Chapter 54 chess player

Since 1982, except for me who was still fighting tenaciously on the front line, the Chinese chess world seems to have become the world of young people in their twenties. Judging from the ranking of the competition: in the top six of the National League in 1982, young chess players accounted for four, and Ma Xiaochun and Shao Zhenzhong won the championship and runner-up respectively.In the same year, among the top six in the "National Chess Tournament", young chess players accounted for five of them, and Ma Xiaochun won the championship again. Four of the top six players in the "New Sports Cup" tournament were young chess players. In 1983, the top six places in various major competitions were also dominated by young chess players.

From the perspective of promotion: In 1982, the National Sports Commission evaluated the ranks of ten chess players based on their performances and contributions to the game of Go. Chen Zude, Wu Songsheng and I were rated as ninth-dan, and Wang Runan and Hua Yigang were rated as eighth-dan. , Luo Jianwen, Shen Guosun, and Huang Dexun are seven dans, Kong Xiangming (female) is six dans, and He Xiaoren (female) is five dans.After the trial of Duan Duan, until the end of the Chengde Duan Duan Tournament in 1984, among the ten players, except for the 9th Dan who could no longer be promoted, only Kong Xiangming was promoted to the 7th Dan.But young chess players have made rapid progress in the past two years.In less than two years, Ma Xiaochun went from seventh dan to ninth dan, Liu Xiaoguang and Cao Dayuan were promoted from sixth to eighth dan, and Jiang Zhujiu was promoted from fifth to seventh dan.The speed of their promotion is amazing, showing their strong strength.In contrast, our "old" chess players seem to be in decline, and they are likely to be eliminated from the "strong" team.Therefore, many friends in the chess world have asked me such a question: Japanese excellent chess players are in their heyday when they are in their 30s and 40s. Why do Chinese chess players fail when they are less than 40 years old?

To be honest, this question is difficult to answer.There are many factors causing this situation, and the situations of Chinese and Japanese chess players are also different.Most chess players in our country get married once they are over 30 years old. Once they have children, they will inevitably be involved in complicated housework. Their heads are full of problems such as housing, child care, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, etc. There is almost no A place for chess skills.Take me as an example. Since I got married, my social activities have suddenly increased several times, and I have guests visiting almost every day.And there are many phone calls looking for me during training time.Especially after the birth of my son, I was so busy in my spare time that I never moved chess pieces on Sunday.In the past, I often spent playing fast chess on Sundays.Counting it carefully, how much precious time was lost!

However, if I say frankly, socializing and housework involve energy, but it really makes the "old" The reason for the rapid decline of chess players seems to be due to their own loss of self-confidence. In fact, the "old" chess players in China at that time were only about 40 years old at best. From the perspective of playing Go, it should be said that it would not be a big problem to play Go for another five years, or even ten years.Some "old" chess players always feel that their energy is exhausted, and use this as an excuse to stagnate with peace of mind.Japan's Hashimoto Nine-Dan, Takakawa Nine-Dan, and Hideyuki Nine-Dan were in their forties and fifties when they dominated the chess world and were all powerful.In particular, Hashimoto Kyudan, at the age of 70, still has a sword that is not old, and won the final right of the "Chess Holy War", which made the young Japanese players admire him.Hashimoto Kudan has a famous saying: "When I play chess with a twenty-year-old player, I think of myself as a nineteen-year-old." What kind of drive is this!Why can't our "old" chess players show such enthusiasm?

To make a digression, the names of the Go teams at that time were also a little strange. The names of the old players were all followed by the word "old". For example, Wu Songsheng was called Wu Lao, and Hua Yigang was called Hua Yigang. Old, even I was promoted to Old Nie when I was just in my early thirties.The young people called it that way, and the old team members also called it that way. With this kind of name, people are called "old" even if they are not "old".This also seems to explain some problems. In the winning and losing world of Go, everyone is a competitive person. If you want to win, you have to run non-stop.