Text|Xingchen Taiyu
Editor|Taiyu Hoshichen
Hu Ronghua, the king of chess
Hu Ronghua, male, born on November 14, 1945 in Shanghai, a generation of grandmasters in the Chinese chess community, the main founder of the contemporary Xiangqi school, a Chinese Xiangqi grandmaster, a national coach of Xiangqi, one of the most outstanding chess players of the 20th century, known as "Commander Hu" in the chess world.
Hu Ronghua's life photo
Hu Ronghua began to practice games at the age of 8, and when he was a teenager, he studied with famous hands Dou Guozhu and Xu Daqing. At the age of 15, he won the championship in his first national competition. In 1960, he won the championship in the Hangzhou Five Provinces and Cities Invitational Tournament, ranking among the first-class chess players in China, and in the same year, he represented Shanghai in the national competition for the first time, winning the national team and individual championships, creating a chess legend of "heroes from ancient times to youth". Hu Ronghua won the national individual championship 14 times, set a record of "ten consecutive championships" from 1960 to 1979, and was awarded the title of Chinese Xiangqi International Grandmaster by the Asian Xiangqi Federation in 1988. In 1983, 1985, 1997 and 2000, Hu Ronghua won the national individual championship four times. In 2003, Hu Ronghua led the Shanghai Golden Bund team to win the first national Xiangqi League championship of the "Millennium Yinli Cup". In 2006, Hu Ronghua won the seventh place in the National Xiangqi Individual Championship held in Shenzhen. In July, Hu Ronghua won the national chess ranking championship of the Weikai Real Estate Cup.
Hu Ronghua chatted with Lu Qin, a fast horse flying knife
In 2006, Hu Ronghua stepped down as president of the Shanghai Chess Academy. He is currently the vice chairman of the Chinese Xiangqi Association and the first vice president of the Asian Xiangqi Federation.
2. Major personal achievements.
Fourteen national individual champions
He has dominated the chess scene for more than 40 years
Excavation and collation of ancient chess scores
Xiangqi theory research and innovation
3. Writing books and sayings. Hu Ronghua is not only a chess grandmaster, but also a chess coach and author. He once served as the head of the coaching staff of the Chinese Xiangqi Association and made important contributions to the cause of Chinese Xiangqi. In addition, he has published a number of books on chess, such as "Anti-Palace Horse Collection", "Hu Ronghua's Commentary on Xiangqi Self-Battle", "Hu Ronghua's Flying Hundred Games", and "The Essence of Chess Art in Ten Consecutive Championships" (co-authored with Xu Tianli). In addition, "Hu Ronghua Battle Collection" (upper and lower volumes) and "The Complete Works of Hu Ronghua, the Chess King of the Dynasty" (a total of three volumes), which compiled his games for many years, provided valuable learning materials for the majority of chess lovers.
Wheel Warfare Guided chess
Hosted Shanghai TV's chess program with Yan Yu
4. Social evaluation
Hu Ronghua is known as "Commander Hu" in the chess world, and he has made a whole fortune in the chess world, achieving unprecedented and difficult Chinese chess players who have come later; He is always concerned about the development and innovation of chess; He is a generation of chess kings and a grandmaster of the chess world. (Xinmin Evening News commentary)
Hu Ronghua is a Chinese chess legend and the only ten-consecutive hegemonic player in the Chinese chess world; He was the commander-in-chief of chess, and his writings influenced many chess players. (CCTV Network Review)
Hu Ronghua is the greatest chess player in the ancient and modern chess world, winning the 5th National Xiangqi Individual Championship at the age of 15 and winning the throne of chess (Marshal Chen Yi personally presented him with the award), making the youngest Chinese chess record to win the championship; His birth announced the advent of the only undisputed era in the chess world - the era of Hu Ronghua; He won fourteen national individual championship King Gold Cups, creating a legend of ten consecutive individual championship dominances. (Sina Sports Review)
"Commander Hu" is resourceful in chess and has different demeanors, and in order to make the chess team successor, "Commander Hu" mainly focuses on the "seedling project". (Xinmin Evening News commentary)
Hu Ronghua made great contributions to the development of chess, and he created layouts such as "Flying Elephant Bureau", "Mandarin Duck Cannon" and "Anti-Palace Horse". (Chinese Xiangqi Grandmaster Liu Dahua commented)
Writings by Hu Ronghua
5. Teach chess and educate people
Hu Ronghua has a total of 8 well-known disciples, Sun Yongzheng, Wu Guilin, Shan Xiali, Li Wenyan, Zhao Wei, Wan Chunlin, Xie Jing, Jiang Rongbing, etc. are his proud protégés, among which Sun Yongzheng (2011) and "Little Commander" Xie Jing (2013) have won the national chess individual championship.
