Why is China Doing so Well?

In November, the World Team Championship was held in Jerusalem. 12 teams from all around the world participated in the event, in a 45+10 rapid or "semi-classical" time control. China, one of the competitors, was a heavy underdog. After all, zero of their top 8 players were playing, while teams like Azerbaijan had 2 super grandmasters on their team! So how did China, out of all the countries, win the tournament? How could they have pulled this off? But most importantly, why has China been doing so well? This blog aims to answer those questions.

Team China with the Gold Cup

China's ranking system

China has its own ranking system to determine strength, similar to America's USCF. This is integral, as it gives China little need for FIDE tournaments. As a result, about all Chinese tournaments don't use FIDE, which means many Chinese players have little to no access to FIDE tournaments. This prevents them from having an accurate FIDE rating.

Only 3 FIDE-rated tournaments in China this month!

The lack of FIDE tournaments is likely why many strong Chinese players seemingly come out of nowhere, as seen in the case of Zhang Di, who played for the Chengdu Pandas in the PRO Chess League. At the time, he was only 12 with a FIDE rating of 1965, consistently playing above his rating, and at some point achieving a 2345 performance rating! Here is one of the great games he played in the PRO Chess League.

Zhang Di on average before the event had only played around 1 FIDE-rated tourney every 4-5 months, possibly explaining how his rating of 1965 was inaccurate. The next topic is similar in nature to this one.

Quarantine

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, China installed harsh quarantines for anyone coming from outside the country. This makes leaving the country to play chess very inconvenient. Most chess players and overall people in China have not left it once since the entire pandemic, for good reason. For chess players in China though, the quarantine, along with the low number of FIDE tournaments means an elongated period with no rating shift. But remember, that doesn't mean the player isn't improving! This quarantine made many Chinese players much stronger than their FIDE rating.

A Neighborhood in the process of being quarantined

This and the previous aspect likely answer the question, "Why has China been doing so well".

China's Team Funding

Most integral to the team's performance though was China's funding for chess and team tournaments. Ever since it began to enter the chess scene, China has invested millions of yen into the installments of chess centers. Along with that, China has a history of granting lots of money to their teams. For example, in 2012 after Sun Yang's (a swimmer for the Chinese national team) first-place finish for China in the London Olympics, the government gifted him an apartment worth 3 million dollars. It is not just swimming that China is funding though, many other Chinese athletes have been paid royally for their performances by the government.

Since China is aiming to become the world's strongest nation at chess, it may also be incentivizing its chess players to play better with lucrative items. This, in my opinion, was the catalyst for China's great performance in the World Team Championship and other team chess championships.

Final Thoughts

All in all, many factors have affected China's growth. No matter what, China as a country will always be a chess force to be reckoned with. Here is a beautiful game from the World Team Championship just because you made it.

Anyways, thank you for reading, and have a nice day!