His life can be described as legendary, three years old to learn chess, self-taught, ten years old was known as the "country chess king", with special skills, but useless, bent as a tailor and porter, but also became a jianghu artist, wind and food, upside down. When new China was founded, Fang Ying's fate turned, he marched south to fight in the north, achieved a generation of grandmasters, wrote books to educate people, carried forward folk art, and was widely praised.
Yang Guanxuan
Born in 1925, a native of Fenggang Tangli Village, he is a master of the Chinese chess generation. Before liberation, he went to Hong Kong to make a living by chess, and returned to China after liberation, ending the first half of his life of upheaval and displacement.
In 1956, he became the first national champion of Chinese chess, and was awarded the honor three times since. The first batch of Grandmasters of Chinese Chess, known as the "Demon King of the Mixed World", also known as "Uncle Demon". He set foot in all parts of the country, as far as overseas, sweating the chess world, chess friends like clouds, peach and plum all over the world, and made great contributions to promoting Chinese chess to the world.
He passed away in 2008.
First, the teenager became famous Nai was trapped in his livelihood
Due to his outstanding talent and the spirit of painstaking research, Yang Guanxuan's chess skills have been revealed very early, he learned chess at the age of three, played well at the age of six, had no teacher, and was invincible in the countryside at the age of ten.
Three-year-old learning chess Ten-year-old invincible country
In 1925, Yang Guanxuan was born in Fenggang Tangli Village. Since childhood, the family has been poor, and he has shared the burden of the family since he was a teenager.
"After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Grandpa (Yang Guanxuan's father) borrowed some capital, rented a small shop in the ruins of Tangli Village, and then divided it into two sides, selling some foreign groceries on the one hand, and undertaking car clothes to support the family." Yang Jianming, Yang Guanxuan's son, told reporters, "My father was responsible for undertaking the car clothes at that time. ”
At that time, most of the goods sold by the Yang family needed to be purchased from Guangzhou or Hong Kong, and since 1946, Yang Guanxuan had to go to Hong Kong or Guangzhou every two months to buy goods.
Yang Guanxuan's purchases are all in Guangzhou Foreign Firm Eighteen Mile Shop, that is, today's Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street area, because many shop owners like to play chess, every time they go to Yang Guanxuan, they have to play with them.
At this time, Yang Guanxuan's chess skills were far from being comparable to those of these "amateur chess players". You know, Yang Guanxuan learned chess at the age of 3, Yang Jianming said: "At that time, every time my grandfather went to the ruins, he put my father under a big banyan tree in the village, and there were many old people under the tree who set up chess on the ground. ”
At that time, the folk chess atmosphere in Guangdong was very strong, and the superb chess skills made Yang Guanxuan famous, and he also enjoyed some "care", for example: when Yang Guanxuan purchased some native cloth at the Eighteen-Shop Cloth Market in Guangzhou, after defeating one of the strongest local bosses, the boss then sold the cloth to Yang Guanxuan at a more favorable price.
When porters make ends meet
Proficiency in chess brought some benefits to Yang Guanxuan, however, in that dark era, it was impossible to play chess for a living. In fact, even if you take on a car, it is difficult to maintain your life. From the age of 14, Yang Guanxuan had to share the burden of the family and become a tailor, every day, he needed to make 4 sets of Tang costumes to ensure income, once he could not receive this "workload", he had to think of other ways to help make up for his livelihood.
Therefore, when there was no car work, Yang Guanxuan went to be a porter, from Tangli to Changping, picking up heavy burdens, and walking all day. Speaking of his father's hard life, Yang Jianming was sad, he said: "At that time, my father was really hungry, it was difficult to say, and he barely managed to maintain his life. ”
Second, the chess championship, Hong Kong and Macao, is still falling
In Hong Kong for a year, Yang Guanxuan, who made a living from chess, was still often troubled by his livelihood, and he could only work with Li Zhihai, a famous Guangdong chess player of the same period, to set up a stall at the Wan Chai Xiu Di Stadium, just like some of the jianghu artists who played games with people on the street today.
