Chess switch hitter, Rong Guang YE, made a triumphal return to his native
land last Fall. Bill Brydon met him in Shanghai.
Is it possible to master two kinds of chess? Does it make you a better player?
Is it more fun?
Chess grandmaster Rong Guang YE is finding out. In the Fall of 1999, he won
prizes in back-to-back international Xiangqi tournaments, finishing ninth in
Shenyang (in Manchuria) and tenth in the Shanghai World Cup. In Shanghai, he
finished ahead of several of the best players outside of China, including
Vietnamese champion, Cao Khoa DAO; Philippines champion, Heung Ming CHONG; and
San Francisco’s Dot Sun YAN.
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Kazuharu SHOSHI (right) in an exhibition game
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This is probably the strongest chess crossover statement since the career of the
legendary Sultan KHAN in the 1930s. But YE is far from alone. Many Asian players
are strong in two types of chess, and some (like Toronto’s Peter Sung) play Go
as well. As regional tournament circuits grow, more crossovers will emerge.
Other examples of Xiangqi cross-overs include the above-mentioned CHONG, who
teaches chess to students, and Japan’s Kazuharu SHOSHI, a Shogi
professional who has had several impressive results in Asian Xiangqi
tournaments. Look for more about SHOSHI in the Mindzine.
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Robert Hübner
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YE is not the first chess GM to try Xiangqi. Robert Hübner,
one of the world’s
best players in the 1970s and early 1980s, played in the 1993 World Cup in
Beijing. He had played less than 40 serious games, and was apologetic about his
level of play. But his score was good: 4.5/9, and he placed 36th out of 76
players. The other German players are still asked about him at tournaments.
We’ll tell you more about Hübner and Germany’s strong community
of chess crossovers in future stories.
By the time YE reached Shanghai, he had become a big sports news story. After
each round, interviewers and camera jockeys hurried past well-known Xiangqi GMs,
and cornered YE (they also sought out "non-Asian" players). He was introduced
to me at the opening ceremonies by Dutch organizer, W.C. DING. While I was
ogling the Xiangqi GMs at the centre table, several people told me that a chess
GM was nearby. I scarcely payed attention until DING appeared, GM in tow. As I
looked for my notebook, people crowded around to hear YE’s story. Mr. DING acted
as translator.
YE was born in 1963, and grew up in WenZhou, an industrial city of seven million
on China’s East coast, South of Shanghai. He began playing Xiangqi when he was
five or six years old, and switched to chess when he was 11. He loved Xiangqi,
and played well, but never seriously. People told him: "Xiangqi is very good,
and you have to play it." But he was better at chess. He moved to Tianjin for
formal training, and had no time for Xiangqi.
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YE in play
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He has played in a variety of international chess events, including three
Olympiads, the first in 1988. He believes that his peak time was 1990, the year
he won his GM title. This was at the Asian championship in Malaysia, a title he
has won three times. He settled in the Netherlands, and won the Belgian
championship in 1996, and the Dutch championship in 1997.
His opponents have included all the top Russians save Karpov and Kasparov, as
well as Veselin Topalov, Michael Adams, and Vishy Anand. He thinks his best
games were against
John Nunn in 1989 ,
and Ivan Sokolov in 1988
- both before he became a GM. He has also scored impressive wins against
Gata Kamsky and Murray Chandler. All of these games can be found at
Chess Lab.
YE decided to try Xiangqi after a 1997 phonecall from DING. He practiced against
local xiangqi players until he was ready for serious play. Shenyang was his first
tournament, and, although he won a prize, he didn’t play a grandmaster. He told
me that he’d be happy to meet one in Shanghai, but expected to lose. This didn’t
happen. Using Swiss system savvy, he used cautious draws against strong players
to stay close to, but behind, the leading group. He finished with four wins,
four draws, and a loss to Malaysia’s Weng Yew HOR (who rocked him with a piece
sacrifice in a quiet position). Take a look at an analyzed YE Xiangqi game in
"Poker Face".
To see collection of YE's Chess and Xiangqi games, click
here.
In my opinion, Ye’s successes were partly due to grandmaster-level talent, and
partly due to his enormous competitive experience. The playing opportunities
that western chess players take for granted are unavailable to Xiangqi players
outside China. YE made consistently sensible moves in complicated positions, and
avoided serious mistakes, even when in difficulties. When he simplified, his
opponents had difficulty in stopping him from drawing. In a word, he’s gritty.
Toronto’s Stephen Fung, who lost to YE in Shenyang, said: "He doesn't have a lot
of fancy moves, but he plays OK. I wouldn't say he's an excellent player". Fung
says he under-estimated YE, and was surprised by his strength in the endgame.
YE’s autumn adventure took him to the top of Europe’s Xiangqi rating list. His
62 places him slightly ahead of France’s Thanh Trung DANG, with 63 (the
lower the better). In comparison, Heung Ming CHONG stands at 57, and Kazuharu
SHOSHI at 111. Qin LU leads the world with 12. (International Xiangqi
ratings are compiled in Germany by Siegfried Huber, and can be found at
DXB homepage.)
YE’s FIDE chess rating was 2516 in January 1 2000. He has been above 2600 in the past.
YE thinks that he has more talent for chess than for Xiangqi, and that this will
keep him from playing very well. He is interested in Xiangqi, but he thinks
chess is the better game. He told me: "European chess is more difficult than
Xiangqi. It's more favorable. In every step (move) you can make more of a
difference. It is not easy to win a game".
This raises the "great question", so often hotly debated within Xiangqi circles:
Which game is more difficult? In the Xiangqi Review, David Woo has argued that
chess is more challenging in the opening, and Xiangqi in the end-game. It’s
worth noting that drawing strong players (like "the world" did against Qin LU)
is very different from beating them. Difficult end-games can sometimes be
avoided (YE seemed to be doing this), but the greatest tests come when you seek
them. In a future story, Phuc NGUYEN will show Mindzine readers how Xiangqi
masters seek victory in the end-game.
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Heung Ming CHONG
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In Spring 1999, I asked Heung Ming CHONG to compare the two games. The then
21-year-old five-time Philippines Xiangqi champion told me that it is
beneficial to play both: "I use the theory of chess to play
Xiangqi, and Xiangqi to play
chess". He said that Xiangqi teaches him to analyze more correctly:
"If you know how to use the horse in Xiangqi, you will be more expert at
using the knight in international chess". He also said that western chess
books are strong in theory and principle, and he tries to apply these to Xiangqi.
Since China’s shocking success at the 1978 Olympiad, good results by Chinese and
Vietnamese unknowns have become normal and frequent. Either all, or almost all,
of these players crossed over from Xiangqi as children. Is this a source of
advantage? Did it help Rong Guang YE? I’d bet on it.
Bill Brydon, with help from Jouni Tolonen
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