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In order to maintain his "first place in ranking", Wang Tianyi made the mistake of "buying chess pieces".

Text | Wang Qiang

According to a report by Economic Observer on August 23, chess grandmaster Wang Tianyi, known as the "No. 1 Chinese chess player," has been approved for arrest by the Hangzhou Procuratorate.

It is reported that Wang Tianyi was arrested because he was suspected of "buying chess pieces" during the game, that is, he gave benefits to his opponents himself or through another Chinese chess grandmaster Wang Yuefei in order to win the game and gain an advantage in the chess rating ranking; he was also suspected of "selling chess pieces", that is, accepting money from his opponents and deliberately losing chess pieces in the game.

Among them, the amount of money that Wang Tianyi and Wang Yuefei were suspected of "buying chess pieces" totaled more than 800,000 yuan.

Wang Tianyi and Wang Yuefei (right) joined the Guangxi Trans-Century Team in 2015

In the Chinese chess world, the 1.88-meter-tall Wang Tianyi once existed like an "alien" - since 2014, he has ranked first in the national Chinese chess player rating for eleven consecutive years; in 2023, his rating reached 2800 points, a historical high since the implementation of the rating system in Chinese chess, so he is also known as the "No. 1 Chinese chess player."

Now, Wang Tianyi has become a prisoner, which is a pity.

The talented chess boy who was admitted to Peking University with a reduced score

Wang Tianyi was born in Beijing on April 23, 1989. Both his parents are senior engineers. When Wang Tianyi was less than seven years old, his parents enrolled him in calligraphy, English, chess, composition, table tennis, etc. Chess was just one of the many interest classes. Every Saturday morning, Wang Tianyi was taken by his father to the Xuanwu District Children's Palace for a two-hour chess class.

After two years of study, Wang Tianyi was recommended by his teacher to participate in the Beijing Youth Championship, where he won second place and entered the Beijing Chess Academy Youth Class. From 1999 to 2001, Wang Tianyi defeated chess geniuses from all over the country in the National Youth Chess Championship and won the championship every time. In 2005, at the age of 16, he won the 16-year-old group championship of the "Zhongjie Cold Drink" Cup National Youth Chess Championship and was promoted to chess master.

In 2008, 19-year-old Wang Tianyi was admitted to Peking University, majoring in information management. Afterwards, Wang Tianyi said in a live broadcast that this was due to his participation in a "Winter Chess and Card Camp" event, where he won all his opponents, and thus received a "privilege" of being admitted to Peking University with a lower score. However, he did not say how much the score was lowered. It is rumored that this policy is a preferential policy for Peking University to admit students who are within 50 to 65 points of the local admission score line (the score reduction policy varies every year).

In 2009, Wang Tianyi participated in the professional league as a student at Peking University.

In October 2012, Wang Tianyi, an undergraduate graduate from Peking University, won the National Individual Chess Championship, becoming the 16th male national chess champion in China and was promoted to chess grandmaster.

Pretending to be a farmer,

Going to court with former employer over "wage arrears"

Before this arrest, Wang Tianyi had appeared in social news at least twice.

One time was in September 2012, a month before he was promoted to chess grandmaster, when at the 7th National Farmers Games held in Nanyang, Henan, several registered professional chess players were exposed by netizens for pretending to be farmers and changing their names to participate in the competition. 23-year-old Wang Tianyi was one of them.

In the article on the qualification review procedures for athletes in the National Agricultural Games, there is a statement that "professional athletes cannot participate in this National Agricultural Games."

But at that time, Wang Tianyi of the Beijing team changed his name to "Wang Tianyi", and his later "chess buying" partner Wang Yuefei changed his name to "Wang Yuefei", Liu Huan changed his name to "Liu Huan", and Han Bing changed his name to "Han Bing".

If the Beijing team changed their names only to replace the last character with a homophone, the host Henan team has changed beyond recognition. Wu Junqiang became "Zhu Lipeng" and Li Xiaohui became "Li Manyi". After being exposed for changing his name to participate in the competition, Wu Junqiang tacitly accepted the accusations of netizens, saying: "I am a brick, I will be moved wherever I am needed. The team members will follow the arrangements made by the leaders."

In November 2012, Wang Tianyi apologized to everyone online. He said on Weibo: "Regarding the recent hotly-publicized incident of participating in the Farmers' Games under a false name, I have not made a public response for various reasons. Today, I would like to solemnly express my apologies to all friends who care about and support me on my own behalf. I deeply regret this matter and will take it as a lesson. I will improve my chess character and skills and contribute to the cause of chess with a better attitude."

A person from the Chinese Chess Academy said that although Wang Tianyi's apology was a little late, it was better than nothing. He is so young and I believe he will have a good future.

In the end, at least 20 people were found to have changed their names and pretended to be farmers to participate in the competition. In January 2013, the Chinese Chess Association decided to disqualify players who violated the rules from participating in the 2013 National Chess Championship (Women's Team and Men's Team B). If they were players who participated in the 2013 National Chess League A, they would be suspended from the first to the third round.