The streets of Hong Kong play chess for food money
After Japan's surrender in 1945, the return of the Kuomintang to power did not bring about a change in Yang Guanxuan's life, and suffering still accompanied him. In the second half of 1949, Yang Guanxuan was invited by a fellow villager in Hong Kong to watch a game and teach people to play chess. Since then, Yang Guanxuan has truly started his chess career.
In Hong Kong for a year, Yang Guanxuan, who made a living from chess, was still often troubled by his livelihood, and he could only work with Li Zhihai, a famous Guangdong chess player of the same period, to set up a stall at the Wan Chai Xiu Di Stadium, just like some of the jianghu artists who played games with people on the street today. "Winning a game of chess is a meal money." Yang Jianming sighed infinitely.
The bigger trouble is living, and many times, Yang Guanxuan, who has no money, can only spend the night everywhere, or even sleep on the street.
Won the tournament and became the first person in Hong Kong and Macao chess
In 1950, the Hong Kong Chinese Chess Research Association held the first Hong Kong Membership Competition, and Yeung Guanxuan defeated his friend Li Zhihai to win the championship, becoming the first person in Hong Kong and Macao chess. However, the prize money for the competition was very small, and during this period, Yang's father died of illness, and Yang Guanxuan borrowed a lot of money to treat his father's illness. In addition, although some tea houses paid Yang Guanxuan a salary and invited him to set up a ring, he was only a "temporary worker", yang Guanxuan could only make a living by setting up stalls, and his life was still poor.
III. The Prosperity of the Chess Circles in the Motherland The fate of the chess circles has turned
Wu Nansheng, former secretary of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee and then deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the South China Branch of the CPC Central Committee, encouraged Yang Guanxuan to work hard to develop the cause of chess art in New China, and told him that chess is one of the precious legacies of the ancient culture of the motherland, that chess will be grasped as a legitimate cultural undertaking, and that competitions at all levels will be carried out in the form of sports competitions.
Economic recovery Cultural revival
In the summer of 1950, Yang Guanxuan, who had played a world in the Hong Kong chess world, but was still poor, returned to his hometown after liberation and re-started his old business to undertake car clothes. Soon, he completely gave up the job he had been engaged in for many years, because with the earth-shaking changes in the motherland, the chess career soon recovered and had new developments.
After liberation, due to the care and attention of the party and the state, China's chess activities have been more extensively carried out, and Yang Guanxuan's life has since taken a huge turn, and he has begun a brand-new chess career.
Wu Nansheng, former secretary of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee and deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the South China Branch of the CPC Central Committee at the time, was very concerned about folk artists, and he had cordial conversations with the famous Cantonese opera masters Hongxinnu and Yang Guanxuan, and was very concerned about their lives.
Wu Nansheng encouraged Yang Guanxuan to work hard for the development of the chess art cause in New China, and told him that chess is one of the precious heritages of the ancient culture of the motherland, and that the sport of chess will be grasped as a legitimate cultural undertaking and that competitions at all levels will be carried out in the form of sports competitions. Later, Wu Nansheng also negotiated with Yang Guanxuan and organized a "provincial, Hong Kong, and Macao" chess tournament.
Chess is played in the hall of elegance
With the economic recovery of The New China, people's desire for sports culture has become more and more intense, and the chess industry has since ascended to the hall of elegance, and the folk chess community has begun to hold some influential competitions spontaneously, among which the Lingnan Cultural Relics Palace (later the Cultural Park) has held several events with greater influence: from February to March 1952, it hosted the famous hand exhibition competitions with yang Guanxuan, Chen Songshun, Lu Hui, Qin Jianqiu, Zeng Yiqian and Yuan Tiancheng; in June 1953 and February 1954, A ten-game match between Yang Guanxuan and Chen Songshun, another representative of the Lingnan chess world, was held twice, and Yang jun won in one game.
In addition, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, various entertainment venues in Guangzhou set up chess arenas, such as the Lingnan Cultural Relics Palace, the Yonghan Road Folk Music Playground (later the Youth Cultural Palace), the Xiguan Datong Road Amusement Park, the Xianshi Company Tiantai Amusement Park, etc. all set up chess arenas to entertain tourists.
