Grandmasters Wang Hao and Hou Yifan emerged victorious in the Open and Women’s sections of the chess competition at the 15th National Games of the People’s Republic of China. The Jiangsu team won the team event, while Shandong and Hebei took silver and bronze, respectively.
The chess competition at the 15th National Games, the highest-level comprehensive multi-sport event in the country held every four years, took place in Shenzhen from September 23–28. It attracted the strongest local players, including former World Champions Ding Liren, Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun, Hou Yifan, Lei Tingjie, and Zhu Jiner.
The event, played with a 25-minute plus 10-second increment time control, featured Open, Women’s, and Team sections and used a two-stage format: a round-robin preliminary stage followed by semifinals and finals contested by the top four players.
The preliminary stage of the Open section produced a minor sensation as seventh-seed Xu Yinglun qualified for the semifinals alongside Wang Hao, Ding Liren, and Xu Xiangyu, edging out higher-rated players Yu Yangyi and Lu Shanglei.
Both semifinals—Wang Hao vs. Xu Yinglun and Ding Liren vs. Xu Xiangyu—were tightly contested battles decided by tiebreaks. Wang Hao and Xu Xiangyu prevailed and advanced to the final. In the equally tense final, Wang Hao captured the title by winning the tiebreaker. Ding Liren defeated Xu Yinglun to claim the bronze medal.
In the Women’s event, the top-rated players—Hou Yifan, Zhu Jiner, Ju Wenjun, and Lei Tingjie—lived up to expectations and secured spots in the knockout stage. In the semifinals, Lei Tingjie defeated Ju Wenjun, while Hou Yifan prevailed over Zhu Jiner in a very close tiebreak.
Hou Yifan dominated the final, whitewashing Lei Tingjie 2-0 to claim the title. In the bronze medal match, Ju Wenjun beat Zhu Jiner in a tiebreak.