For the first time, the four major mind sports will gather at the Asian Games

                                                       For the first time, the four major mind sports will gather at the Asian Games

When the 19th Asian Games kick off in Hangzhou this week, it will undoubtedly be a historic moment destined to go down in history for mind sports. It is the first time in the history of the Asian Games that Go, chess, chess and bridge have been officially contested at the same time.

Mental sports in Asia has a very broad mass base, especially the various chess sports, not only has a large number of fans, but also in the long-term development process has accumulated a very profound project culture, the competitive level has been in the world's leading level for a long time. Taking chess as an example, the level of men's and women's chess in China and India has long been in the ranks of the first echelon of chess, and chess has a very high level of development in East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia. Mongolia, Vietnam, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries have very strong competitiveness in the chess World Series. Compared with many Olympic sports, the intellectual sports represented by chess have more obvious advantages in Asia in terms of the participation of people, the breadth and depth of participation, and the development history and cultural accumulation. Therefore, the four intellectual sports are listed as the official games of the Asian Games at the same time in Hangzhou Asian Games, which is undoubtedly a correct choice of respecting history and reality from the actual situation. This change of the Asian Games also fully reflects the self-confidence of Asian sports governance and development.

At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the Chinese sports delegation will compete in all 13 events of the four mental sports. Among the four intellectual sports, chess has the most items, including men's and women's individual events and men's and women's team events. Go, chess and bridge each have three items. This project setup is a good example of the principle of seeking truth from facts. At present, chess is the most popular and widely promoted sport in both the world and Asia. In the world, Chess Federation is one of the few international sports associations that can have about 200 member associations like World Athletics Federation and FIFA. Meanwhile, the popularity of various Asian regions is also very high. Not only the development of the project is balanced, but also the Asian level can represent the world level. Chess is the most frequent official event of the Asian Games, in the 2006 Doha Asian Games and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games has been an official event, this Asian Games is the third time to become an official event.

The Chinese women's chess team is led by Hou Yifan, who has long ranked first in the world women's chess ranking, the other three female players are Zhu Jiner, Tan Zhongyi and Zhai Mo, and the four male players are Wei Yi, Bu Xiangzhi, Xu Xiangyu and Ma Qun. All eight players are selected by selection. It is worth mentioning that the current women's individual world champion and runner-up Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie also participated in the previous women's team trials, due to the extremely fierce competition within the women's team, they failed to pass the trials to get qualified. Like the Chinese women's team, the Indian women's chess team is also full of talent, this time Fielding a combination of old and new players, including veteran Koneru who participated in the 2006 Doha Asian Games and won two gold MEDALS in the women's individual and mixed team event, and Khalika who won the bronze medal in the women's individual event at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. The pair are currently ranked No. 4 and No. 13 in the women's world. Although the Chinese and Indian women's teams are led by the world's top 10 players, it does not follow that the women's team champion will emerge from these two teams. Kazakhstan's women's team, whose post-00s generation has risen rapidly in recent years, will also be a strong contender for gold. Compared with the women's chess event, the competition in the men's event will be more intense, whether it is an individual event or a team event, no chess player or team has a more prominent competitive advantage. Chinese veteran Bu Xiangzhi and Indian veteran Hari Krishna are both participating in the Asian Games for the third time and are very experienced, but the young players from India, Uzbekistan and other countries are sure to show very strong competitiveness in the men's chess competition.

In the game of Go, the competitive level of China, Japan and South Korea not only represents the highest level in Asia, but also represents the highest level in the world. South Korea won all three Go golds at the Asian Games in Guangzhou. The Chinese team is looking forward to a breakthrough in the team event. The four female players are Yu Zhiying, Li He, Wu Yiming and Wang Yubo, while the six male players are Ke Jie, Yang Dingxin, Mi Yuting, Zhao Chenyu, Li Qincheng and Yang Kaiwen. Ke Jie and Yang Dingxin will compete in the men's individual event. The Korean team is still competitive for gold MEDALS in the men's individual, men's team and women's team events. The Korean men's team was composed of Shin Jin 谞, Park Jung-Hwan, Byun Sang-il, Shin Min-jun, Kim Myeong-hoon and Lee Ji-hyun. The Korean women's team was composed of Choi Jin, Oh Yu-jin, Kim Chae-young and Kim Eun-jae. The men's individual competition was composed of Shin Jin 谞 and Park Jung-hwan. Shin Jin 谞 is currently ranked first in the Korean Go ranking and Park Jung-hwan has won the highest podium twice in the Guangzhou Asian Games. Japan's Yi Liliao and Shijino Komaru and China's Taipei team Xu Haohong and Lai Junfu will also compete in the men's individual event, although they have strong competitiveness, but it is unlikely to win.

Chess and Weiqi, after the Guangzhou Asian Games for the second time to become the official games. There are three gold MEDALS in men's individual, women's individual and mixed team chess. China sent female players Zuo Wenjing and Wang Linna, and male players Zheng Weitong, Zhao Xinxin and Wang Yang. In recent years, the popularization of chess has made great progress in the world, and the competitive level in Europe and Southeast Asia has been greatly improved. In the individual event, the Chinese team will face a very big impact. But in the mixed team event, it is difficult for other teams to shake the strong overall advantage of the Chinese team. Among the 13 mental sports events, chess mixed team is undoubtedly the most competitive event of the Chinese team.

Bridge has become an official event in the Hangzhou Asian Games after the Jakarta Asian Games, but it has been reduced from 6 events in the last session to 3 events for men's team, women's team and mixed team. The seven female athletes in the Chinese team are Yu Xiuting, Huang Yan, Ran Jingrong, Liu Yan, Fu Bo, Wang Jian and Zhang Yu, while the eight male athletes are Ju Chuancheng, Zhuang Zejun, Liu Jing, Hu Linlin, Liu Yinghao, Chen Yichao, Hu Junjie and Dai Jianming, among whom the 60-year-old Dai Jianming is the oldest member of the Chinese sports delegation at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Of the six events in the last Asian Games, the Chinese team won MEDALS in the remaining five events except mixed doubles, namely the mixed team and super mixed team champion, the women's doubles champion and the third place, and the men's doubles silver and men's team bronze. The Chinese team in the Asian Games has a certain strength in the three minor events, and will make every effort to impact the gold medal.