Photo: Xinhua

Three Chinese Xiangqi players were handed lifetime bans from engaging in or participating in Xiangqi activities for match-fixing, according to a circular released by the Chinese Xiangqi Association (CXA) on its official WeChat account on Monday. 
  
Hong Zhi, Xie Jing and Xu Chao are among six people who were found guilty of engaging in buying and selling games through bribery and other illicit means to varying degrees, severely damaging the sport, the circular said. This is the third batch of penalties announced following the 2023 Xiangqi "match-fixing" scandal. Xiangqi is a traditional Chinese board game also known as the Chinese chess. 

The other three players were banned from Xiangqi from two to eight years, according to the circular. 

Starting from April 2023, audio clips began appearing on online platforms, accompanied by text, claiming that Xiangqi players Wang Yuefei and Hao Jichao were discussing match-fixing agreements, according to Xinhua News Agency. In October of the same year, Xiangqi veterans Liu Dahua and Dang Fei publicly reported the issue on social media, demanding a thorough investigation into the event. Wang was later banned for life for match-fixing.
 
A total of 41 Xiangqi players were penalized, including grandmasters Zhao Xinxin, Wang Yang and Zheng Weitong, who were banned for life and stripped of their technical titles in January 2025 by the CXA, following the investigation, Xinhua reported. 

Standards of competition conduct and discipline, as well as professional ethics within the Xiangqi community, are both the lifeline and a strict red line for the sport's development. They are also a crucial component of improving conduct across the industry and are directly tied to the healthy growth of Xiangqi, the CXA said in the circular. 
 
The violations committed by the individuals mentioned above have seriously undermined the fairness and integrity of Xiangqi competitions, disrupted the normal order of the sport's development, and eroded the credibility of the sports sector, said the CXA.

The CXA will continue to use these cases to drive reform and strengthen governance, further reinforcing discipline and rule awareness across the industry. Practitioners in the Xiangqi field are urged to learn profound lessons from these cases, take them as a warning, and consolidate the achievements made in rectifying conduct and discipline nationwide, in order to jointly safeguard a healthy and sustainable ecosystem for the sport, the CXA added.