Fourth, the Southern Expedition to the North has created a generation of chess kings
Yang Guanxuan's good friend and martial arts novelist Liang Yusheng once wrote a poem describing Yang Guanxuan's conquest history, "without quitting the Northern War and the Southern Expedition, thirty years of hegemony"
Expedition to Shanghai Every game must be won
Under the impetus of civil forces, the cause of chess soon flourished, and the situation of chess players was greatly improved. "At that time, the major competitions of the Lingnan Cultural Palace were sold to the outside world, so my father and other chess players could get a certain amount of bonuses, and they could also get some income from some chess circles and tea houses, and the living conditions of our family began to improve." Yang Jianming said.
Since then, Yang Guanxuan has completely "transformed" into a "professional chess player". In 1951, he even went on an expedition to Shanghai, participating in various competitions held by the Shanghai Chess Association in the International Hotel and other places, winning every game and never losing, and many well-known chess players in East China rushed to challenge and lost.
After returning from a visit to Shanghai, Yang Guanxuan and Chen Songshun co-authored the book "Lianxing Yi Spectrum" in the same year, using a rehearsal called "Red Star Puzhao" (created by Chen Songshun) as the cover to express their enthusiasm for new China.
Defeat the "Seven Provinces Chess King" titled "Uncle Demon"
From 1952 to 1955, Yang Guanxuan traveled back and forth to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places to perform chess and participate in competitions, he twice defeated Dong Wenyuan, known as the "Seven Provinces Chess King", in the ten-game decider, plus defeated Chen Songshun many times, thus laying the foundation for a generation of chess kings. Later, Yang Guanxuan's good friend, the martial arts novelist Liang Yusheng, once wrote a poem describing Yang Guanxuan's conquest history, "regardless of the northern war and the southern conquest, thirty years of hegemony."
At this time, Yang Guanxuan relied on his profound chess strength to dominate the Southern Cantonese and even the Chinese chess world, and his chess style had the characteristics of cotton, toughness, grinding and filing, and was called "the Demon King of the Mixed World" by chess fans. Some young people are inconvenient to call it this way, so they replace "Wang" with the word "Uncle", which is the origin of Yang Guanxuan's famous nickname "Uncle Demon".
In 1955, New China began its first "Five-Year Plan", and sports and cultural undertakings began to enter a period of take-off. In the first half of 1956, Yang Guanxuan had his first formal job, he became a staff member of Guangzhou Cultural Park, the position was a chess consultant, mainly responsible for researching and participating in chess competitions, in the same year the Guangzhou Chess Art Society was established, Yang Guanxuan was the president, in addition to his also being the editor-in-chief of Guangzhou Xiangqi Monthly. In 1959, "Uncle Devil" was transferred to the Provincial Sports Committee, and began to serve as the coach of the provincial chess team and the head of the chess team.
In January 1956, the State Sports Commission announced that chess was included in the competitive sports, and in the same year, New China held the first national chess tournament, Yang Guanxuan represented Guangdong Province to participate in the war, suppressed Wang Jialiang and other famous players, became the first national champion, and thus also created a "Yang Guanxuan era" of Chinese chess.
postscript:
In the following decades, Yang Guanxuan devoted his life's energy to chess competitions and chess research, training juniors, and writing books and lectures, and he successively wrote more than 20 chess books, passing on his lifelong chess research experience and practical combat experience to the vast number of good chess people at home and abroad. In his later years, he wrote his posthumous book "New Compilation of Yang Guanxuan Chess", in which the essence of "layout flying knives" and other essential parts are the secret weapons used to win the championship in the competition, and it is also a trick for masters to "keep a hand", Yang Guanxuan has devoted himself to the dedication spirit he has learned and passed on to the world to promote the development of the new Chinese chess cause, in addition, he has also trained a number of national champions and world champions, such as today's chess grandmasters Lü Qin, Xu Yinchuan, and so on.
On January 4, 2008, just over a year before the Republic's 60th birthday, Yang Guanxuan died of colon cancer in Guangzhou at the age of 83. In the celebrity cemetery of the China Cemetery in Guangzhou, his tombstone is carved with a striking chess endgame, Yang Jianming said: "This is a chess fragment that Dad cracked in his later years, and he deliberately did not disclose his cracking method, so as to leave it to future generations to crack." ”