 车六进四  (R6+4)
     车６进５  (R6+5)
 11. 炮八平七  (C8=7)
     车１平２  (R1=2)
 12. 炮七平八  (C7=8)
     车２平１  (R2=1)
 13. 炮八平七  (C8=7)
     炮２退２  (C2-2)
 14. 马三进二  (N3+2)
     车６退１  (R6-1)
 15. 马二进三  (N2+3)
     车６平５  (R6=5)
 16. 马三进五  (N3+5)
     车５平４  (R5=4)
 17. 马五进七  (N5+7)
     车４退４  (R4-4)
 18. 马七进九  (N7+9)
     炮２平１  (C2=1)
 19. 炮七进三  (C7+3)
     炮１退４  (C1-4)
 20. 炮四平三  (C4=3)
     炮１进２  (C1+2) 
 21. 车二进七  (R2+7)
     车４进１  (R4+1)
 22. 车二平三  (R2=3)
     车４平７  (R4=7)
 23. 炮三进五  (C3+5)
     炮１平７  (C1=7)
 24. 兵三进一  (P3+1)
     象３进５  (B3+5)
 25. 兵三进一  (P3+1) 
     (1/2 - 1/2)
    （和 棋）
     

  

      

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法国鼎力举办9届世锦赛

欧洲的第一次。2005年第9届世界象棋锦标赛，是由法国象棋总会独力承办。

据法国象棋总会理事长许松浩表示，锦标赛主要赞助人是会长黄秋鹏先生。

黄秋鹏热爱象棋，他并不是什么大富豪。工作之余，喜与各地棋手结交朋友。

2001年第7届世锦赛本来由法国象棋总会承办，因事推迟。2003年则因“非典”疫症再次推迟。4年后的预算高达30万欧元。

一诺千金，黄秋鹏个人承担25万欧元，比赛奖金3万欧元由世界象棋联合会主席霍震霆提供，另外的2万欧元由黄秋鹏的朋友赞助补上。

2005年7月31日，巴黎新世界中国城拉开第9届世界象棋锦标赛帷幕。来自世界19个国家和地区的26支代表队参加了比赛。

世界象棋联合会主席霍震霆参加了开幕式。

法国内政部长萨科奇发来了贺信，并向华人社群表示敬意。

为期一周的锦标赛吸引了中国的吕钦、澳门的李锦欢、中华台北的吴贵临等国际高手参战。

战罢7轮，冠军争夺更加白热化。中国队吕钦、刘殿中与越南队阮武军同积6分，齐头并进。

女子组第6轮，中国郭莉萍后手战胜澳大利亚常虹，越南吴兰香先手击败中华台北高懿屏。

吕钦于第3轮输给了李锦欢，说这激起了他‘一把火’，决心尽最大努力下好每一盘棋。

8月6日，第9届世界象棋锦标赛在巴黎隆重降下帷幕。

中国驻法大使赵进军出席了闭幕式。

世锦赛组委会主席、法国象棋总会会长黄秋鹏表示，象棋冲出亚洲，是国际化的一个开端。

第9届世界象棋锦标赛参赛选手人数及奖金为历届之最，领队及棋手膳宿全部免费，赛事竟争异常激烈，气氛友好和谐。战果如下 ：

团体赛 ：冠军中国，亚军越南，季军中华台北，殿军美东，第5名中国香港，第6名新加坡，第7名美西，第8名中国澳门。

男子个人赛 ：冠军吕钦，亚军李锦欢，季军阮武军，殿军刘殿中，第5名吴贵临，第6名李必炽，第7名郑亚生，第8名何荣耀，第9名赵汝权，第10名高维铉，第11名阮明昭，第12名赖汉顺，第13名纪中启，第14名鲁钟能，第15名黄俊铭，第16名吴震熙。

女子个人赛 ：冠军郭莉萍，亚军高懿屏，季军黄玉莹，殿军常虹，第5名吴兰香，第6名殷美娴。

非华裔男子组 ：冠军来自香港的邝伟德，亚军德国米歇尔·纳格勒，季军英国阿兰·迪克。

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First time happened in Europe. The 9th World Xiangqi Championship 2005 was organized by the French Xiangqi Association.

Led by Mr. Kim Laurent the president, Mr. Francis Corrigan the general secretary, Mr. Liang Yeqing the chief arbiter, they were the leading light of making Xiangqi more popular in Europe.

According to Mr. Xu Songhao, committee chairman of the French Xiangqi Association, the main sponsor of the tournament was Mr. Huang Qiupeng, the president.

Huang Qiupeng loved Xiangqi, he was not a big wealthy man. Outside of work, he enjoyed making friends with Xiangqi players from all over the world.

The 7th World Xiangqi Championship in 2001 was supposed to be hosted by the French Xiangqi Association, but was postponed for various reasons. In 2003, it was postponed again due to the SARS epidemic. Thus four years later, with rising cost, the budget reached as high as 300,000 euros.

True to his words, Huang Qiupeng personally contributed 250,000 euros, the tournament prize money of 30,000 euros was provided by Mr. Huo Zhenting, president of the World Xiangqi Federation, and the other 20,000 euros were sponsored by Huang Qiupeng's friends.

On July 31, 2005, the 9th World Xiangqi Championship was held in New World Chinatown, Paris. 26 teams from 19 countries and regions around the world participated in the competition.

The president of the World Xiangqi Federation, Huo Zhenting, attended the opening ceremony.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy sent a congratulatory letter and complimented the Chinese community.

The week-long tournament attracted international experts such as Lu Qin of China, Li Jinhuan of Macao and Wu Guilin of Chinese Taipei.

After 7 rounds of intense competition, the race for top honour got more exciting and more heated. China's Lu Qin, Liu Dianzhong and Vietnam's Nguyen Wu Jun respectively scored 6 points and went hand in hand.