Hu Ronghua's disciples Qi Tian Dasheng Sun Yongzheng
Hu Ronghua's disciple Little Commander Xie Jing
Hu Ronghua is a heavyweight in the Chinese chess world, and his achievements and contributions have made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese chess. He was not only a Xiangqi grandmaster, but also a Xiangqi coach and author, and his achievements and contributions will forever be engraved in the history of Chinese Xiangqi.
Interesting anecdote about Hu Ronghua
1. The origin of "commander"
In the chess world, regardless of age, Hu Ronghua is called "Commander Hu". Where did this nickname come from? It turned out that there was an old-timer in the Shanghai chess world named Xie Xiaxun, who worked as a supplement editor in a newspaper before liberation, and in the early 30s of the last century, Xie Xiaxun won the championship in a national competition that was not widespread, so he telegraphed to the whole country in the supplement of the newspaper, proclaimed himself the commander of Xiangqi, and then appointed famous chess players in various places as army commanders and division commanders. For a while, everyone called Xie Xiaxun "Xiangqi Commander".
In the mid-70s, Hu Ronghua had already achieved fame, and once at Xie Xiaxun's 80th birthday banquet, Xie Lao solemnly said: "I am old, and this position of 'chess commander' belongs to Hu Ronghua." At that time, because the scope of hearing this was not large, it was not circulated in society. Unexpectedly, after half a year, the model play "Shajiabang" became a household name, among which Hu Chuankui "Commander Hu" was even more familiar. A person in the chess circle, who was slightly older than Hu Ronghua, felt that calling Hu Ronghua "Xiao Hu" seemed to be disrespectful, and calling Hu Ronghua "teacher" was wrong in terms of generation, so he jokingly called Hu Ronghua "Commander Hu". Now not only the entire chess world calls Hu Ronghua "Commander Hu", but even the leaders of the Municipal Sports Bureau call him "Commander Hu" when they meet.
2. See righteousness and courage
The Cultural Revolution began. Hu Ronghua, who was in his early twenties, once went to Anhui on a business trip, and it took three hours to transfer trains in Bengbu. Suddenly, Hu Ronghua saw a chess stall, with five or six "rivers and lakes endgame" on the ground, surrounded by many people. Hu Ronghua squeezed in to see the liveliness, and suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder, it turned out to be a man with a northeastern accent, and when he saw someone moving behind Hu Ronghua, he kindly reminded: "Put your schoolbag in front." "At that time, it was popular for business travelers to carry military school bags. Hu Ronghua reminded that he saw that the strap of the bag had been opened, but fortunately the contents had not been lost, so he was grateful to the Northeast man.
Unexpectedly, this northeastern man was also a chess lover, and after watching for a while, he was confident that he wanted to play a game. According to the notice of the chess stall, those who come to break the game need to pay a two-cent registration fee, and if they are successful, they will be rewarded with one yuan. It's a pity that the Northeast Hanzi's chess skills are not high, and after a while, he lost seven or eight games in a row, and he was very depressed with cursing in his mouth.
