The Chinese Chess Championships for men and women take place from 16th to 27th April 2013 in Xinghua, Jiangsu, China.
Two rounds were already played and only one player has managed to keep a perfect score, GM Ma Qun.
Information / Live games men / Live games women / Chinese chess blog / Daily news and reports
He provided the first upset of the tournament when he defeated first seed GM Wang Yue in the first round. The game was a really long struggle that showed high-quality endgame technique by both Grandmasters.
After getting a small strategic advantage in the early middlegame, Wang Yue did not accept a chance to repeat the position on move 40. Instead, he sacrificed a knight to obtain a couple of strong passed pawns, but this proved to be a bad decision. Ma Qun demonstrated the flaw of Wang’s plan masterfully and took the full point on move 82.
The young Chinese followed through his great debut in the event with a quicker win over GM Li Shilong. This time, he took advantage of his opponent’s mistake on move 20. He won the exchange and ended up with a winning material advantage. Li Shilong resigned on move 34.
In the women’s event, WGM Ding Yixin and WGM Wang Jue are the co-leaders with perfect scores. A long struggle lies ahead as the Chinese female players have proved to be very strong in the latest tournaments.
Never heard of them.