"The first person in Chinese chess" Wang Tianyi was investigated: a thorough investigation of the scandal is not the end, and the system should be improved

Recently, a piece of news in the chess world has attracted attention. According to the Economic Observer, Wang Tianyi, who has ranked first in the country in terms of chess player rating for 11 consecutive years and is known as the "first person" in Chinese chess, was investigated by the police in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a few months ago on suspicion of accepting bribes from non-state workers.

According to public information, Wang Tianyi was a young man, showed his talent for chess very early, and was admitted to Peking University with a "reduced score" because of his sports expertise, and studied at Peking University in 2008, majoring in information management. Wang Tianyi won the National Individual Chess Championship in October 2012 and was promoted to Grandmaster. In 2014, Wang Tianyi won the first place in the rating of Chinese chess players and has maintained this position for 11 consecutive years, and in 2023, the rating score has reached as many as 2,800 points, and he is known as the "first person" in Chinese chess today.

Wang Tianyi's investigation this time can be said to be the result of a series of controversies in the Chinese chess world in 2023, that is, the "Xiangqi Recording Gate" in mid-July 2023 and the "Liu Dahua's real-name report" in mid-October.

The "Recording Gate" incident refers to a circulating conversation between chess player Wang Yuefei and Hao Jichao, in which two of them mentioned "buying and selling chess" in black language, and also implied that chess player Wang Tianyi "cheated on his instrument". After the incident, the chess player Dang Fei expressed his stance to ask for a thorough investigation, and he has also been "connotating" Wang Tianyi on social media, during which there are also plots of "Dang Fei sent a lawyer's letter" and "Wang Tianyi's live broadcast to fight back", and finally involved Dang Fei's master Liu Dahua to report it.

The Economic Observer quoted "insiders" as saying that Wang Tianyi's investigation this time, "Liu Dahua's report is one of the 'fuses' of this case", which refers to the real-name report video posted by chess player Liu Dahua on his personal social media on the evening of October 17, 2023. At that time, Liu Dahua pointed the finger at Guo Liping, deputy director of the Chess and Card Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports, accusing that "for a long time, she has harbored and connived at the underworld forces in the chess world, and openly used computer software and modern scientific and technological means to manipulate and arrange the victory and defeat of various large-scale domestic competitions and the distribution of bonuses."

The incident has evolved to this point, and in connection with the two controversies in 2023, it is worth analyzing what role Wang Tianyi played in this chess scandal.

"Bribery by non-state functionaries" refers to "the conduct of staff members of companies, enterprises, or other units taking advantage of their positions to solicit property from others or illegally accept property from others to seek benefits for others, and the amount is relatively large." The subject of this crime does not engage in official business". Wang Tianyi's alleged crime is "accepting bribes" rather than "offering bribes", which may refer to his suspicion of "selling chess" or "buying chess".

"Buying chess" and "selling chess" have a long history in the Chinese chess world. As early as 2005, the "Zhao Xinxin Chess Buying Incident" pushed the "circle practice" of "buying and selling chess" from behind the scenes to the front of the stage. Why are there "buying chess" and "selling chess"? Combined with Liu Dahua's report and the various competition systems of Chinese chess, it can be seen that this is related to "victory and defeat and prize distribution". For a long time, the titles of "Chess Master" and "Chess Grandmaster", as well as the "Individual Tournament Ranking" and "Ranking Score", are very important to chess players, which are related to their treatment evaluation, prize distribution and qualification to participate in commercial tournaments.

According to the "Measures for the Management of Chess Players' Technical Grades of the Chinese Chess Association" and the "Technical Grade Standards for Chess Players", the criteria for becoming a chess grandmaster are "national individual champion", "winning the top three in the national individual competition twice within three years", "reaching the specified standards in the competitions designated by the association within four years", and "reaching the winning rate standard twice in four years". It is not difficult to imagine that if there is a situation where "player A already has a title, but player B does not" and "whoever wins between player A and player B will get the title", it is inevitable that there will be a profit drive of "player A sells him a game" or even "player A and player B share the prize", which is also the origin of "buying and selling chess" and "human chess" in the chess world.

Taking the "Zhao Xinxin Chess Buying Incident" in 2005 as an example, the National Chess Masters Championship at that time had a situation of "Zhao Xinxin and Jiang Chuan, whoever wins the championship can win the title of grandmaster". For this reason, Zhao Xinxin and Jiang Chuan also reached a "gentleman's agreement", "whoever wins the championship will give the bonus to the other party", and for this reason, "Zhao Xinxin spent 40,000 yuan in the final round through the 'middleman' to come forward to deal with nearly 10 chess players related to it, and he used the money to 'buy' the title of chess grandmaster".

According to the Measures for the Calculation and Implementation of Chess Players' Rating Points (for Trial Implementation), there are quite complex rules for calculating a player's rating score, which is composed of the number of games (N), the average rating of the opponent (Ra), the rating (Ro), the expected scoring rate (P), the expected score (We), the actual game score (W), the conversion coefficient (K) and the change in rating score (△R). When a person with a high rating meets a person with a low rating, even a draw will lead to a loss of rating; On the contrary, when a person with a low rating meets a person with a high rating, he can improve his score by winning chess or even drawing chess.

According to this set of rules, the "National Chess Championship (Group and Individual) and related competitions approved by the Chinese Chess Association for the calculation of rating points" are all competitions that are included in the calculation of rating points, including the Xiangjia League. It is obvious that Wang Tianyi's rating has remained the first all year round, and if he "sells chess", the benefits to other chess players will undoubtedly be greater, and the probability of "price code" will be correspondingly higher; In the same way, in order to maintain the first rating all year round, Wang Tianyi also has sufficient motivation to "buy chess", so as not to let other chess players take the initiative to sum and let himself drop the rating.

In addition, judging from Wang Tianyi's position, he joined the Hangzhou Branch of the China Chess Academy in March 2018 and became the head coach of the Hangzhou team in early 2022, leading the team to participate in the Chinese Chess League. If he is suspected of accepting bribes from non-state functionaries, then the constitutive elements of "illegally accepting other people's property and seeking benefits for others in a relatively large amount" show that the amount involved in the case is already quite large. Wang Tianyi's possibility of "organizing Hangzhou team players to sell chess in the Xiangjia League" and "buying or selling chess himself" exists at the same time, just because there are corresponding interests behind it.

In short, Wang Tianyi's investigation should not be the end of a series of scandals in the Chinese chess world, which revealed that the chronic disease of "buying chess" and "selling chess" must be vigorously rectified. From a historical point of view, the investigation and handling of one or two individual cases may not be enough to completely cure this chronic disease, and only by starting with the improvement of the chess competition system and the grading system can we eradicate the soil for the existence of "buying chess" and "selling chess." Today, when AI technology has long been "fully understood", it is also worth thinking about whether Chinese chess still needs an administrative agency to organize competitions and award titles.

Wang Jing

Editor-in-charge: Chen Bin