Twin Brothers of Xiangqi
Art has its own high and noble state of achievement, and the higher mode of Xiangqi apart of honour, that of chess luck, or chess destiny（棋运）. Here is the story of two brothers sharing a common hope that Xiangqi will one day be on an equal footing with Chess and Weiqi, and that professional players will appear in the days to come, widening the Xiangqi scene.
Guo Xianbin（郭宪滨）and Guo Xianfeng（郭宪丰）were twins; Guo Xianbin is the older one, and Guo Xianfeng is the younger. The interviewer at first was a little worried that he would confuse the identity of the two. But luckily there was no confusion.
Do twins have same interests in life of everything? The interviewer strongly felt that the two of them had the same degree of dedication and enthusiasm for Xiangqi, and thought that this was more related due to being twins.
Talking about the origin of learning the game, the two brothers have the same background, that of the influence of their eldest brother. "We were influenced by our older brother Xianchuan（宪川）, we started playing when in elementary school. We often loved to ride in our bicycles to Ertiaolu's Chun Manyuan（春满园）, known as the 'Shaolin Temple of Xiangqi', to get practice. We watched the masters players playing. Sometimes we split up and separated, one played at the Penang Xiangqi Association, the other went to play against people at the Gunpu Tea House, and when we returned home in the evening, the two of us would analyse and review our games." Xianfeng said.
When they were still young, the two often played with each other, because as they were new hands, not many advanced players were willing to play against them. It happened that in Chun Manyuan, where many top players gathered, they were very lucky to have met one veteran master of Xiangqi called Lin Qingmei（林清美）, who was known as "Black Zhang Fei". After Lin Qingmei's guidance and help, the two brothers mastered many endgame techniques and skills. There was also their elder brother Guo Xianchuan who worked tirelessly to send the two to participate in competitions in various places, virtually enhanced and hightened the actual combativity experience of the twin brothers.
In 1988, at the age of 14, the elder one won the All Penang Junior Championship. This achievement was an inspiration to both of them and kept them on their path of Xiangqi. Two years later, in 1990, the two brothers began to emerge at the Penang Open Championship, winning second and third place respectively, proving that the first choice of Xiangqi was correct. Since then, their careers have gradually developped, and their steps have also extended to foreign countries, competing with more players and expanding their sphere of skills and knowledge.
The brilliant achievements of Xianbin and Xianfeng are numerous, they themselves have met each other countless of times. As the saying goes, "there is no father and son on the battlefield", will the two brothers put aside their family affection when they face each other in a match? The elder one hesitated for a while and said, "I don't know if it's a coincidence or other factors, if the two of us meet, it will usually end in a draw, maybe it's the family factors." However, because the way Xiangqi is played which is unlike football or other ball games, the key to winning a game of Xiangqi is that the other side is hard pressed so as to commit a mistake, so sometimes a set of drawing positions can be won, which may be the reason why we play games resulting in many draws."
The turning point
It can be said that since 1988, the two brothers really got involved in Xiangqi competitions, winning many prizes and awards in the following few years, such as the national tournament, the Malaysia-Singapore Cup tournament and other interstate or international competitions, the twins were taking off really well. But then things developped the other way, just like in a chess game.
"Later, from 1992 to 1996, we were not in Penang because we were studying abroad, and we rarely appeared in Xiangqi tournaments, we were not so active, we only participated in the national college competition. Partly because of academic study, it was impossible to do both, so we gradually fade out of the Xiangqi scene. However, this pause was also indirectly prompted by some other Xiangqi incidents." Xianfeng said.
In many ways, Xianbin and Xianfeng are doing things together. Xianbin did not play from 1991 to 2001 for ten years. Looking back on the blank decade, he is a little embarrassed, "The Xiangqi incidents deeply distracted me, and my whole person was passive and silent during that period." After a period of reflection, I decided to take a long-term view and set up the Zhongyou Xiangqi Club（钟友象棋队）to promote the game in my way. "
Compared with Xianbin, Xianfeng took a shorter time of 'comeback'. "When I returned to Penang in '97 to take part in the Open and won third place, the president of the Xiangqi Association, Poon Tak Ming（潘德明）, said that one of Penang's chess players, He Rongyao, had joined the Direct District team, so Penang's team strength was affected and weakened, after considering this new factor, I came back earlier and helped Penang winning the national team championship back-to-back."
With this comeback, Xianfeng continued to develop in Xiangqi, and Xianbin as mentioned before, re-joined the fun in 2001, taking part in the first National Youth Xiangqi Tournament. Xianbin thought that it was a 'warming-up', although the basic skills are still there, yet it was quite rusty to leave the Xiangqi world for ten long years.
Though he has been away from the game for a while, Xianbin has not allowed himself to stop in this regard, he has used his higher education knowledge to apply in his Xiangqi research, and he is one of the Penang players who uses software to improve his skills, besides the international grandmaster Li Jiaqing（李家庆）. "Xiangqi should use more developed computer technology, there are many software or websites related to it, such as Xiangqi Studio, Xiangqi Bridge, etc., it is easy nowadays to find opponents, you can play with computers or you can connect to play against players around the world."
Chess opens another door in life
Xiangqi is excellent in testing a person's thinking and calmness. The game has changed Xianfeng's personality, and in terms of dealing with things. He often faced life with the attitude of coping with the Xiangqi game. At the same time, through Xiangqi, Xianfeng has met many people and made friends with them, when he saw people playing, he would involuntarily come nearer to them. "I once saw a group of people playing against each other on the way from Kajang driving to Penang, so I got out of the car and got to join them and have fun, and I ended up meeting a group of Xiangqi friends there."
For Xianbin, the game allows him to systematize the details of his life, just as every game of Xiangqi has an Opening pattern. "I think we're going to be more mature than people our age, and that has something to do with our life's encounters. From the beginning of our contact with the Xiangqi world, we have been mixing and shuttling through and around the adult world, so we have seen and heard more about life than our friends of the same age. In addition, Xiangqi games are also very particular about psychological warfare, so we gradually know how to figure out the psychology of others."
The Xiangqi tribulation has left them with regrets in their lives, but it has also opened another door. Because of the incident, there is a Zhongyou Xiangqi Club. Because of the Zhongyou Club, Penang has a larger number of newer good players, and it is not a bad thing to continue the Xiangqi tradition and cultural heritage. Many times in life, losing doesn't mean losing forever, you will still gain something else.
~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~
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