Wang Tianyi also once sued his former employer for salary.

In 2015, 26-year-old Wang Tianyi was invited by the Guangxi Cross Century Chess Team with a large sum of money because he ranked first in the national rating. But a year later, in June 2016, Wang Tianyi and Wang Yuefei entrusted a lawyer to file a lawsuit against Guangxi Cross Century Group for breach of contract such as withholding wages and bonuses. The case lasted for two years, after the first trial in 2017 and the second trial in 2018, Wang Tianyi and other chess players won the case.

Wang Tianyi once revealed in an interview with the media that he was unable to participate in the 2017 Elephant Chess League due to the wage arrears case, and "his income loss was about one million yuan."

The Hangzhou chess player who was taken away,

Supervised by the higher level public security department

In March 2018, the Hangzhou branch of the Chinese Chess Academy announced that 29-year-old Wang Tianyi agreed to join the academy after careful consideration. Since then, the "God of War" of the Chinese Chess League has bid farewell to his "contract worker" status and officially became a Hangzhou chess player.

The Hangzhou Branch of the Chinese Chess Academy is the only branch of the Chinese Chess Academy in China. It was officially approved by the Chess and Card Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports in 2004. It has professional teams in the three major chess categories of Go, Chinese chess, and international chess.

Around April 2023, a recording of a phone call between two Chinese chess grandmasters, Wang Yuefei and Hao Jichao, caused an uproar in the chess world. In it, the two mentioned Wang Tianyi, and talked about Wang Yuefei and Wang Tianyi's involvement in "buying chess pieces" and manipulating chess competitions, and also allegedly mentioned the use of "special means" to cheat in the game.

In response, Wang Tianyi denied this in a live broadcast in October 2023.

Screenshot of Wang Tianyi's live broadcast in October 2023

On the evening of October 17, 2023, Chinese chess grandmaster Liu Dahua posted a video on his personal social media, reporting Guo Liping, deputy director of the State Sports General Administration's Chess and Card Sports Management Center, by name. "For a long time, she has been harboring and condoning evil forces in the chess world, openly using computer software and modern technology to manipulate and manage the outcome and prize money distribution of various large-scale domestic competitions." Liu Dahua said in the video.

The next day, on October 18, Liu Dahua's apprentice, chess master Dang Fei, reported the "recording scandal" in his real name. In the video, Dang Fei publicly called for an investigation into the "chaos in the chess world" exposed by the recording scandal and said that he had submitted a real-name reporting letter and a 90-minute recording. Liu Dahua also clearly expressed his support for Dang Fei's position in the live broadcast and believed that the "recording" was real.

Although Liu Dahua and Dang Fei's "real-name reports" did not explicitly point the finger at Wang Tianyi, Liu Dahua's report against Guo Liping may have become the "fuse" of the Wang Tianyi case.

A senior figure in the chess world said that cheating in chess games is not difficult: "Some cheaters may use internal equipment, such as miniature earphones hidden in clothing in advance, to bypass some shielding measures. Assistants outside the venue transmit information through specific codes, visual signals, etc. In addition, if shielding measures can be successfully bypassed and AI software is used for real-time assistance, every move of the player may be the best choice."

On April 23, 2024, Wang Tianyi was investigated by the police, and the case was handled by the Economic Investigation Department of the Hangzhou Police. This day was also Wang Tianyi's 35th birthday. It is reported that the public security organs encountered many interference factors in handling Wang Tianyi's case. Later, the case was "upgraded" and supervised by the higher-level public security department.

According to an insider in the chess circle, Wang Tianyi made the mistake of "buying chess pieces" in order to keep his "first place in rating". After winning the 2023 Gaogang Cup Masters Tournament, Wang Tianyi's rating exceeded 2,800 points, which is the highest rating in the history of chess. This honor and achievement is very important to Wang Tianyi. "Although there is no actual evidence, it seems that some of these chess pieces may have been 'bought' by Wang Tianyi, which is a pity." The insider was a little regretful. "From an objective point of view, he has no problem keeping his 'first place in rating', but after he started 'buying chess pieces', he lost his respect for the game and the law. It is not surprising that he has come to this point now."

According to another insider in the chess circle, wanting to make more money might be the reason why Wang Tianyi went astray. In the national individual chess competition, "buying and selling chess" and "favor chess" are most likely to occur. "A chess player can obtain the title of chess master if he enters the top 16 once; if he wins the championship before, or is in the top three twice, or in the top six four times, he can obtain the title of chess grandmaster." After 2021, as long as you win the runner-up in the national individual championship once, you can get the title of chess grandmaster. "These competitions are the 'hardest hit areas' and will involve the awarding of the titles of chess master and grandmaster. And in the Xiangjia League, whether you are a grandmaster or not, the treatment is different."

Just like the incident of pretending to be a farmer, Wang Tianyi is not the only one who made mistakes in the chess world. How many chess players will be involved in buying and selling chess pieces after his arrest? Let's wait for the official announcement...

References: Economic Observer, Xinmin Evening News, Hangzhou Daily, Upstream News, Guangzhou Daily, Observer.com