Xiangqi has long been one of the popular cultural pursuits, attracting countless enthusiasts with its unique charm. In modern times, the game has developed in many other countries and across continents. Macao has hosted some large-scale tournaments, thus building bridges and links to Southeast Asia and the world.
From the colonial era to nowadays Macao Special Administrative Region, the game has maintained its attraction, produced a number of high calibre players. Among them the "Macao Qiwang" (chess king) Li Jinhuan was quite remarkable. In 2005 during the World Xiangqi Championship in Paris he single-handedly defeated China's Grandmasters Lu Qin and Liu Dianzhong, and Taipei's Wu Guilin, winning 2nd place ahead of many top world players.
Macao is a small city having deep European and Chinese influences, an area about 30 square kilometers with a population around 500,000. Though well known as a gambling city, not many residents are addicted to gambling itself. On the contrary, large number of residents like to play Xiangqi, but due to crowded environment, people are rarely invited to play at home. With folding tables and chairs, the narrow streets and alleys are the ideal playing grounds, a unique local scene in the old streets area. The city authority also built leisure centres, putting up stone tables and benches for residents to enjoy.
The few small public parks have become a paradise for Xiangqi lovers, the little triangular garden located at the junction of Taishan, Yuhan and Heisha Bay is always crowded with players, very often dozens of games are played all at the same time. The renowned Li Jinhuan played there, reputedly giving odds of 2 Knights to all comers. The first time I (the artice writer) played against Li Jinhuan in the park, I only asked to play first move, and I lost after an hour of play. Macao's other top players Liu Yongde and Xu Baokun often play in the park too, basically unbeaten. These players rarely cross the boundary to challenge one another, thus keeping good and friendly relationship.
In addition to Macao parks and streets and alleys, there are also clubs opened to Xiangqi enthusiasts, these clubs charged a cheap entrance fee for playing, the owners of these clubs are all people known in the chess circle. Masters and top players often come in the clubs, so people are more attracted to play.
As a community of associations, all organizations have to be registered before they can conduct various activities. The government allocates funds for activities that benefit residents. Macao Xiangqi Federation spares no effort to give local players more opportunity for practice. At present, the main events held every year are the Macao Xiangqi Individual Open, the Team Open, the Individual Quickplay Open and the Youth Tournament.
The Individual Open is held in March, which is the most important tournament in Macao, and players can use the event to determine their own ranking, the Xiangqi Federation uses the results of the event to decide the candidate players for the year's external tournaments.
The Team Open is held in April, which is an important event for teams and clubs to fight for prestige and reputation, it is usually a good time to recruit players to play for the teams. Those with a certain degree of ability are much in demand, they are deeply appreciated for their contribution.
The Quickplay Open was added in recent years, often held in May, with the aim of allowing players to be fluent with the fast chess format increasingly seen at home and abroad. The Youth Tournament is often held in June or July, a very important competition for young players as first step into the Xiangqi world.
In recent years, the Macao Xiangqi Federation has hosted the 7th and 10th World Xiangqi Championships, the Asian Indoor Games Xiangqi Tournament, and will host the 15th Asian Cup Xiangqi Tournament at the end of this year 2011.
The Macao Xiangqi Federation attaches great importance to external competitions, which are opportunities for local players to learn and get more practical experience. In addition to annual domestic team and individual competitions, there is also the Hong Kong-Macao Cup tournament.
The players themselves welcome all the activities, they really wanted to show off their ability. However, as we know local players are all amateur, they have their own jobs proper, their playing opportunities often restricted, the Xiangqi Federation does not have much additional fund to support for the players' days of lost earning, it can only select people who are free at the time, so that for the external competitions representatives are often not ideally of first-line players.
In order to discover and train new good players, the Macao Xiangqi Federation has been holding teaching classes all year round, conducted by Grandmaster Li Jinhuan and other top players, they also teach at some special interest classes set up by the government, the training courses are all free. However, interest classes often need to be allocated by lottery draws because of the large number of applicants, those assigned to the Xiangqi classes do not necessarily like Xiangqi, the schools themselves may lack staff resources or maybe interested in other topics, in the end not too many schools take up the Xiangqi.
All this has put further pressure to the younger generation. However once a good seedling is selected, the Xiangqi Federation will dare to throw money into training, including organizing exchange competitions in Guangdong towns and cities during the summer vacation, and inviting Grandmasters to come to give lectures in Macao. Nowadays the rapidly rising young players Chen Zhaorong, Li Henghong, Wen Xunlan are typical local figures, Chen Zhaorong has played in the Asian Xiangqi Tournament and the World Mind Sport Games, achieving acceptable results for Macao.
In addition to the competitions organized by the Xiangqi Federation, various clubs and neighborhood associations also organized competitions from time to time, for example the Federation of Trade Unions holds the "Unity Cup" competition every year, attracting many masters to participate and has become the main event for players to gain practical experience. Other organizations and clubs also hold competitions every year, the "Street Champion Cup" tournament attracted many grass roots players.
Since the 90s, outstanding players include Leung Wai Hong, Liang Bo, Xu Baokun, Chen Tianwen, Liu Yongde, Chen Yijun, Li Jinhuan, Guo Yulong, Yu Jinyan and many others, and after 2000, we have Zheng Bairong, Du Guangwei, Liang Shaowen, Huang Shichao, Chen Zhaorong, Li Henghong and more, among them Li Jinhuan has been invincible in Macao from 90s to 2000s, winning at least ten championships, he was generally acknowledged to be the "Macao Qiwang".
In view of the fact that the overall level of Macao Xiangqi has not made a breakthrough, this year (2011) Macao has obtained the service of Cao Yanlei, a young Xiangqi master from Guangdong, many people believe that the Macao Xiangqi team will be greatly strengthened, no longer to be considered as easy and weak in the eyes of the top players in the competition.
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Source : 中体象棋网
~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~
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