In the sixth round of the women's group, China's Guo Liping defeated Australia's Chang Hong with the Black pieces, while Vietnam's Wu Lanxiang defeated Chinese Taipei Gao Yiping with the Red pieces.

On August 6, the 9th World Xiangqi Championship came to a grand conclusion in Paris.

Huang Qiupeng, chairman of the World Championship Organizing Committee and president of the French Xiangqi Association, pronounced that Xiangqi is going to be an important player on the world stage.

The 9th World Xiangqi Championship in France had the highest number of players participation and prize fund ever, free meals and accomodations for all team leaders and players, and the competition itself was fiercest, the atmosphere most friendly. The grand results are as follows:

Team Competition: Champion China, runner-up Vietnam, third runner-up Chinese Taipei, 4th US East, 5th Hong Kong, 6th Singapore, 7th US West, 8th Macao.

Men's Individual : Champion Lu Qin, runner-up Li Jinhuan, third runner-up Nguyen Wu Jun, 4th Liu Dianzhong, 5th Wu Guilin, 6th Li Biji, 7th Zheng Yasheng, 8th He Rongyao, 9th Zhao Ruquan, 10th Gao Weixuan, 11th Nguyen Minh Chao, 12th Lai Han Shun, 13th Ji Zhongqi, 14th Lu Zhongneng, 15th Huang Junming, 16th Wu Zhenxi.

Women's Individual : Champion Guo Liping, runner-up Gao Yiping, third runner-up Huang Yuying, 4th Chang Hong, 5th Wu Lanxiang, 6th Yin Meixian.

Non-Chinese Men's Category: Champion Kwong Weide from Hong Kong, runner-up Michel Nagler of Germany, and third place Alain Dekker of Great Britain.

　

练习象棋减肥

练习象棋减肥

有人曾经提到，练习象棋，是一项减肥的有效办法，信不信由你。

象棋是两个人在棋盘上进行智力较量的游戏。源远流长，千变万化。

开始时双方各16枚棋子 ：车、马、炮、兵、将、士、象，分7个棋种，走法各不同，如马行日，象行田，炮隔子打子等。

假如找不到和你走棋的人，自己也可以和自己走棋。只要把棋盘摆好，自己轮流自己走，左手和右手走！

这样走棋，脑力和体力消耗很大。下完一盘“自助棋”，会觉得脑子细胞不够用似的，而且饿得很，真是有趣的减肥方法。

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Practice Xiangqi to lose weight

Someone once mentioned that practicing Xiangqi is an effective way to lose weight, believe it or not.

Xiangqi is a game in which two people play an intellectual contest on a chessboard. It has a long history and the variations and combinations are ever-changing and limitless (almost).

At the beginning, there are 16 Xiangqi pieces on each side: 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Cannons, 5 Pawns, 1 General, 2 Advisors, 2 Bishops, divided into 7 types, with different moves, such as Knight moves in a form of rectangle, Bishop moves obliquely across the field, Cannon strikes overhead and so on.

If you can't find someone to play with you, you can play Xiangqi with yourself. Just lay out the board and take turns playing you against yourself, your left hand playing against your right hand!

Playing thus in this way, the use of mental and physical energy is very exerting and exhausting. After playing a game of "self-help chess", you will feel that the brain cells are critically burn out, and you are feeling very hungry too, which is really an interesting way to lose weight.

大洋洲与楚汉英雄隔空棋战

2022年1月23日，由澳大利亚与新西兰象棋好手组成的大洋洲队，挑战湖北省象棋冠军、棋王刘宗泽（刘师长) 领队的楚汉英雄会高手，在天天象棋网站展开隔空棋战。

双方同意走棋每局限时20分钟，每步限时3分钟，每走一步加10秒。

第一轮：楚汉英雄会，红棋先走：

1号台：湖北省象棋冠军、棋王刘宗泽 对 新西兰吴国华 （1-0）

2号台：陈秀轩 对 澳大利亚刘勤（1-0）

3号台：黄辉 对 澳大利亚申冠群（0-1）

4号台：屈海涛 对 澳大利亚阮日光（0-1）

5号台：许新平 对 澳大利亚阮陈杰（1-0）

6号台：许文强 对 澳大利亚杨恩（1-0）

7号台：陈鹏成 对 新西兰方文伟（0-1）

8号台：夏友生 对 新西兰周柏（0-1）

9号台：石教才 对 新西兰陈文伟（0-1）

10号台：田宇 对 新西兰钟敏（1-0）

第一轮双方成绩5胜5负，各取5分，打成平手。

第二轮：大洋洲队，红棋先走：

1号台：澳大利亚刘勤 对 湖北省象棋冠军、棋王刘宗泽（0-1）

2号台：新西兰吴国华 对 陈秀轩（1-0）

3号台：澳大利亚阮日光 对 黄辉（0-1）

4号台：澳大利亚申冠群 对 屈海涛（1-0）

5号台：新西兰钟敏 对 许新平（1-0）

6号台：新西兰陈文伟 对 许文强（1-0）

7号台：新西兰周柏 对 陈鹏成（0-1）

8号台：新西兰方文伟 对 夏友生（1-0）

9号台：澳大利亚杨恩 对 石教才（1-0）

10号台：澳大利亚阮陈杰 对 田宇（1/2 - 1/2）

第二轮总结成绩：大洋洲队6胜1和3负得6-1/2分，楚汉英雄会3胜1和6负得3-1/2分。

两轮20局总成绩：大洋洲队11胜1和8负得11-1/2分，楚汉英雄会8胜1和11负得8-1/2分.

大洋洲队胜出。

棋赛主办方希望以后能有更多机会，进行更多国际交流，促进象棋在世界发展，加强各国各地民众情谊。