Great Wall News (reporter Hu Huiling Feng Shaoling) "I have a strong and competitive personality, I do not accept defeat, I can't get off you today, you wait, I will come back tomorrow; if I lose again, you are still waiting, I will come again, until I defeat you." The reason why I was able to win chess was not because of my talent, but because of the difference between people. When he first met Li Laiqun, he smiled and explained his so-called chess talent.
Li Laiqun was telling reporters the story of his association with chess. Photo by reporter Feng Shaoling
Li Laiqun, 59 years old this year, is a chess grandmaster and a banner of the chess community in Hebei and even the whole country. When he was young, he learned to play chess in the streets and alleys, taking the "wild road". With the love and dedication to chess, in the past 30 years of chess career, he has written a wonderful chess life and achieved one honor after another: in 1982, Li Laiqun ascended to the national chess championship for the first time, making the chess man's champion cross the Yellow River for the first time, ending the situation of southern chess players dominating the chess world, and has won the national chess championship four times.
Li Laiqun is a native of Handan and began to learn to play chess with the old man who played on the street at the age of 11. He often nibbled on dry steamed buns, squatted on the street for a whole day, delayed a lot of homework, and was scolded by his father for this.
"My parents didn't agree to me learning chess, and I didn't have the conditions to buy me chess, so I had to squat on the street and rub other people's chess games." To this day, Li Laiqun still remembers the first chess game he owned, "It was the chess that my chess friends gave me, 32 plastic bottle caps as chess pieces, a hand-drawn chessboard made of kraft paper, I was excited for several days." Since then, he has often carried this chess set around to challenge. It wasn't until 1974, when he had his own real chess, that the chess was retired.
Li Laiqun is good at pondering and paying attention everywhere when playing chess. Every time he plays against someone, how the other party goes, what good moves they have, and how they win, he carefully observes. Lying in bed at night, he recalled it all and remembered it to heart. Over time, some chess stalls on the streets of Handan City, where there are any masters, what are the chess style and chess road characteristics of those masters, they have all been touched by him, and his chess skills have improved rapidly.
Opportunities always favor those who work tirelessly. Because of playing chess, Li Laiqun met Qin Lianyuan, a famous local chess master. Since then, under the guidance of Qin Lianyuan, his chess skills have greatly increased.
In the 80s, Li Laiqun took a group photo with his lover Chen Wenhua. Courtesy of Li Laiqun
In 1977, Li Laiqun became the first member of the Hebei Provincial Chess Team and began another kind of professional experience. Subsequently, Li Laiqun became a disciple of Liu Dianzhong, the Grandmaster of Chess, which gave his increasingly abundant wings to take off.
Li Laiqun is humble and studious, respects teachers and loves friends, and never rests on his laurels. His sharp chess style, agile thinking, and exquisite calculations are fully played under the guidance of the coach. His chess skills have improved rapidly, and he has successively achieved good results in domestic and international competitions: he first ascended to the national chess championship in 1982, won the national chess individual championship three times in 1984, 1987 and 1991; the main player of the Hebei team in 1983, 1985, 1997 and 1998; and the main member of the Chinese team in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th Asian Cup team championships...
Mentor Liu Dianzhong praised his beloved disciple: "Laiqun's chess style is delicate, and the steps are tight, like 'pythons entangled', not giving the opponent any chance." His competitive and life-fighting personality makes him pay more on the chessboard than others and win more. ”
The master moves, and the victory or defeat is between the millimeters. In 1982, Li Laiqun won the battle against Hu Ronghua, the winner of the National Chess Individual Championship, and Li Laiqun will never forget it.
On December 7, 1982, the National Chess Individual Championship was held in Chengdu Chess Academy. In the 3rd round, Li Laiqun and Hu Ronghua met. Li Laiqun plays red chess first, and it is difficult to distinguish between the opening and middle stages, and the fleeting opportunity appears in the endgame stage. "Soldier nine into one, ma 3 into 5, ma nine into eight, elephant 7 back 5, this is Teacher Hu's trick at that time." If he had gone like 7 back 9, the situation would have been better for him. After many years, Li Laiqun still remembers the game of that year.
After the game, Hu Ronghua said: "Li Laiqun won the championship is not accidental, he has accurate calculations, rigorous layout, no leakage, and the championship is well deserved." ”
"Life is like a game of chess that can never be played, the opponent is others are more themselves, and defeating themselves is often more important than defeating others." Doing business and playing chess are the same in some aspects, there is a gradual learning process, as long as people work hard, they must be rewarded. Be patient with anything and not give up easily. Li Laiqun said that this is an important reason for the success of his transformation.
At the end of 2007, the "Laiqun Cup" National Chess Celebrity Tournament was held in Chengde City, and Li Laiqun (right) awarded prize money to the champion. Courtesy of Li Laiqun
At the peak of his career, at the end of the 90s, under the influence of reform and opening up, Li Laiqun chose to go to the sea to do business. After years of hard work, he successfully founded Hebei Real Estate Company. Although he is no longer struggling in the front line of the chess world, Li Laiqun has always been concerned about chess, and it is difficult to give up the feelings of fighting in the Chu river and Han circles, "In the past few decades, I have invested the most energy in chess, and chess has been integrated into my life." At the end of 2007, the "Laiqun Cup" National Chess Celebrity Tournament was held in Chengde City, exclusively sponsored by Hebei Real Estate Company, and the championship prize was as high as 200,000 yuan. For more than 20 years, Li Laiqun has successively sponsored national fast chess tournaments, invitational tournaments and other events, investing tens of millions of yuan to drive more people to participate in the sport of chess.