Lian Xiao just picked up Zhou Ruiyang at the third Luoyang Baiyun Mountain Cup Chinese Chess Holy War and became the new Chinese chess saint.
The prize money of the Chinese chess holy war champion of this Luoyang Baiyun mountain cup is as high as 800,000 yuan, setting a new record for domestic chess battles, and according to the standards of Japanese chess battles, it should be regarded as "China's first chess battle". However, the challenge only uses three wins and losses, which makes people feel unfinished, to know that Japan's chess holy war, celebrity war, and Ben infang battle three major challenges are two-day system seven times wins and losses, and the winner of the title is more convincing.
In fact, before the Luoyang Baiyunshan Cup Chinese Chess Holy War, the Chinese chess community also had a chess holy war in which the final adopted seven victories and losses, and it also set off a wave of climax that year, but unfortunately it did not last long, and it was gradually forgotten.
Today we will review the history of the "old" Chinese chess holy war.
"Chess Saint" is the supreme praise of chess players, and it is natural to be more cautious when starting a chess holy war. The first chess saint in the history of modern Chinese Go was Nie Weiping, who was awarded the honor of "Chess Saint" by the National Sports Commission and the Chinese Weiqi Association on March 22, 1988 for his outstanding performance in the Sino-Japanese ring.
In 1998, the "Xikou Cup" Chinese Go Jihad co-sponsored by the China Weiqi Association and Shanghai Nanjiang Enterprise Development Co., Ltd. was founded, and Nie Weiping Qisheng gave full understanding and support to the launch of this competition, and "Qisheng" finally became an honor that Chinese chess players can obtain through competitions.
The first two eras of contention
The prize money of the "Xikou Cup" Chinese chess holy war champion was 300,000 yuan, which was also the highest in domestic chess battles at that time. The tournament imitates the Japanese chess jihad format and is divided into four stages: the championship of each stage, the championship of the whole section, the decision of the highest chess player and the seven-fold victory and defeat of the champion and runner-up. The first tournament was officially launched on August 26, 1998, the birthday of Marshal Chen Yi, and the date chosen was to pay tribute to this old revolutionary who made great contributions to the development of Go in China.
The first "Xikou Cup" Chinese chess holy war was fiercely contested, and the final champions of each dan group were: Shi Jinbao of the first stage group, Wang Yao of the second stage group, Wang Yang of the third stage group, Hu Yaoyu in the fourth stage group, Chen Rui in the fifth stage group, Luo Xiehe in the sixth stage group, Fang Jie in the seventh stage group, Yang Shihai in the eighth dan group, and Liu Xiaoguang in the ninth dan group. The ensuing full-stage championship was played by the first to sixth-dan champions and seventh-dan champions, who were won by Roche.
The supreme chess player decision battle consisted of 16 people, of which 8 were seed players, they were Nie Weiping, Ma Xiaochun, Chang Hao, Ding Wei, Cao Dayuan, Yu Bin, Shao Weigang, Zhou Heyang, these eight masters were the most influential figures in the Chinese chess world at that time. The other eight are the top four in the nine-dan group, the champion and runner-up in the eight-dan group, the champion in the seven-dan group and the champion of the all-section championship. After three rounds of single elimination matches, 16 players produced two finalists, resulting in Ma Xiaochun winning consecutive victories over Yang Shihai, Shao Weigang and Zhou Heyang, and Chang Hao on the other side winning consecutively over Song Xuelin, Zhang Wendong and Luo Xianhe, two chess players who represented the highest level of Chinese Go at that time joined hands in the final to play the highest standard of seven win-loss showdowns. They are also the best representatives of the two generations of Chinese Go players, and this final can be called the "battle of the times".
That seven-game victory and defeat is a rare fanqi classic in the history of modern Go in China, and the two masters of the first four games have won black, and the battle is a 2-2 draw. In the fifth game, Ma Xiaochun narrowly won with a white half-eye, mastering the match point, and the "chess saint" throne was close at hand. But Chang Hao gave full play to his resilience, the sixth game of the white equalizer, the seventh game of the decisive battle, guessed the black chess Chang Hao strong, won the middle game, and finally became the first "chess saint" in the history of Chinese Go to rely on the game.
During the final of the seven victories and losses, it was also revealed that Ma Xiaochun was dissatisfied with Zhang Xuan (who had just married Chang Hao at the time) when he closed the plate at noon, and Ma's famous saying "How to get sixteen paragraphs in nine paragraphs" (at that time, Chang Hao and Zhang Xuan were eight paragraphs) was rumored for a while, which objectively played a role in promoting the avoidance system during the future competition.
The Second Battle of Zhou Heyang's Righteous Name
In 1999, the second "Xikou Cup" Chinese Go Jihad was launched, the format was the same as the first, and a challenge system was set up, and the highest chess player decided the winner of the battle to launch a seven-fold challenge to the defending champion Chang Hao.
The first stage championship competition emerged a number of new and powerful heroes, and the champions of each stage group were: Wang Lei of the first stage group, Chen Jia of the second stage group, Lin Feng of the third stage group, Huang Yizhong of the fourth stage group, Kong Jie of the fifth stage group, Dong Yan of the sixth stage group, Ding Wei of the seventh stage group, Wang Lei of the eighth stage group, and Cao Dayuan of the nine-dan group. It is worth mentioning that Wang Runan and Nie Weiping, two seniors, won the runner-up in the eight-dan group and the nine-dan group respectively.
In the full-section championship, Dong Yan won the championship after winning the five-dan group champion Kong Jie and the seventh-dan group runner-up Wang Hongjun, and scored the highest chess player decision battle.
