In the Spring and Autumn Period, Go has become a popular game in society. In the literature of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there are many records about Go. During the Western Han Dynasty, Weiqi spread all over the country, but because the rulers did not attach importance to Weiqi, the public opinion was not optimistic, and the development of Weiqi was slow. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the development of Go had a good start. A number of founders of Weiqi theory, such as Ban Gu (Zhi Yi), Li You (the name of Weiqi), Huang Xian (Lun Ji) and Ma Rong (Qi Weifu), appeared, which gradually attracted the attention of scholars. After the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the history of China entered a turbulent period, with active cultural thoughts and rapid development of Go activities.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Weiqi prevailed in Wei and Wu countries. Wei is represented by Cao Shi family and "Jian 'an Seven Children", and Cao Cao's level of Go is comparable to that of a master. Go in Wu Dong was all the rage, and famous players came forth in large numbers, so there was a record of this game. This is the famous "Five Maps" in the history of Weiqi. During the Western Jin Dynasty, Weiqi flourished in an all-round way. From the emperor down to the common people, they can't play chess well, which creates good conditions for the development of Go. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the chess style flourished and gradually theorized, with the emergence of Wang Dao, Wang Tian, Jiang Biao and other chess masters. The most famous chess expert at this stage is Wang Fan, who co-authored five volumes of chess, reflecting the rapid development of game style in the Western Jin Dynasty (contained in Book of Changes in the New Tang Dynasty).
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the South experienced four dynasties: Song, Qi, Liang and Chen. In fact, the golden age of Weiqi in the Southern Dynasties only appeared in the Song and Qi Dynasties, especially in the periods of Song Wendi, Song Mingdi, Qi Gaudi, Qi Wudi and Liang Wudi. The activities of Go and the level of chess skills of scholars in the Southern Dynasties are specially recorded in the history books for the reference of contemporary historians. There has been a two-way chess exchange between the north and the south; Weiqi culture spread to neighboring countries, and was introduced to South Korea and Japan in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
By the Sui Dynasty, the 19th chessboard had established its dominant position, replacing the 17th chessboard. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty strongly advocated Weiqi and established the imperial edict system of Hanlin Chess, which marked the professionalization of Weiqi in China. Wang was the greatest national performer in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Weiqi entered the second golden age. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it was in the separatist stage. Although there are outstanding players in different countries, it is not a climate because of the small potential. The famous chess history includes Li Jing and his son, Wu Yue and Qian Shi, masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Song Taizong personally created the potential of chess, and collected a large number of chess masters to keep in court. So that the Song Dynasty started from a high starting point and entered a prosperous stage. By the time of Song Zhezong, professional national players were very active, and professional Go ushered in a development climax. At this time, the national player Liu Zhongfu appeared. He is another milestone in the history of chess in China after the King of the Tang Dynasty. During the period of Song Huizong, the development of court women's games reached a climax. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Weiqi was also very important, but because of playing politics wrongly, the court was corrupt. At the end of the Song Dynasty, the most striking activity of Go was the game of literati, with the vagabond as the main body and Liu Kezhuang as the most outstanding figure.
The greatest achievement in the development of Go in Yuan Dynasty was the compilation of Xuanxuan and Qi Jing. Xuanxuan Chess Manual is an outstanding achievement of cooperation between Yan Defu, a master of Weiqi in Luling, Jiangxi Province. Xuanxuan Chess Classic is a shining example of China's comprehensive chess works in ancient times.
Since the reign of Emperor Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, chess has re-entered the normal development track. The recorded masters in Yong and Xuan Dynasties were rich, Tang Li, Zhang and Zhu Xiong. During the periods of Chenghua, Hongzhi and Zhengde, Weiqi in Ming Dynasty entered a new period of development, with the prosperity and historic breakthrough of professional Weiqi, which moved from court to society. Representative figures: Zhao Juan, Zhao Jiucheng and Fan Hong. During Hongzhi and Zheng De years, the popularity of scholar-officials Weiqi, represented by Li Dongyang and Yang Yiqing, not only set off an upsurge of Weiqi in the scholar-officials class, but also opened a brand-new pattern in which famous officials played chess one after another in the late Ming Dynasty. They also directly contributed to the formation of the Weiqi school in the middle of Ming Dynasty. The rise of Shi Jing School is the inevitable result of the game wave of Shi Jing Chief Executives. In fact, China Scholar-bureaucrat Weiqi has formed two camps, the Beijing School and the Soviet School, and * * * initiated the revitalization of chess. Huizhou, which originated from the ancient Yue culture, formed the Xin 'an School (also known as Huizhou School) in the Ming Dynasty, and its founder was Wang Shu. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the most famous chess players were over 100 years old. Being over 100 years old ended the era of old routines and opened up a new road for the development of Go with innovative methods.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Weiqi was dominated by one family, and a large number of well-known players appeared, such as Zhou Lanning, Zhou Donghou, Wang Hannian and Huang Longshi. After Huang Longshi became famous in the early years of Kangxi, Huang Longshi and Xu Xingyou were outstanding figures in chess, known as the "Xu Huang era". After the "Xu Huang era", Weiqi entered the era of four masters. These four masters were active from the late Kangxi period to the Qianlong period. Technically, China Weiqi has climbed to the peak of the era of Sasuke. Liang (Wei and Jin), Cheng (Lan Ru), Fan (Ping) and Shi (Ding 'an) have extremely lofty positions in the history of China Weiqi. Fan and Shi created an insurmountable peak in chess, also known as "chess saints". Since then, Qing's chess path has also declined. The outbreak of the Opium War brought Go to a low ebb. Zhou and Chen Zixian are the most outstanding representatives of chess in the late Qing Dynasty. After their death, chess declined completely in the late Qing Dynasty.
Personally, before the Tang Dynasty, Go was not popularized all over the country, so there was no real "national player"; But it's really hard to define a first-country player. Let's honor Wang Wei, the greatest national performer in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.