Master profile
Xu Yinchuan
许银川
- Games
- 1,088
- Years of the dated games
- 1990–2008
- Archive record
- 440W · 566D · 82L
National titles: Men's national individual champion: 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2009
The player
许银川 (Xu Yinchuan), born in Huilai, Guangdong, on 5 August 1975, won the national individual championship six times, in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2006 and 2009. He took the first at eighteen, the youngest champion after 胡荣华 (Hu Ronghua), and received the grandmaster title the same year. He became the third player, after 赵国荣 (Zhao Guorong) and 吕钦 (Lü Qin), to hold the world, Asian and national titles at once, and his rating led the country until 2014. A graduate of Sun Yat-sen University, he is known for his endgames, and with 吕钦 he forms the pair called the two heroes of Lingnan.
In the archive he scored 71.2% as Red and 61.6% as Black, the best figures of any player with more than a thousand games in it. His results with the central cannon were the best too: of the players with at least 216 games with the central cannon on that side, none scored better with it as Red or against it as Black. Of his 129 games with Lü Qin, 93 were drawn.
The two games below are wins at the national individual championship: over 胡荣华 (Hu Ronghua) in 2000 and over 赵国荣 (Zhao Guorong) in 1994.
In the archive
| As Red / as Black | 547 games as Red, 541 as Black |
|---|---|
| Score | 71.2% as Red, 61.6% as Black |
| Most played systems | Central Cannon as Red (286 games) · Screen Horses as Black (265 games) |
| Best-scoring system | Palace-Corner Cannon as Red: 80.6% over 18 games |
| Most frequent opponent | Lü Qin (129 games) |
| Longest game | 391 plies against Lü Qin |
Xu Yinchuan - Hu Ronghua, 2000
2000 National Individual Championship · 2000 · Xu Yinchuan (red) vs Hu Ronghua (black)
Xu Yinchuan was a prodigy who went on to win national and world titles, and he is known for smooth positional play. Here he has red against Hu Ronghua and steers the game into the kind of position he likes best: clear and controlled, with steady pressure on the opponent.
A soldier is taken as early as move four, the exchanges come around move thirteen, and Xu's chariot ends the game with a clean check. The game is typical of him: no wasted moves, no needless risk, and nothing for the opponent to hold on to. It is also a meeting of the two generations that led the game in those years.
Red won · 50 moves
The starting position.
Key moments
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Xu Yinchuan - Zhao Guorong, 1994
1994 National Individual Championship · 1994 · Xu Yinchuan (red) vs Zhao Guorong (black)
Two champions at their peak meet in the Same-Direction Cannons, one of the oldest and sharpest cannon openings. Xu Yinchuan has red and goes into the complications without hesitation.
A cannon takes the first soldier on move twelve, and the exchanges follow at once, five captures in ten plies, as the game races toward a result. Xu comes out with the more active chariot and a won ending, and he finishes inside seventy plies. Zhao Guorong was hard to beat in sharp positions, and Xu makes this win look natural.
Red won · 35 moves
The starting position.
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