Huang Zijun 黄子君
Name: Huang Zijun 黄子君, 1962-present
Birthplace: Guangzhou City .
Titles: GM Summary of achievements:
1. First ever Champion of the Chinese National Female Xiangqi Singles Tournament
2. Key player on the Guangdong team when they won the Chinese National Females Team Tournament in 1982,1985,1986 and 1988
3. Won the 1978 National Youth Female Xiangqi Championship with a perfect records of 7 wins
Huang Zijun was born in 1962 in Guangzhou City. Compared to other Xiangqi masters and grandmasters, she only started to learn the game when she was 11. But her talent was very obvious and when she was a 3rd grader, she started winning tournaments in mixed Xiangqi comeptitions. Her winning ways soon caught the eye of well known Guangdong Xiangqi Master Chen Songshun 陈松顺, and was quickly inducted into Guangzhou City’s Xiangqi training program. It was there where she built a solid foundation under the tutelage of Master Chen Songshun and Chen Boxiang 陈柏祥. Eventually, she would also come under the tutelage of Xiangqi Legend, GM Yang Guanlin.
In 1979, a females division was officially inducted as a tournament division. There were 8 finalists and after 7 rounds of competition, Huang emerged champion, and made history by becoming the first ever Women’s Champion in the history of the sport. Although Huang has only won it once, she has come in runner up twice, 2nd runner 3 times. In fact, of all the tournaments that she had ever attended, she almost always had a good placing. In 1982, a women’s team section was added to the roster. Huang Zijun, together with Huang Yuying 黄玉莹 dominated the tournament with wins in 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1988. They were also placed 1st runner up in 1983, 2nd runner up in 1984 and 6th place in 1987. Huang also had good results in various other tournaments held in that era. Huang’s style of play has been described as steady with a pinch of viciousness (p22 of reference 1). Her chess is superfluous, and she never forces any moves. Indeed, some of her games are quite fun to watch. I will show them when I have the time. In 1988, Huang decided to retire at a tender age of 26 to pursue her studies in Australia where she eventually obtained citizenship. She still resides in Australia currently. Although having retired from active competition, she still promotes and teaches Xiangqi. The url of her blog is given in the reference section below and also provided in the Links section of this website.
Last updated: 27th March 2012
Reference:
1.In Chinese, 《象棋女子特级大师 名局精解》 by 徐家亮
2. http://www.wfhxqy.com/bbs/showtopic-5230.aspx
In Chinese, article introducing all the female greats of Xiangqi. It is “interesting” to note that the introductions are exactly the same as the ones found in the book I bought.. (reference 1). Not to complain about copyright issues, but there is just so limited information on the female Xiangqi greats.
3. In English, GM Huang’s own blog!!! http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjhxiangqi
http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/qishou_3_19_0_xm_u9EC4_u5B50_u541B.html