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Moves so far:

Lo Ban is a xiangqi master, and one of the "Five Tigers" who dominated the Hanoi scene in the 1960s and 1970s. His many prizes include the 1962 Hanoi championship, and the 1993 Montreal championship. He also won one of Vietnam's first western chess tournaments. He now lives in Toronto.

When Lo Ban saw the game for the first time, he studied the position after 24 ...Hxc4 for 10 minutes without touching a piece. His only comment was: "Red has one piece more, but no pawns. It's easy to draw." Finally, he demonstrated his method, given below.

I asked him to go over the game, beginning with the moves before Lu's horse sacrifice. His comments:

19 Rh4 Ch5

"Only this move. Red threatens 20. Rxh9 Cxh9 21. Ng9+ Rf9 (forced) 22. Rxf9 winning. If 19 ... Ci9? 20. Rh8 and Black's in trouble."

20. Cg3 Cxe5 21. Hxe5 Rxe5

Lo played this instantly himself when he first saw the game. He said: "Hf6 is not good. 22. Rhf4 e6 23. Hd3 g4 24. Rxf6 g3 25. Rxe6, and Red has the advantage."

22. Cxg8 Rxf2 23. Cxf2 Ph5 24. Rg4 Hxc4

This was the current position. Lo said: "I think Red plays 25. Hxc4." He predicted:

25. Hxc4 c5

"If it's my move, I play this."

26. Ee3 Cxc4 27. Ci2

"Draw game. Red cannot win, and Black cannot win."

27 ... Rg5

"Black cannot win, so he should play this."

28. Rxc4 Rxg8 29. Rxc5 Rg4

A rook and a cannon can't beat a rook and four defenders, and Black has two additional pawns.

Lo commented that it's a good game, and Red has played very well, particularly in the opening. Black couldn't find a way to get the advantage.

The game actually continued 25. Hxc4 Rg5. Lo thought this would make no difference. His analysis runs:

26. Rxg5 Pxg5 27. Ci2 Pc5 28. Ege3 Pxc4 29. Cxi7 Ph5

"The Red pawn mustn't cross the river. With the two cannons, it would be dangerous."

30. Ci10 Kf10 31. Ch10 Pd4 32. Cgh8 Cc4

After both pawns are taken, neither side can create a mating attack. There is nothing to play for. 

- reported by Bill Brydon.

The World accepts Lu's offer of a draw.

To read an interview with Lu on this match - and a possible rematch! - click here.

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Taking on the world

Grandmaster Qin LU took on the rest of the world in a xiangqi challenge similar to the one held by chess champion Garry Kasparov.

Lu is the reigning Qi Wang - effectively the world champion - so this event generated a lot of excitement in the Chinese chess community.

The match began on 30 September with Mr. HaiLin SUN, the vice-mayor of Tianjin, starting for the World team with 1.Che3, and Lu replied with 1...Hg8. After this fan voting kicked in, and the rate of play is one move per day.

The official site of this match was: http://chess.online.tj.cn
and instructions for non-Chinese users can be found here. 

Bill Brydon and Peter Sung of the Toronto Xiangqi Association helped the MSO present this match online. 

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Commentary on the opening of the game so far is from Brydon, who wrote our introduction to xiangqi, and former world and Chinese women's champion, Yu Ying HUANG (pronounced "Wong").

Huang explains

Like LU, Huang comes from Guangdong Province in southern China. Her notes are supplied by Brydon with help from Stephen Fung, and can be seen here.

The Finnish player Jouni Tolonen also assisted, with game comments and news, plus helped us to establish a consistent form of algebraic notation. At the moment we present both forms of keeping score. 

David Woo of the Xiangqi Review supplied the newsgroup rec.games.chinese-chess with the moves. He reports: The way I understand it, LU is given the move after it's been tallied, and he has a few hours to reply.

Who decides choices for the world was never clearly identified. I spotted among the sponsors the name "ShaoLong QiYuan". We would take it as the school directed by ShaoLong HUANG, a veteran Chinese master and professor of the NanKai university in Tianjin.

Mr. HUANG was the top player of the area for more than three decades, and he was one of the pioneers in XiangQi computer programming. Now he's more into authoring books, especially on openings. Our guess it's that HUANG has at least a hand in this matter.

For earlier analysis of the game, click here.

For the second game, click here.

For the third game, click here.