Hu Ronghua saw that the endgame of this chess stall was all some carving insect skills, and he saw that the Northeast Hanzi's chess skills were not good, so he said to the Northeast Hanzi "seeing righteousness and courage": "I will play for you, if I lose money, I will pay, and the winning bonus will go to you." When the Northeast man saw that someone was helping, he said in a loud voice: "Okay, quickly help me turn feng shui." ”
With Hu Ronghua's chess skills, how can the endgame of this chess stall withstand him to break, and Hu Ronghua will kill two games in a row after a while. Hu Ronghua thought that the two-yuan reward was enough to compensate for the loss of the northeastern man, so he got up and wanted to leave, but unexpectedly the stall owner said: "The two games you broke are the easiest, according to the rules here, you must break the third game." If the break fails, 2 yuan will be confiscated; If the game is successful, the prize is 10 yuan. Hu Ronghua didn't want to go down again, but he couldn't stand the instigation of the northeastern man, plus the stall owner saw Hu Ronghua's "timid formation", so he chuckled and said: "If you don't dare to go down, I will refund you two cents of the registration fee." At that time, Hu Ronghua was young and vigorous, so he promised: "Go down, are you really afraid that you will not succeed!" ”
As a result, the stall owner put out the most "dangerous" car soldier "Seven Star Bureau" in the endgame of the rivers and lakes. This kind of endgame is full of organs, traps are repeated, even if you cross them all, you still have to fight the endgame with kung fu behind, it can be said that this is the stall owner's "housekeeping magic weapon" to ensure that he can "only enter but not exit". But this time the stall owner miscalculated, and I saw Hu Ronghua quickly riding a light car, and he came with his hands in hand, and after a while, he killed the stall owner in a hurry, sweating nonstop. Just when Hu Ronghua only needed to break one more barrier to enter the port, he didn't want to be careless, but took a wrong move, and seeing that there was no hope of winning the chess, the stall owner laughed proudly when he saw this. But in the end, Hu Ronghua won this chess game that should have been a draw with his superb skills.
At this time, someone suddenly shouted "the police are coming", Hu Ronghua and the northeastern man, looking back, there were no police at all. Looking back, I saw five or six people helping the stall owner put away the chess stall and fled in a hurry. The northeastern man wanted to chase, and Hu Ronghua said: "There are many powerful people, even if they chase them, they can't get the money back." The story of Commander Hu's "righteous and courageous deeds" ended with his loss of two cents.
3. Learn from innovation
During the Cultural Revolution, Hu Ronghua learned Go, chess, and Taijiquan. Later, his Go level reached the first-class amateur level in Shanghai, and chess was only the first to let the top chess players in China, only taijiquan, which was called "not in the flow" by martial arts teachers.
At that time, some people criticized Hu Ronghua for learning Go and chess "not doing business", but unexpectedly, Hu Ronghua later borrowed the ideas of Go and chess and created a new path in the layout of chess.
Generally speaking, in the chess layout, when the head cannon is arranged, except for playing out or for defense, it is generally rarely unloaded by itself, and there is no precedent for taking the initiative to unload it without any danger. But there is a way to judge gains and losses in Go called "anatomy". In short, it is to re-interpret the chess game by changing the order, so as to achieve the goal of rapid recognition of gains and losses. Hu Ronghua just saw that after taking the initiative to unload the cannon, although a move was wasted, it was similar to another layout, and in that layout, the opponent's horse was in a bad position, and at least two or three moves needed to be adjusted to reach the normal state. Later, Hu Ronghua's method of actively unloading the cannon was quickly imitated by the chess community and became popular, and its theoretical basis was the "anatomy" of Go.
In addition, such as the rook in chess, the power is infinite, and the general method always has to "light the head" first in order to quickly get out of the car. But once in a match between Hu Ronghua and the famous Guangdong veteran chess player Yang Guanlin, he actually walked out of the car and drew three, and put the powerful car behind the double obstacle of the three-way horse and the three-way soldier, which surprised everyone in the circle. But Hu Ronghua immediately defeated the three-way soldiers, jumped up the three-way horse, made the three-way car an invincible division, and finally defeated Yang Guanlin. Afterwards, Hu Ronghua disclosed that this chess game borrowed from the tactics of chess. Because whenever a passage is to be opened, the chess rook is to hide behind the soldiers, and then cover the soldiers to rush forward, once the minions are "killed", the rook immediately occupies the main road and becomes the key force. And this plate and Yang Guanlin's layout, Hu Ronghua judged that these three roads are the main roads that the soldiers on both sides must fight for, and they must be opened, so hiding the car behind the horse soldiers is just a "precaution", and after the rushing troops, this car naturally shows its power.
