Zhang Zhong (; born 5 September 1978) is a Chinese

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

grandmaster, a twice Chinese champion and the 2005 Asian champion. In 1998, he became China's 9th Grandmaster.

Career

Zhang Zhong finished second at the

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

twice, in 1996 and 1998. He won the

Chinese Chess Championship The Chinese Chess Championship is the annual individual national chess championship of China. Following are the official winners of the national championship from 1957 to date. Winners : Women's Crosstables : Average Elo: 2324 Cat: 3 m = 6 ...

in 2001 and 2003. In 2002 he scored 8.5/12 points at the

35th Chess Olympiad The 35th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and women's tournament, took ...

Bled Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper Carniolan regio ...

and won the 7th World University Chess Championship in

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

. Zhang Zhong was clear first with a score of 11/13 at the Corus B tournament in

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

in 2003, three points ahead of his nearest rival. This result qualified him for the prestigious main Corus A tournament in 2004, in which he scored 5/13. He won the 2005

Asian Chess Championship The Asian Chess Championship is a chess tournament open to all players from Asian chess federations (FIDE zones from 3.1 to 3.8). It is held with the Swiss system and consists of two divisions, Open and Women's, the latter of which is reserved to ...

to qualify for the

FIDE World Cup The FIDE World Cup is a major chess event organized by FIDE, the international governing body. History Three different formats have been used: *In 2000 and 2002, it was a multi-stage tournament, with a group stage consisting of 24 players in fo ...

held that year, where he beat

Mikhail Kobalia Mikhail Robertovich Kobalia (; born May 3, 1978) is a Russian chess Grandmaster (1997). Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Kobalia signed an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, protesting against the 2022 Russian in ...

in the first round, but lost to Ivan Sokolov in the second. In 2007 he transferred national federations to represent Singapore. In 2008, he won

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

Chess Circuit Tournament in

Tarakan Tarakan is an island and co-extensively the sole city within the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is the largest urban area in North Kalimantan population-wise and is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of ...

. In 2014, he tied for 1st–3rd with

Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn (born 23 February 1990) is a Vietnamese chess player. The second-best player in Vietnam, he is the youngest Vietnamese ever to become a Grandmaster, and one of the youngest grandmasters in the history of the game ...

and

Lê Quang Liêm Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese chess grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Liêm won the Asian Chess Championship in 2019 and was the World Blitz Chess Champ ...

, placing second on tiebreak, at the 4th HDBank Cup in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, and won the 11th IGB Dato' Athur Tan Malaysia Open in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. In 2017 Zhang moved back to the Chinese federation.

China Chess League

Zhang Zhong plays for

China Mobile China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned telecommunicationsStrait deals ''The Econ ...

Group

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

Company Ltd

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs play over the board and face to face chess a ...

in the

China Chess League The China Chess League (CCL) () is a Chinese professional league for chess clubs. The league is organized by the Chinese Chess Association. It is sponsored by Youngor Group and was sponsored by the Shandongbr>Torch Real Estate Group(2005–2009) ...

(CCL).

Personal life

He is married to WGM Li Ruofan.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Zhong 1978 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Chinese emigrants to Singapore Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent Singaporean chess players Chess players from Chongqing Chinese chess players