Even in chess China is now world’s best

By Alex P. Vidal

“Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.”— Mao Zedong

A PORTENT of things to come?

Or is it a realization of what Chairman Mao had desired: “Let a hundred flowers bloom.”

China’s dominance in many areas in the world is now getting crystal clear.

Already the world’s largest economy, its economy is more than 20 percent larger than the US economy, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Furthermore, it is growing considerably more rapidly (assuming they don’t continue their zero COVID-19 policy forever), so it is projected to be more than a third larger than the US economy by the end of the decade.

Since China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978, World Bank says China’s GDP growth has averaged over nine percent a year, and more than 800 million people have lifted themselves out of poverty.

There have also been significant improvements in access to health, education, and other services over the same period.

In the end, China seems to be winning.

Even in sports, China has been giving USA, Russia, Great Britain, Japan, France, Germany, and all Olympic Games superpowers a run for their money.

Most recently, China’s Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang has set his sights on Ukraine’s heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk after dealing Britain’s Joe Joyce his first professional loss at London’s Copper Box Arena.

“Chinese power,” Zhang thundered after the head-turning and historic win.

Will he be the first Chinese world heavyweight champion?

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To complete China’s giant leap forward, a 30-year-old chess grandmaster from Wenzhou has won the FIDE World Chess Championship in a heart-stopping tiebreak playoff to capture the sport’s most prestigious title.

Ding Liren, who never once led in the three-week match at the St Regis Astana Hotel until the moment when victory was in hand, has replaced Norwegian long-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, by upending Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi.

The Chinese underdog boldly played for a win from what looked to be a drawn position in the last of four rapid games. That fighting spirit paid off handsomely when a stunned Nepomniachtchi resigned after 68 moves, making Ding the first Chinese man to become world chess champion.

“This match reflects the deepness of my soul,” an emotional Ding said afterward. “I could not control my mood. I will cry. I will burst into tears. It was quite a tough tournament for me. I feel quite relieved.”

The $2.2 million world title contest in the Kazakh capital was largely played in the shadow of Carlsen, the longtime champion and world No 1 who opted against defending his crown last year, citing a lack of motivation to endure the months-long slog of preparation that championship matches demand.

“I started to learn chess from four years old,” Ding says. “I spent 26 years playing, analyzing, trying to improve my chess ability with many different ways, with different changing methods. with many new ways of training.”

He continues: “I think I did everything. Sometimes I thought I was addicted to chess, because sometimes without tournaments I was not so happy. Sometimes I struggled to find other hobbies to make me happy. This match reflects the deepness of my soul.”

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Before the start of the championship match, Ding told German weekly paper “Die Zeit” in January that “Chess has lost some of its shine.”

Liren doesn’t like being famous, but as the former world No. 3 he is far from unknown in the chess world. The former law student, who has been playing at the top level for a decade, is a strong positional player who is rarely in danger of losing a match.

The same cannot be said for his opponent Nepomniachtchi or “Nepo” as he is popularly known, who is known as a quick player who is always capable of springing a surprise.

“Nepo” makes brilliant attacking moves, sometimes he makes hair-raising mistakes. Two years ago in his match against Carlsen, “Nepo” started well but then lost his way, suffered three defeats and then had no chance against the Norwegian.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)