The qualifying rounds of the 2025 Jia Ji Lian Zai will take place from 30/7 to 2/8. 22 teams will compete in 9 rounds using the Swiss system. The top 10 teams will advance to the final round, a double round-robin tournament held in stages until 11/2025. Participating teams represent provinces and cities across China, including Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Hangzhou.
Seven Grandmasters will participate, including Zhang Qiang and Tang Dan (Beijing), Tao Hanming (Longjiang), Zhang Xuetong and Xu Guoyi (Guangdong), Meng Chen (Chengdu), and Yu Youhua (Hangzhou). China's top player, Cao Yanlei, will not participate, likely because he is registered with the Macau team.
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Grandmaster Meng Chen at the 2023 World Xiangqi Championship in Houston, Texas, USA. Photo courtesy of... |
Grandmaster Meng Chen at the 2023 World Xiangqi Championship in Houston, Texas, USA. Photo courtesy of...
Rising young talents will also compete, including prodigies Meng Fanrui (Hebei) and Yin Sheng (Yintai Bank, Zhejiang). These two players will represent China at the World Xiangqi Championship in Shanghai at the end of 9/2025.
The tournament also features most players not banned for match-fixing, such as Wang Yubo, Liu Zijian, Yang Shizhe, Li Hanlin, and Xu Wenzhang.
The final round is classified as a B1 tournament in the new Chinese xiangqi system. The top player in the finals will receive 1,000 ranking points. This tournament awards the second highest ranking points, only behind the Wuyang Cup.
The champion of the 2025 Jia Ji Lian Zai will receive 150,000 CNY (approximately 550 million VND). This prize is half the amount of previous years due to the absence of top players like Wang Tianyi, Zheng Weitong, Zhao Xinxin, and Xu Chao, who have been banned for life or imprisoned for match-fixing.
In the most recent tournament in 2023, Hangzhou won the championship with a team including Wang Tianyi, Huang Zhufeng, Shen Peng, and Vietnam's top player, Lai Ly Huynh. Tianyi, Zhufeng, and Shen Peng have all retired from top-level competition. This year's tournament does not include international players, so Lai Ly Huynh will not be participating.
Xuan Binh
