On December 12, the final of the first China Go National Hand Competition, Ding Hao defeated Ke Jie to win the championship, which was also Ding Hao's third championship since he went to college.
After the game, Ding Hao updated the dynamics of his personal social platform and said that "defeating Ke Jie to win the championship is of extraordinary significance", and the joy was overflowing with words.
As early as 2019, Ding Hao, who was only 19 years old, won the CCTV Quick Chess Championship and became the first post-00s national champion. In the same year, he represented Hangzhou in the Chinese Go League, winning 10 wins and 5 losses, with a winning rate of 66.7%, and won the most valuable award of the 2019 Weijia League.
In September 2021, Ding Hao entered Shanghai University of Finance and Economics for further study. In October of the same year, he won the championship by defeating Yang Dingxin 2:0 in the final of the Advocate Chess Cup, and just one month later, he won the championship in the Tencent Wild Fox Go Popularity Championship and received a prize of 500,000 yuan. In mid-December, he defeated eight-time champion Ke Jie to win his first title battle.
After entering the university, he won three major competitions in three months. According to common sense, planting melons to get melons and beans to get beans, the more efforts are made, the greater the effect, in fact, chess players of the same level, the factors that determine winning or losing are not entirely in technology, but more in psychological quality, physical reserves and other comprehensive qualities. In this sense, this may be "kung fu outside the chess".
In recent years, due to policy reforms, namely occupational rank assessment, the age limit has been abolished. In the past, thousands of troops and horses crossed the canoe bridge, and it was difficult to repeat the scene of giving up their studies in order to impact the professional position and become a professional chess player. The removal of the age limit has many implications, the most important of which is that after completing school, there is still a chance to impact the career rank, just like 80 years old can also take the college entrance examination and get a college diploma, there is enough time and space to realize their dreams.
After entering the chess world, there are not a few chess players who choose to go to university for further study, such as Gu Li, Ke Jie, Jiang Weijie, Tang Weixing, Zhou Ruiyang, Lian Xiao, Xu Jiayang, Song Ronghui, Yu Zhiying, etc.
Among them, Jiang Weijie ushered in the second spring of his career after entering Tsinghua University for further study, in this regard, Jiang Weijie once said in an interview that he learned a lot of knowledge in college, and also broadened his horizons, which is helpful for his understanding of chess and life. After entering the professional chess world for more than ten years, Jiang Weijie gradually understood a truth, playing chess itself is the happiest thing, and hopes that everyone can let go of their obsession and truly enjoy the process of playing chess.
As Ding Hao said, the world champion is really difficult, let go of the obsession to be at ease. Looking forward to Ding Hao's better performance in the world arena in 2022 and bringing us more surprises!