The 6th Shanghai Cup Xiangqi Masters Open ended. Young chess players look forward to cross-strait exchanges

China News Service, Shanghai, September 14 (Reporter Miao Lu) The 6th Shanghai Cup Xiangqi Masters Open ended on the 13th in Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, Shanghai. During the closing ceremony, Xie Dingheng from Taipei took out his mobile phone from time to time to take photos of the mainland chess players who came to the stage to receive their awards. Those chess players whose chess records he had repeatedly studied through live broadcasts in Taiwan were now appearing in front of him.

The youth team competition that Xie Dingheng participated in is an important part of this Shanghai Cup. This youth team competition has further expanded the "circle of friends" by inviting the Hong Kong Xiangqi Federation, Taipei Xiangqi Association, Malaysian Xiangqi Federation, and Vietnam Xiangqi Association to form teams to participate in the competition. There are a total of 8 teams with 32 young chess players making friends through chess. Xie Dingheng is one of the young chess players sent by the Taipei Chess Association.

This year, 16-year-old Xie Dingheng participated in the Shanghai Cup Xiangqi Masters Open for the first time. Yin Sheng and Chen Shaobo, the champion and runner-up in the men's individual open category this year, are both mainland Chinese chess players that he likes very much. "I often watch their games through live broadcasts in Taiwan and study their chess records. Yin Sheng is very good at layout, and I have learned some of his methods." It is a bit regretful that this time he was not in the same group as Yin Sheng and Chen Shaobo. "It's a pity that I couldn't play a game with them. I hope I will have the opportunity to play chess with them face to face in the future."

This kind of face-to-face chess confrontation is exactly what Xie Dingheng is looking forward to. He said that there are many professional chess teams in mainland China, but Taiwan does not pay much attention to them. "You can improve your level by training with mainland players. It's difficult to continue to improve if you're stuck in Taiwan."

On September 13, the 6th Shanghai Cup Xiangqi Masters Open ended in Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, Shanghai. The picture shows the Hong Kong team winning the third place in this year's youth team. (Photo courtesy of the organizer)

The Hong Kong team's Liang Weixuan, Wu Nok-hang, Cai Shihong and Liang Weishan won the third place in this youth team. This is also their first time participating in the event. Cai Shihong, the youngest member of the team, is 14 years old. Influenced by his father and grandfather, he started learning chess at the age of 5. "I saw them playing and found it quite interesting, so I started learning. Later I went out to try to participate in competitions and won third place. I felt very accomplished and fell in love with chess."

Cai Shihong said that there are many people in Hong Kong who like to play chess, the chess atmosphere in the mainland is also very lively, and the level of chess players is relatively high. Cai Shihong also often uses artificial intelligence (AI) to practice chess. "If we see who our opponent is before the game, we will go online to read their chess records, and then use AI to help us analyze which layout is better."

Teenagers no longer just immerse themselves in playing music, but let the algorithm become another kind of "sparring partner". But Cai Shihong also knows that no matter how accurate the analysis on the screen is, it cannot replace the tension and excitement of making moves face to face. "I'm really looking forward to more competitions like this, where I can communicate with different mainland experts and promote my own progress," Cai Shihong said. (over)