After Ma Xiaochun defeated Qiu Jun in the first battle, he lost to Shao Weigang in the quarterfinals, "paying off the debt" for eliminating the opponent in the first tournament, and had no chance to launch a "revenge campaign" against Chang Hao. Shao Weigang then washed the river again and scored into the challenger decision match. On the other hand, Zhou Heyang defeated Song Xuelin, Ding Wei, and Wang Lei, and met with Shao Weigang.
It is worth noting that all the characters who entered the final four of the chess holy war decided to fight were all the characters in the "Seven Little Dragons", plus the defending chess saint Chang Hao, these young people had become the real pillars of Chinese Go at that time.
The challengers decided to win the battle three times, Zhou Heyang lost one set first and then won two consecutive cities, 2-1 reverse Shao Weigang, and obtained the qualification to challenge Chang Hao.
At that time, Chang Hao was like a day in the sky, and the results of the confrontation between each other over the years were also ahead of Zhou Heyang, and before the start of the seven victories and losses, most people were optimistic that Chang Hao could successfully defend his title. No one ever thought that the score would be one-sided 4-0, and the winning side was Zhou Heyang. Zhou Heyang won four consecutive mid-game games, and the number of hands became smaller and smaller, and in the fourth game, it took only 155 hands to make Chang Hao a subject and jump to the throne of chess. If you follow the customs of the Japanese chess community, he can be said to have ascended to the sky in one step and become the "first person in Chinese Go".
The second chess holy war is Zhou Heyang's battle of the right name, and he uses the heavy chess holy golden cup to tell the world: I am undoubtedly the top chess player in the Chinese chess world.
The third Yu Bin reversed Zhang Wendong
In 2000, the third "Xikou Cup" Chinese chess holy war continued, this session modified the rules, no longer adopt the challenge system, the defending champion directly into the highest chess player decision battle, Zhou Heyang must be a little depressed.
The winners of the championships in the first stage were: Wang Lei in the first stage group, Shi Jinbao in the second stage group, Zhang Dongyue in the third stage group, Lin Feng in the fourth stage group, Huang Yizhong in the fifth stage group, Qiu Jun in the sixth stage group, Wang Yuhui in the seventh stage group, Wang Qun in the eighth stage group, and Zhang Wendong in the ninth dan group.
In the second stage of the full-stage championship, Qiu Jun, the champion of the six-dan group, finally defeated Wang Haijun, the runner-up of the seven-dan group, and scored the highest chess player decision battle.
In the third stage, the top chess player decided to have a focus battle in the first round of the battle, and the defending champion Zhou Heyang encountered the first runner-up Ma Xiaochun, and the result was that Zhou Heyang broke the barrier. The first champion Chang Hao was thrown off his horse by Ding Wei, and the situation was chaotic.
After Zhou Heyang defeated Ma Xiaochun, he eliminated his disciple Wang Lei and advanced to the semifinals. Nie Weiping, the runner-up of the nine-dan group, went crazy again, and even frustrated Luo Xiehe and Wang Qun to reach the final four. The other two places in the final four were won by Yu Bin and Zhang Wendong, and the chess players of the 50s, 60s and 70s all had outstanding performances.
The semi-finals were won and lost three times, Yu Bin beat Nie Weiping 2-1, Zhang Wendong reversed Zhou Heyang 2-1, and the two post-60s masters joined hands in the final, making the post-70s masters who wanted to unify the Chinese chess world feel pressured.
The first two games of the seven-game final were played at the China Chess Academy in May 2001, and Zhang Wendong won consecutive victories, and the momentum of winning the championship was unstoppable. Fortunately, at this time, the game was suspended, and after more than a month, it moved to Shanghai to compete in the second stage of the final. Yu Bin found his state, the third half-eye narrowly won a shot out of control, and even the next four cities completed a major reversal, of which the sixth innings of the final set he was also a narrow victory over half-eye, strength and luck were fully demonstrated.
Yu Binqi Christmas, this low-key chess player silently holds the titles of Asian Fast Chess King, World Chess King, Chinese Chess King, Chess Saint and so on, he is definitely one of the best representative players of Chinese Go in those years at the turn of the century.
Unfortunately, after the "Xikou Cup" Chinese Go Holy War was held for three sessions, the fourth session had just begun, and it was stranded for various reasons. To this day, the title of chess saint that Chang Hao, Zhou Heyang and Yu Bin have won is rarely mentioned, and the "chess saint" in the mouth of Chinese chess fans is still Nie Weiping.
Eleven years later, the new chess holy war was finally launched, in 2012, the "Luoyang Longmen Cup" Chinese chess holy war was founded, the championship prize of 600,000 yuan, she is both a new event, but also the inheritance of the old event. Nie Weiping Qisheng, former chess holy war champion Chang Hao, Zhou Heyang and Yu Bin all directly qualified for this tournament, and the scale of the tournament was grand, becoming another benchmark for domestic Go competitions. The first "Luoyang Dragon Gate Cup" Chinese chess holy war final was played between Zhou Ruiyang and Feng Jiaxi, and from the end of April to the beginning of May 2013, Zhou Ruiyang won three consecutive victories after two consecutive defeats, and won the championship in a big reversal. At the beginning of that year, he also won the first Lark Cup championship, with both international and domestic harvests, and the limelight was indistinguishable. In the second tournament, Lian Xiao won the right to challenge, but the challenge failed 1-3, and Zhou Ruiyang won the championship.
After two sessions, the "Luoyang Longmen Cup" Chinese chess holy war was also interrupted, and this year finally restarted the battle curtain, continuing the previous session, the championship prize was raised to 800,000 yuan, and the comeback of the laughter revenge Zhou Ruiyang was crowned as a new chess saint.
It is hoped that the "Luoyang Longmen Cup" Chinese chess holy war can be held continuously and stably, and hope that the Chinese "chess saint" will become the supreme glory pursued by Chinese chess players in their lives.