Excerpt from: Daily News, Sankei Shimbun, Nikkan Sports
Photo: Japan Chess Academy, Mainichi Shimbun, Newspaper Sports, Kyodo News Agency
Translation and finishing: make excuses for quiet only one
On January 29, the female runners of the Japanese Chess Academy in The Fourth Year of Reiwa (FY 2022) adopted the final round of the examination at the Japanese Chess Academy. In the end, the 12-year-old Zhang Xinzhi won the final round and became a professional chess player with a record of 6 wins and 1 loss. In April this year, he will officially become a professional chess player. Zhang Xinzhi, who is now 12 years old and 2 months old, will replace the 12-year-old and 10-month-old Nakai Niwaji as the youngest professional chess player in Japan. Zhang Xinzhi's fixed age belongs to the 4th youngest in the Japanese chess academy, and the entire Japanese Go chess world is also the 9th youngest record.
Born in Tokyo in 2009, Zhang Xinzhi began teaching her Go at the age of 4 when her mother Kobayashi Izumi Shichidan began to teach her Go, and when zhang returned to Taiwan with her family at the age of 5, she began to formally learn chess. In 2019, she became a student of the Japanese Chess Academy and successfully became a professional chess player in her second set-stage game tour. Zhang Xinzhi's maternal grandparents were Kobayashi Koichi, who won 60 championships, and Reiko Kobayashi, the top women's chess player of the Showa period. Her great-grandfather was a famous chess player who trained a large number of famous chess players representing the Showa era in Japan, while her sister Zhang Xincheng Chudan became a professional chess player in 2020, and Zhang Xinzhi and her sister became the "fourth generation of chess".
Before the last round, Zhang Xinzhi and Yanagisaki Yanagihara, who is now 11 years and 3 months old, were both 5 wins and 1 loss, and the last round was exactly the direct confrontation between the two players, and finally Zhang Xinzhi won the victory with 6 and a half black eyes. Zhang Xinzhi, who successfully fixed the paragraph, said in an interview with reporters: "I am very happy to become a professional chess player. My goal was my own father. Now my strength is still much worse, and I hope to further enhance my strength."
Her father Zhang Xu said: "It is really a miracle that Zhang Xinzhi can become a professional chess player, but in the past two or three months, it is obvious that she has increased her chess, and I feel that there is a little opportunity." Compared with Zhang Xincheng, no matter how strictly I guided Zhang Xinzhi, I would not cry, but it aroused her fighting spirit. Being able to maintain a normal mind at any time is her advantage, and from the perspective of age and strength, I want to cultivate her well. Although she is still far inferior to Zhongyi, there is still a gap in strength, but she hopes to become a chess player active in the world chess world in the future." Mother Izumi Kobayashi said: "It has lasted four generations since her great-grandfather, and I hope that she can become a chess player loved by chess fans."
According to the statistics of the Japan Chess Academy, there are 14 groups of brother and sister professional chess players like Yoshinori Mizuno, Nagashima Shōe Sandan, XiangJing Chiei Rokudan, as well as Ryūnosuke Shibano and Shibano Tiger Maru Kudan.
After learning about Zhang Xinzhi's fixed paragraph, Zhongyi said: "Congratulations to Zhang Xinzhi for fixing the paragraph, I practiced chess with Zhang Xinzhi last year, and I hope that in the future, we can both improve our strength." Fujisawa said: "Congratulations to Dingduan, a few days ago at the inauguration ceremony of the female stream Honinfang, her mother, Sensei Kobayashi Izumi, was surprised after saying that 'Zhang Xinzhi became a professional chess player too early', and she thought they were very modest (laughs)." And her father, Teacher Zhang Xu, guided me when I was very young, and it is really envious that the family can become professional chess players. Neither Zhang Xinzhi nor her sister Zhang Xincheng had ever fought against each other. I hope to play in official competitions in the future."
Zhang Xu also said that because his name has a wooden character next to it, and his father's name has a gold character next to it, he will use "氵" when naming his children in the future. So he named his eldest daughter "Xin Cheng", and before the second daughter was born, he hoped that "her chess skills would be stronger", so he used Zhao Zhixun's "rule" character. In October 2009, a month before Zhang Xinzhi was born, Zhang Xu went to Kyoto to participate in the final of the Ahan Tongshan Cup, and mentioned to Zhao Zhixun, who was taking the same taxi, "I want to use your 'zhi' character when naming", and Zhao Zhixun said happily on the spot: "Take it and use it, take it and use it."
Zhao Zhixun said after learning of Zhang Xinzhi's fixed paragraph: "I really want to roar long live, Zhang Xinzhi became a professional chess player really according to his aptitude, I thought that giving a name was not a good thing, but now I feel more and more that it is a good thing."
Attached: Japanese chess players set the age of the top ten
Zhongyi 2nd Paragraph 10 years 0 months 2019
Fujisawa Rishi nari Aoi Cup 11 years and 6 months 2010
Zhao Zhixun honorary celebrity 11 years and 9 months 1968
※Daisuke Murakawa Kudan 11 years and 10 months 2002
※Hashimoto Masajijidan 12 years and 0 months 1947
※Satoshi Yuki Kudan 12 years and 0 months 1984
※Higashino Hiroaki Kudan 12 years and 1 month 1951
※Miyamoto Yoshihisa Kudan 12 years and 3 months 1951
Zhang Xinzhi Xinchu Duan 12 years and 4 months 2022
Ueno Isa ChuDan 12 years and 9 months 2019
(Note) ※ For kansai chess academy