郑惟桐百万大奖采访

A Million Yuan Winner's Interview

The Mind Sports News, Beijing ：On 16th of October, 2016, the first version of "Chu He Han Jie"（楚河汉界）World Xiangqi King Tournament（世界棋王赛）was held in Xingyang Honggou, Henan. The world champion Zheng Weitong, aged 22, playing Black twice sacrificed his pieces, launched a great attack and won the contest in 106 moves, in a Rook, Cannon and Pawns versus Rook, Cannon ending against Xie Jing, aged 27. The winner pocketed one million yuan for his day's effort.

After the epic game, talking about his feeling, Zheng Weitong said: "Because the prize money of this competition is very high, I am also under very great pressure, and I finally won, I am really happy, very excited, and very grateful to the organizers."

In today's game, the spectators saw Zheng Weitong showing a sense of positive behaviour, even in his walk. Did he have any secret preparation? Zheng Weitong smiled, "I originally wanted to prepare for the first hand moves, playing first hand is relatively easy to take control, while playing the Black pieces is not that easy." Then he changed conversation : "To be able to play such a positive game, I think there is a certain degree of pressure forcing me to come out to give my best. This time it is not only of a high bonus, but also a high significance. The venue of the competition itself was chosen at the historical battle field of the Chu-Han War (楚汉战争).”

Yes, Jiang Quansheng, the head of his Chengdu Chess Academy support group, bluntly said that "Zheng Weitong will be a under enormous pressure today, he has been thinking over his very first move for a long time, just to calming down his mood", though the pressure was the same for both sides. Zheng Weitong said about his opponent Xie Jing, "It's a pity, in fact, he also performed very well today, but there was a Rook retreat in the middle game, maybe that gave me some opportunities. Overall, I am very satisfied with today's game, and both of us have shown a very high level of play."

Zheng Weitong commented, "This event is very good, up to now it is the largest event in the history of Xiangqi. Before the candidates list was announced, I thought, even if I can't participate, I should pay attention to the whole process, cheering and applauding, and work hard to increase the influence of Xiangqi. When the list came out, I was fortunate enough to participate, I felt that I am under a lot of pressure and also having great motivation. Perhaps, this may not necessarily be the most important game of my life, because there is no doubt a lot of valuable things, unfathomable to happen in life, but today's game is definitely the most emotional and stressful for me at the moment."

Zheng Weitong mentioned pressure times and times again, as a winner. Now that one million yuan finally secured, Zheng Weitong was relieved, finally relaxed. Such a high reward, how Zheng Weitong going to spend the money? Many Xiangqi fans suggested that he could now marry, as the dowry was in place. Zheng Weitong laughed: "I really didn't think about it, I was playing my game wholeheartedly, and I have no idea about how to spend the bonus. However, I might think about it later on."

The states of Chu and Han had fought for hegemony, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu have caused heated discussions throughout the ages, some like Liu Bang, some worship Xiang Yu. In today's game, Zheng Weitong playing Black, was like Xiang Yu, very brave and fearless. Zheng Weitong commented : "The two of them are great historical heroes，it's hard to say who I like more, I think they were all good, all victorious."

In fact, today's game, regardless of victory or defeat, both sides are actually winners, and the biggest winner is Xiangqi, making a great social impact caused by the million yuan tournament. Congratulations to Zheng Weitong, the World King of Xiangqi Tournament.

象棋王子(Xiangqi Prince)

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Source : 蝴蝶飞的博客
2016-10-16

~ a XIANGQI EN BLOG translation ~