Chinese action

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 18 June 2010)

China Chess Championship
Xinghua, Jiangsu
May 24-June 4, 2010

Final Standings
1-3. GM Wang Hao 2722, GM Bu Xiangzhi 2681, GM Zhou Jianchao 2652, 7.5/11
4-5. GM Li Shilong 2514, GM Ni Hua 2667, 6.0/11
6. GM Li Chao 2619, 5.5/11
7-9. IM Zhang Ziyang 2422, GM Ding Liren 2547, Lu Shanglei 2349, 5.0/11
10-11. GM Zhou Weiqi 2585, GM Hou Yifan 2589, 4.5/11
12. Ji Dan 2379, 2.0/11
Category 13

The Chinese Chess Championship this year was held in Xinghua in the province of Jiangsu, one of the fastest-developing provinces in China. Xinghua is the hometown of chess prodigy Hou Yifan.

Let us recall for a minute last year’s Chinese Championship. It had quite an exciting finish. Two rounds before the end Wang Hao (only 20 years old at that time but already considered a veteran) was 1.5 points ahead of rising star Ding Liren (16 years old but his baby-face features and small build make him look only 13 or 14) and looked all set to take his first championship trophy home.

But fate ruled otherwise. In the penultimate round Ding Liren brilliantly defeated Wang Hao to narrow the gap to half a point:

Ding Liren (2458) -- Wang Hao (2696) [D45]
ch-CHN Xinghua Jiangsu CHN (10), 05.06.2009
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This was the first tournament in China where the new FIDE rules on zero-tolerance was implemented, and it provides that if a player is not seated and ready at exactly the time a round is due to start, he/she loses the game by default. Ding Liren’s last round opponent GM Zhou Jianchao, a very tough customer who outrates Ding by 177 points, arrived a few seconds late and was defaulted! This turn of events completely messed up Wang Hao’s frame of mind, and he went on to lose to Liang Chong (someone he had beaten multiple times in the past and never lost to) and see the championship slip through his grasp.

This year, 2010, Wang Hao did not start as strongly as in the previous year -- he was upset by Li Shilong in the second round.

Li Shilong (2514) -- Wang Hao (2722) [E14]
ch-CHN Xinghua CHN (2), 25.05.2010
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At 33 years of age Li Shilong is actually the oldest player in the tournament. He is very capable of defeating a super-GM as much as crashing down to an unrated player. Today he does the first.





Wang Hao had to play catchup to Bu Xiangzhi for the rest of the tournament. However, a 3-0 final spurt took Wang Hao into a tie for first and a win on tie-break points.

Wang Hao (2722) -- Ding Liren (2547) [E63]
ch-CHN Xinghua CHN (1), 24.05.2010
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From my review of the championship it seems that the period of mechanical, boring chess in China is over and several players with exciting, tactical styles have come to the fore. It has become interesting to play over the games of the Chinese Championship. We will discuss this some more on Monday.