Chinese Chess School and it's Huge Potential
Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog!
The World Chess Championship is going on in Astana right now, featuring Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Ask yourself for a moment - which Chinese chess player are you familiar with? Most people I've spoken to answered with Ding Liren. Some added Wang Hao and Yu Yangyi, without knowing anything else about Chinese chess players.
But, in fact, Chinese chess culture is a rich, high-potential one. In today's blog, We would discuss how chess came into China and began one of the world's most interesting national chess stories.
First, let's look a bit at history - How did chess come into China?
The Dragon Awakes
Chess, in its modern form, got into China during the 19th century. Until then, a form of chess was popular in China - Xiangqi. Because of that, the Chinese welcomed chess with joy, and amateur chess groups quickly rose across the country.
In 1933, Alexander Alekhine became the first great chess player to visit China. In an exhibition held in Shanghai, Alekhine won all games, except 2 - one of them against Xie Xiashun, who held a draw against the world champion. Xie is considered the "father of chess" in China and was the best chess player for most of his existence, until his death in 1987, at the age of 101. Sadly, his games (including the one against Alekhine) were lost in time.
In 1974 a meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that would change the world of chess.
Presidents of chess federations across Asia met with businessmen and decided to promote and develop chess in China. They believed that the Chinese culture is greatly adaptable to the game of chess, and launched a project called "Big Dragon". The project called for China to reach world-class by the end of the century.
The project worked.
The Chinese Immortal
Some years went by, and the 1978 Chess Olympiad came to Buenos Aires, Argentina. China made its first appearance in the chess olympiad this year. All the players from the Chinese team were untitled, and trained together for months before the event. In a match between China and the Netherlands, a 2200-rated player from China met Jan Donner, a strong GM from the Netherlands. This game is considered to be the Chinese Immortal. Let's look at it:
Truly an exceptional game by Liu Wenzhe!
China ended up in 20th place out of 65 national teams. But the Olympic dream did not fade!
In 1984 China accomplished 7th place in the Olympiad and won the event in 2014, and in 2018 - both women's and men's teams won 1st place!
Today, the Chinese team remains one of the strongest in the world. China is 3rd by average rating of top 10 players, which means their GMs are one of the strongest in the world. The Chinese chess school continues to provide their country with great results, such as 3rd place in the Online Chess Olympiad 2021, and a win in the World Team Championship 2022.
Chess Structure in China
Although not popular in the Chess world, Chinese players have a great place to play - in their own country!
The Chinese Chess Association (CCA) runs and organizes chess events in China, and helps unite chess players around the country. Other than chess tournaments, the CCA runs the National Chess Center in Beijing.
One of the main chess events in China is the Chinese Chess League (CCL). In this League, clubs from all over China are competing in a series of classical matches. During the matches, Chinese top players are meeting up and create exciting battles on the chess board. Let's look at a great game that Ding Liren, who plays the 2023 World Chess Championship, played in this league.
Future of Chess in China
Does chess have potential in China? Yes, a huge one!
The culture in China puts education as a high priority. The love and appreciation for education help to develop chess in the country, and Chinese players are training with high discipline.
Other than that, China has great coaches and training centers - and don't forget that the Chinese Chess Association is one of the most organized federations in Asia! Although most top Chinese players today (like Yu Yangyi and Wang Hao) are not much active in international tournaments, thanks to chess events in China they are still active, and are helping to train the next chess generation in China.
In those days the 2023 World Chess Championship is happening between Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Ding, a student of the Chinese Chess School, might be the next Anand!
If Ding would win this match, the popularity of chess in China would obviously grow rapidly. In a country with such potential and so many chess players, this rise in popularity would bring many new chess talents to the world's top. The Soviets dominated the world of chess in the 20th century, and maybe China is the next country to do so.
Conclusion
A story that begins with Alekhine, going through decades of hard work and provides us with great moments and beauty on the board - I sincerely hope that the story of Chinese Chess would continue to be written.
If you are interested in the topic of Chess culture in China, I highly recommend the book "The Chinese School of Chess", written by non-other than Liu Wenzhe, the protagonist of the Chinese Immortal Game!
I hope you enjoyed today's blog, and as always, Have a great day! 
