Xiangqi has a long history and profound cultural heritage in China, and is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese people. However, despite the skill of the chess grandmasters who can stand out among the tens of thousands of chess players in China, their livelihood and development face many challenges. These challenges are mainly due to the slow marketization of the chess industry, which makes it difficult for even chess champions to obtain sufficient financial rewards through competitions, and their life and career development are limited. The attempt to marketize chess can be traced back to the first Wuyang Cup in 1981, when the championship prize money was 50 yuan, which was quite good treatment for chess players of that era. Liu Dahua became the champion this year, opening a precedent for the marketization of chess. Subsequently, due to the sponsorship of Coca-Cola, the prize money of the second Wuyang Cup was increased to 150 yuan, showing the attention and support of the market. Fok Yingdong began sponsoring the Wuyang Cup in 1985 and until 2009, during which time the Wuyang Cup became a landmark event in the chess world. However, as time passed, the attention and news coverage of Wuyang Cup gradually decreased, and eventually had to withdraw from the stage of history.
The Yinli Cup is another important attempt at the marketization of chess, which has been successfully held for 15 years since 1990, but was discontinued in 2004 due to unprofitable sponsors. The World Chess Masters, which has been held since 2005, has raised the prize money to 150,000 yuan in an attempt to attract more public attention, but the model has not been sustainable because it has failed to bring the expected benefits to the organizers.
The "Jiucheng Real Estate Cup Chinese Chess Year-end Finals" is an ambitious project, with a sponsorship fee of 100 million yuan and a championship prize of 500,000 yuan, setting a historical record. Li Wenyong, as Hu Ronghua's layman, hopes to contribute to the development of chess through his financial resources. However, he soon discovered that the huge investment did not bring the expected benefits to his company, and it ended due to funding problems after only two sessions.
The abortive death of these once major tournaments reflects the challenging road to the marketization of chess. As a traditional culture, the marketization of chess requires not only capital investment, but also the attention, support and innovative market strategies of all sectors of society, as well as an effective business operation model. Only through all-round efforts can Xiangqi go further on the road of marketization, so that the talents of chess players can be duly rewarded and recognized. The Road to Marketization of Chess Challenges and opportunities coexist, how can chess players break the game? "