Among the leading figures of Chinese Go, Chang Hao's ups and downs are no less than that of Nie Weiping. In the process of growing up, nie Weiping had to interrupt the professional process of Go because of the factors of the times, and went to the Northern Wilderness to "further study". Chang Hao is a chess player with high hopes from the Chinese people, and after reaching the final of the World Series (the 11th Fujitsu Cup) for the first time in 1998, he encountered a nightmare of six consecutive asians. Different from the master, the indomitable Chang Hao finally worked hard and was crowned the triple crown of the World Series, becoming one of the rare leaders in the world chess world.
As a veteran chess fan for 35 years, I have watched Chang Hao go from a children's champion to a world number one, of course, from the media such as television, books and newspapers, not witnessing it with my own eyes. When he was the runner-up in the world, I had the regret of hating iron not steel; when he was proud, I applauded him. All in all, Chang Hao is a go master I know and like very much.
What I want to introduce to you today is that Chang Hao has a unique record, and even the world's first person, Lee Chang-ho, is beyond his reach. Of course, this record was not set in the World Individual Competition (Shi Fo's record in this regard is absolutely unmatched), but in the ring. What kind of record is it, don't worry, and let me describe them one by one.
Chang Hao won the Chunlan Cup
In the 10th China-Japan Ring Tournament in 1995, Chang Hao was 19 years old at the time, and the popularity and results of the competition at that time were far from Lee Chang-ho, it was this tournament, Chang Hao achieved the first big victory in his career, after he played as the second general of the Chinese team, Lian Ke Mimura Zhibao, Morita Michihiro, Liu Shifu, Kobayashi Jue and Lin Haifeng won five consecutive victories. Unfortunately, in the sixth set, he lost to the Japanese general Otake Hero and failed to directly attack the Huanglong Mansion. This was the beginning of Chang Hao's becoming a hero in the ring, but it did not write the history of the chess world.
The 11th Sino-Japanese Tournament kicked off in 1996 with Chang Hao being the third player on the Chinese team, and as a result, he ended the match with a stunning six-game winning streak, and the defeats under him would be: Naoki Hagen, Wang Licheng, Yanagi Shifu, Noriki Ieda, Kyaw Kobayashi, and Hero Otake. This time, he not only avenged the hero of Otake, but also won the opponents with great success, especially Wang Licheng and Yida Kiki, who were among them, who were the most important chess players in the world's Go world. In this ring, Chang Hao set a new record of his own and ended the game as a non-main player. In addition, the rout of Japan led to the disappearance of the Sino-Japanese ring match on the world stage from then on, which has more or less something to do with Chang Hao.
In the first Sino-Korean ring in 2006, Chang Hao stepped into the ring as a deputy manager, facing four Korean masters such as Ahn Zao Yong, Kim Dong Yeol, Cho Hyun Hyun, Lee Chang Ho, chang Hao was fearless and went down to four cities to end the competition. Gu Li, the coach of the Chinese team, enjoyed the taste of lying down and winning. This is Chang Hao's first victory in a bilateral ring after the Sino-Japanese ring. Unfortunately, the China-Korea Ring Tournament was only held this time for various reasons, but this seems to have nothing to do with Chang Hao's four consecutive wins.
The Three Kingdoms Tournament has been on the stage of history as early as 1991, but the title has changed many times, and finally in 1999, it has continued to this day with the name of the Nongshim Cup (today's Nongshim Cup second game is already the 23rd). This competition is the best witness to the cold of the Korean Wave, and the championships before 2004 were all won by the Korean team. Until the 7th Nongshim Cup in 2005, the Japanese team relied on the bravery of Yoshiki Ieda to break the Monopoly of Korea and win the first victory.
Chang Hao and Zhang Xuan
The shameful Chinese team played the role of accompanying the prince to study for many years until the 9th Nongshim Cup in 2007. In this tournament, Chang Hao is still the vice marshal, and the manager is still Gu Li. When Chang Hao jumped on the field, Japan and South Korea also had four masters such as Mu Jin Shuo, Takao Seiji, Lee Chang-ho, and Park Yongxun, and as a result, Chang Hao lived up to expectations, cleared the stage with one shot, and made a great contribution to the Chinese team's first victory in the Nongshim Cup. This is chang Hao's third time to end the ring.
Looking at the world chess world, the only bilateral and multilateral tournaments held successively are the China-Japan Tournament, the China-Korea Tournament and the Trilateral Tournament. There are many finishers in the ring, including the earliest Nie Weiping, South Korea's iron gate Lee Chang-ho, and Park Tinghuan, Shin Jin-chan, Ke Jie, Yi Tian Jiji, Chang Hao and so on. However, the China-South Korea Ring Tournament was held only once, which created Chang Hao, becoming the only chess player in the world chess world to have terminated these three competitions.
Surprisingly, Chang Hao's Go career in this life has only had three experiences of ending the ring match, but it is exactly three different competitions. Although Lee Chang-ho, Ke Jie, and others have ended the ring more often than Chang Hao, they have only one kind of event, that is, the Three Kingdoms Ring.
From this point of view, Chang Hao's record is unprecedented, and it is likely that it is also a no-comer.