Now this move has become a classic example in chess layout.
Hu Ronghua also has a classic chess game that benefits from Taijiquan's theory of "late strike". In 1974, at the National Xiangqi Tournament in Chengdu, Hu Ronghua's opponent was Meng Liguo in Northeast China. This Junqi style is fierce, good at killing each other, known as the "Siberian tiger". Hu Ronghua made a plan to use Tai Chi to deal with Siberian tigers before the competition.
As a result, this chess game completely went into the path designed by Hu Ronghua. Although the "Siberian Tiger" took advantage of the first move and was fierce, Hu Ronghua adopted the most treacherous and forgiving "turtle cannon" layout in chess, and shrunk all the double cannons and two cars on the side of the chessboard, and fought a protracted battle with Meng Liguo to "lead the enemy deep". Sure enough, Meng Liguo, who could not be attacked for a long time, revealed a flaw that was not easy to detect, and Hu Ronghua immediately fired two guns and two vehicles to attack, capturing one of Meng Liguo's horses alive, and at this time Hu Ronghua did not cross the river with any son. In the twenty-eighth round, as soon as one of Hu Ronghua's horses crossed the river, Meng Liguo immediately threw in the towel. This game is completely annihilating the enemy in the territory, and it is still a unique classic game until now.
4. A bottle of Maotai
25 years ago, when Hu Ronghua went to Guizhou to compete, the leader of Guiyang City gave Hu Ronghua a bottle of authentic Moutai wine that had been stored for more than ten years. Hu Ronghua has always been in the cupboard in the living room and reluctant to eat, even when he won the national championship again at the age of 55, several students urged him to open a drink to celebrate, Hu Ronghua also said: "Such a long-standing Moutai wine is unique in the world, it is a pity to eat it." ”
In the first National Xiangqi League last year, Shanghai team was already three points ahead of the second-placed Guangdong team in the last three rounds, and it seemed that winning the championship was a foregone conclusion, but the young players in Shanghai saw that the championship was in hand, but they could not play chess, and they drew with the bottom two teams in two rounds, and if they tied with Beijing in the final round, the championship would be handed over to Guangdong.
To this end, when Hu Ronghua led the team to Beijing to fight away, he specially brought this bottle of Moutai wine. He told the players: "If the Shanghai team wins the championship, we will drink and celebrate." One of the young players said timidly: "What if the Shanghai team can't win the championship?" Hu Ronghua said categorically: "If you can't win the championship, this bottle of Moutai will be smashed on the spot on the road in Beijing." ”
Hu Ronghua saw that the young team members were still unsteady, and arranged tactics and said: "In the final battle with the Beijing team, the three of you only ask for peace, if I can't win and the champion falls, the responsibility will be borne by me alone." The coach's words were so loud that of course the team members had high morale, and they all issued military orders to Hu Ronghua and said: "'Commander Hu', please rest assured, we will do our best to win the Beijing team." ”
As a result, Hu Ronghua did what he said and took the lead in winning the city with a carefully prepared layout, and the Shanghai team also beat the Beijing team and deservedly won the league championship. Hu Ronghua said when celebrating the wine: "Compared to 'shredding the corpse road', this bottle of Moutai wine is now 'dead where it is'." ”
Bibliography:
[1] Introduction of Chinese chess players: Grandmaster "Commander Hu" Hu Ronghua · Sohu Sports
[2] Hu Ronghua's chess score, introduction, chess competition results · Guangdong Xiangqi.com
[3] Baidu Encyclopedia Hu Ronghua Chinese Xiangqi International Grandmaster