Hu Ronghua

Xiangqi career Hu Ronghua first won the Chinese National Xiangqi Championship in 1960, at age 15, the youngest record ever. Hu went on to win the next nine consecutive national championships, which gave him a 10-championship streak from 1960 to 1979 (due to the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese National Xiangqi Competition was not held annually during that period).

In the 1980s, Hu Ronghua won the national xiangqi championship in 1983 and 1985. By the mid-1990s, people thought that he was past his prime, and that younger generations of top players would eventually replace him. However, Ronghua won yet again in 1997 and 2000.

Hu Ronghua holds the record for the greatest number of national xiangqi titles (14), the youngest champion (age 15 in 1960) and the oldest champion (age 55 in 2000) in the history of the game.

Other interests In his early years, Hu Ronghua was trained for a short period in weiqi (Go). He also plays a game called daguailuzi(大怪路子)，a popular local game of Shanghai.

Titles 1982: Grandmaster 1988: International Grandmaster of Chinese Chess.

Publications XIANGQI Grandmaster Hu RongHua and his Elephant Openings (English publication 2017)

References and notes