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Young Rivals Play "Too Safe"
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7 December 2000
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Bill Brydon, with help from Elton Yuen
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Rong Hua HU on the Chinese championship
Rong Hua HU's victory in November's Chinese Xiangqi championship proves that the younger generation has not surpassed him. At least that's how he tells it.
Chinese press reports quote HU as saying that he keeps playing at the age of 55 because he "truly doesn't believe" that the "young players, XU and LU", have "overcome him", despite their higher ratings.
The players in question are Qin LU and Yin Chuan XU, powerful grandmasters that most people see as Xiangqi's dominant forces. To HU, winner of 14 national titles, they are junior colleagues. He says that he would "actually like to see these people overcome him".
He points out that XU has not lost a game in the "individual championship" since 1997, but has only won one title during that period. XU won in 1998, LU in 1999, and HU in both 1997 and 2000. HU says that XU and LU are trying to be "too safe", rather than "going aggressively" to win the game.
XU and LU are Cantonese, and are based in Guangzhou, Xiangqi's leading city. HU is the best player in Shanghai, which stands next. This heightens the rivalry between them.
HU's use of the phrase "individual championship" is typical for a leading Xiangqi player. In many places, and at many levels, team and individual championships are given equal status. This is true in Canada, for example.
HU says that he was helped by a loss. After three rounds, he had a win and two draws. Then he was beaten by XU. Stung by this, he reeled off an incredible six straight wins. With a round to go, he led XU and LU, the reigning champion, by one point. He drew the last round quickly, and won the tournament by that single point.
The individual championship is an exceptionally strong swiss tournament. Every year it brings together a majority of the world's leading players. Tiebreak points are often used to determine the winner. A one-point margin is truly impressive.
North and South
Ironically, this year's tournament interrupted an event where HU, LU, and XU are all on the same team. This is the North and South "leitai" tournament (a type of knockout competition), which features teams from above and below the Yangtse River. Each team began with eight members, including a female player and a junior player.
The Chinese championship began as this event was drawing to a close. The Southern team still had XU, LU, and HU. The Northern team was down to Guo Rong ZHAO of Heilongjiang Province. He is a powerhouse, but his chances of knocking out these three are not good. His next opponent will be XU.
Information for this story comes from Chinese-language information available on the Web, loosely translated by Elton Yuen of the Toronto Xiangqi Association. Chinese readers can find more, including a round-by-round account of the Chinese championship, in the news section of Peter Sung's Chinese Chess Home Page.
Elton adds that the brilliant Wen Qing YAN has slipped again. YAN almost won the 1998 individual championship, finishing second on tiebreak to XU, who beat him the final round. This cost YAN a GM title. The following year, XU won the Sixth World Cup ahead of YAN, again preventing him from becoming a GM.
YAN immediately went on to the 1999 Chinese championship, played poorly, and was demoted to the B division. Now we are told that he has had a disappointing result in this tournament. Xiangqi, like its western relative, can be very cruel.
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