| Liu Wenzhe | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Liu Wenzhe |
| Country | China |
| Born | October 7, 1940 [1] China |
| Title | International Master (1980)[1] |
| FIDE rating | 2473 (inactive) |
| Peak rating | 2473 (July 2000) |
Liu Wenzhe (Chinese: 刘文哲; born October 7, 1940)[2] is a retired International Master chess player. He has also been one of China's top chess trainers.
Liu Wenzhe played for Guangdong chess club in the China Chess League (CCL).[3]
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He was the first Chinese chess master and China's first chess player to defeat a grandmaster. He has been considered as a pioneer of chess in China and is the founding father of the Chinese School of Chess. He won the Chinese Chess Championship in 1980 and 1982.
Two years after the end of the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong's death and the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, China competed in their first Olympiad in Buenos Aires. It was there that Liu Wenzhe became the first Chinese player to defeat a Western grandmaster, GM Jan Hein Donner of the Netherlands, in crushing style.[4]
At the time it was considered an aberration, but subsequent events have proved otherwise. In total, Liu made three appearances at the Chess Olympiads (1978–1982) with an overall record of 37 games played (+14, =4, -19). He also made four appearances in total at the Men's Asian Team Chess Championship (1979–1981, 1991–1993) with an overall record of 17 games played (+10, =4, -3).
In 1986 he was appointed to the post of Chief Trainer of the Chinese Institute of Chess and head coach of the Chinese national chess team. He was succeeded by Ye Jiangchuan in 2000.
In 2002-3, he wrote a seminal book on the "Chinese School of Chess" called the same name (see Further reading). In the book he charts the dramatic progress of Chinese players over the past 25 years.
"Systematically training players is more important than selecting them." --Liu Wenzhe, head coach, women’s Chinese Olympic team.[5]
| Preceded by Li Zunian |
Men's Chinese Chess Champion 1980 |
Succeeded by Ye Jiangchuan |
| Preceded by Ye Jiangchuan |
Men's Chinese Chess Champion 1982 |
Succeeded by Xu Jun |
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