——记中国象棋大师网创始人杨树权——
来源 : 燕赵晚报
记者 常明 实习生 崔静
Yang Shuquan: Life is like chess, moves without regret
Source: Yanzhao Evening News
Among the many Xiangqi websites, "Zhongguo Xiangqi Dashi Wang" has two unique features: firstly, playing online through the website is touch and move, secondly, there is a blocking system to prevent software cheating. Mr. Yang Shuquan（杨树权）, founder of the website, explained: "Life is like chess, and there is no stepping back of the previous move." The website has been founded for seven years, the aim is not for making profit, but to give Xiangqi fans a place to have fun. Yang Shuquan, the super fan interprets his love of the game with the same idea of touch and move in competition, without any regrets whatsoever.
Twice in tribulations, he never relented his tenacity
Yang Shuquan looked skinny and thin, but his will power was extraordinary. At one time, he had became a disabled person, victim of a car accident two years ago; then, he almost died because of the "Jia Liu"（甲流）epidemy, he miraculously survived both times. By coincidence, both tribulations occurred during the time of a Xiangqi competition. He concluded jokingly maybe that Xiangqi is bonded to him for the rest of his life.
Previously, Yang Shuquan have had dream of becoming a Xiangqi master, but the accident in 1983 shattered this dream, his knee had broken. At that time Yang Shuquan was travelling to Inner Mongolia to take part in a competition, as a player representing the Hebei Workers' Team, when his kneecap was shattered, the doctor had advised him to amputate the leg to save his life.
He refused to accept the operation and risked a higher amputation of the leg later on, opted for a less radical treatment. "I was only 23 years old, how could I manage without my foot? If it hadn't been for that accident, I would probably be a professional Xiangqi player by now." The pain he suffered in the recovery process was painful and unbearable. He had to move his knees from time to time, each flex movement took almost a week to complete. With great will power, two years later, he was out of the pain and regained his mobility gradually.
The struggle with fate continued. In 2010, when he participated in a Xiangqi tournament in Yunnan, he fell ill with the "Jia Liu" epidemy, he had much difficulty breathing and fell into a coma. "For the first time, I tasted the feeling of near-death, numb from the toes and fingertips to the whole body. At that time, all drugs were tried and used, the doctor told me, whether I can survive or not this time will depend mainly on myself. I thought about my family and friends, thought that there was still a lot of chess things I didn't do and complete, so I gritted my teeth and stood up for the fight of my life. If I had lesser faith, I would not have sat before you right now. Saying so, Yang Shuquan sighed deeply with emotion.
For seven years, he lost money for Xiangqi and earned goodwill
After the two tribulations, Yang Shuquan came to his senses in life. Grasping the time and doing more meaningful things has become Yang Shuquan's goal. If he can't do his dream of becoming a Xiangqi master, he still can contribute to the promotion of the game. Xiangqi is a good inspirational project, in order to let more people enjoy its benefits, he decided to create the "Xiangqi master website" in 2006.
Xiangqi has a broad popularity base, among the millions of fan and players, how to match and pair opponent players with equal strength is even a more difficult problem. In 1993, Yang Shuquan rented a place of more than 60 square meters to run a chess hall, and welcomed Xiangqi fans there to play free. Later, he discovered that there were still too few Xiangqi fans, so he decided to set up a Xiangqi website. When there were some large-scale tournament in Shijiazhuang（石家庄）, the website was there to broadcast the tournament live and free.
It happened some blind Xiangqi fans wanted to play online, Yang Shuquan and his programmers accordingly developed the country's first online blind chess system. When some others reported that there were omissions and defects in the system, Yang Shuquan immediately revised and updated the programme, painstakingly spent a month and a half to improve it. Yang Shuquan said: "I understand the suffering of disability, I have also been disabled myself. So, I will try to meet their needs as much as possible."
Yang Shuquan owned a chemical company, which was doing big before year 2008, however the company was affected by the financial crisis world-wide and shrunk in capital and size. Despite all this, the website stood up. How much money has it been invested during the seven years? Owner Yang didn't want to reveal, only said that he could bear it. An unnamed Xiangqi fan said that Yang's value to the game cannot be measured by money, and that if there are more people love the game, that is Yang's true value.
Owner Yang's story has touched more and more Xiangqi fans, and more and more selfless fans have also touched and moved him. A large number of articles and chess game entries are all voluntarily compiled by Xiangqi enthusiasts and friends. Some online competitions require adjudication in person, and many referees came freely to offer their help.
At the moment, the website has registered more than 600,000 chess fans, and many foreign friends came from the United States and Australia, which made owner Yang feel very pleased - he believes giving financing money for Xiangqi is really worth it!
Take back moves and cheating both destroy minds and spirit
It is good that the number of Xiangqi fans are growing, but there is a bad phenomenon that in addition to fans who like to do take back moves, there are many people who use software to cheat, and many domestic websites are still allowing this bad habit of these fans, Yang Shuquan disapproves of this 100%.
"Chess is like real life, taking back moves already made and cheating with software too often will ruin a person's mind and fighting spirit. This is completely contrary to the character and essence of Xiangqi. To cheat with software is to satisfy vanity, in the long run, who will use their brains to play the game? If you have made a wrong move, that's it, a mistake is a mistake and you must be punished accordingly. If you are wrong, just avoid doing it again, and you will not make the same mistake next time. It's like life, how can you re-start all over again if you have committed a wrong? As a result, Zhongguo Xiangqi Dashi Wang has become the main Xiangqi website in the land which blocks online software when playing online.
In the Xiangqi circle, the website is becoming more and more popilar and well-known. Just a few days earlier, after looking at Sina（新浪）and several other dedicated Xiangqi websites, the organizing committee of the National Xiangqi Championship finally set the Zhongguo Xiangqi Dashi Wang as the only selected base for fans' general selection（海选）. Looking further to the future, owner Yang wants to hold online blind chess tournaments, and also wants to launch a national online "Xiangqi premier division amateur league", and even more of that, he wants to promote Xiangqi to schools and Universities. "Twelve years ago, the Ministry of Education issued a document on 'Three Chess: Xiangqi, Weiqi and Chess into School', but very few people in Xiangqi responded to it," he said. At present, Shijiazhuang does not have a "Xiangqi characteristic school". "If there is a school interested, I am willing to give Xiangqi lessons for free.” Yang Shuquan emphatically said.
(reporter Chang Ming and intern Cui Jing)
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Source：梅香苦寒来
2014-5-14
~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~
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