2 weeks ago
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The Chinese Xiangqi Association (CXA) announced that 41 players have been penalized for match-fixing, including three grandmasters who were banned from competition for life.
Among those punished, the three lifetime bans were handed to players who have previously won individual Chinese xiangqi championships: Zhao Xinxin, Wang Yang and Zheng Weitong, according to the announcement was on Sunday on Chinese broadcaster CCTV, Global Times reported.
This means they are permanently prohibited from participating in any CXA-organized activities or events held by member federations. They will also be stripped of their grandmaster titles. Additionally, these players may also face legal consequences, as Wang Tianyi and Wang Yuefei did in similar incidents previously.
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Chinese xiangqi grandmaster Zheng Weitong. Photo taken from Baidu |
Grandmaster is the highest title awarded by the CXA to players who win national individual championships or achieve high rankings in team competitions. Prior to this scandal, China had over 30 grandmasters.
Zhao, 35, is a former national champion and world champion, having claimed the titles in 2009 and 2019.
Zheng, 31, had been a dominant figure in Chinese xiangqi, winning two national championships in 2014 and 2015 and a world championship in 2015.
Wang, 41, earned the national title in 2018.
The investigation, which began in late 2023, uncovered a network of match-fixing among top players. These individuals allegedly paid opponents to lose matches, aiming to manipulate their Elo ratings and secure the grandmaster title, Xinhua reported.
As a result, these players have been absent from major tournaments for nearly a year. Zheng, for example, claimed his absence was due to focusing on his studies in an earlier CCTV interview.
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Chinese xiangqi grandmaster Zhao Xinxin. Photo taken from Baidu |
In addition to the three lifetime bans, 38 other players faced different levels of punishment, from public reprimands to multi-year suspensions.
Wang Kui, the 2020 national champion, received a 7-year, 6-month ban, while 2011 national champion Sun Yongzheng was banned for 4 years and 3 months. Both players also lost their grandmaster titles.
Several former champions, including Lu Qin, Jiang Chuan, Hong Zhi, Xu Chao and Xie Jing, remain untainted by the scandal.
The turning point of this case came from leaked match-fixing recordings, initially reported by player Dang Fei, who was later banned for 3 years for his involvement. The leak implicated numerous players, with punishments extending to players like Zhang Shenhong and Meng Chen, who received bans of 6 months or longer. Xiangqi prodigy Meng Fanxu has remained absent from recent tournaments and was not named in the latest sanctions.
However, CXA revealed that investigations are ongoing, suggesting additional sanctions could follow.
