The Tai Yuan GM tournament takes place in China 15th-26th July 2004.
Participants: Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2690, Short, Nigel g ENG 2684, Ye
Jiangchuan g CHN 2681, Lautier, Joel g FRA 2666, Lputian, Smbat g ARM 2634,
Bu, Xiangzh g CHN 2620, Xu, Jung g CHN 2617, Zhang Zhong g CHN 2603, Ni, Hua
g CHN 2583, Xie, Jun g CHN 2564. Prizes 20,000$ , 9 rounds, 90 min+ 30 secs.

Does anyone know how many players of Western Chess there are in China? I
only know A. Karpov's estimate from several years ago. It may not be
correct, or my memory of it, but I thought he said "20 million".

Phil Innes

"Chess One" wrote:
The Tai Yuan GM tournament takes place in China 15th-26th July 2004.
Participants: Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2690, Short, Nigel g ENG 2684, Ye
Jiangchuan g CHN 2681, Lautier, Joel g FRA 2666, Lputian, Smbat g ARM 2634,
Bu, Xiangzh g CHN 2620, Xu, Jung g CHN 2617, Zhang Zhong g CHN 2603, Ni, Hua
g CHN 2583, Xie, Jun g CHN 2564. Prizes 20,000$ , 9 rounds, 90 min + 30 secs.

Does anyone know how many players of Western Chess there are in China?
I only know A. Karpov's estimate from several years ago. It may not be
correct, or my memory of it, but I thought he said "20 million".

Evidently, some Chinese champions of chess have begun to attain the
status of being at least minor celebrities in the Chinese media.
GM Zhu Chen has written a book about her life, including her marriage to
GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki of Qatar. A Chinese magazine had a featured article
about the lives of GM Zhang Zhong and WGM Li Ruofan (who were married in 2003).

By the way, Jose Capablanca defeated Wellington Koo in a chess game in 1906,
when they both were students at Columbia University in New York City.
Wellington Koo went on to a diplomatic career representing China that was far
more noteworthy than Capablanca's diplomatic activities on behalf of Cuba.

--Nick

Does anyone know how many players of Western Chess there are in China?
I only know A. Karpov's estimate from several years ago. It may not be
correct, or my memory of it, but I thought he said "20 million".

Evidently, some Chinese champions of chess have begun to attain the
status of being at least minor celebrities in the Chinese media.
GM Zhu Chen has written a book about her life, including her marriage to
GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki of Qatar. A Chinese magazine had a featured
article
about the lives of GM Zhang Zhong and WGM Li Ruofan (who were married in
2003).

An Asian gent in the chess business just wrote me to say that 20 million is
quite wrong, and 100 million would be nearer the mark.

Incidentally, here are the current tournament standings:

1 Short 2.5
2 Dreev 2
3 Bu Xiangzhi 2
4 Zhang Zhong 1.5
5 Xie Jun 1.5
6 Lautier 1.5
7 Ni Hua 1.5
8 Lputian 1.0
9 Xu Jun 1.0
10 Ye Jiangchuan 0.5

By the way, Jose Capablanca defeated Wellington Koo in a chess game in
1906,
when they both were students at Columbia University in New York City.
Wellington Koo went on to a diplomatic career representing China that was
far
more noteworthy than Capablanca's diplomatic activities on behalf of Cuba.

The Cuban [exiled, London] writer Gabriel-Infante wrote a good essay on the
/cultural/ impact of Capa in Cuba in his title 'Mea Cuba', its just after
the chapter on Castroenteritis.

Phil

--Nick

"Chess One" wrote in message . ..

An Asian gent in the chess business just wrote
me to say that 20 million is
quite wrong, and 100 million would be nearer the mark.

Incidentally, here are the current tournament standings:

Hm,

"A sample survey shows that China's population
had reached 1.26 billion by the end of 1999
(excluding the population of the Hong Kong and
Macao Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan
Province), accounting for about 21% of the world
total."

see:

http://www.cpirc.org.cn/en/whitepaper.htm

Wlod
http://www.cpirc.org.cn/en/whitepaper.htm