Thursday, April 20, 2006

A well taken advice

Li Laiqun won the 1982 National Individual Championships, and thus became the 5th Champion of China, for the first time the coveted title of Xiangqi Champion crossed the Yellow River and was brought to the North. The previous four Champions were Yang Guanlin, Li Yiting, Hu Ronghua and Liu Dahua, all from the South.

When commenting this game, Li Laiqun wrote : "I clearly remembered 16 years ago, when I won the Championship, a chess magazine in the North exclaimed : "the Xiangqi Champion title has finally crossed the Yellow River!", while a newspaper in the South said: "Li Laiqun is an "expert in picking up mistakes" ! They all have their own opinion, they can say whatever they want, I do not bother, it doesn't worth it."

Li Laiqun wrote : "In 1980 the National Individual Championships had changed the competition rules, dividing players into three sections: first, second and third, many good players were downgraded to second or third divisions. That same year the National Xiangqi first division league was contested in Le Shan, Sichuan, I scored 15 points, same with Liu Dahua and Xu Tianli, however counting "small points" for tie break, I was placed in third position, I was not happy! Yang Guanlin who was considered the great and leading light in Xiangqi was not even among the six best, and the Champion of ten consequetive Championships, Hu Ronghua was even worst, he was downgraded to be a second division player. Nothing is permanent in this world, Xiangqi is no exception.

in 1982, the competition rules were once again changed back to the older system, so that many good players such as Hu Ronghua, Liu Dianzhong, Meng Liguo and others who were languishing in second or third division were back to the first division and played.

Before the tournament, Liu Dianzhong told me that the championships title is between Hu and me, you can lose to anyone, but not to your rival! I kept his advice deep in my heart..."

That was the background of this game, which follow :

Red : Li Laiqun
Black : Hu Ronghua







According to Li Laiqun, Black's 22nd move of 22. ...B7-5 was a mistake on the part of Hu Ronghua. (Hu resigned the game in the end)

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