The shocking “match-fixing in chess” case that rocked the Chinese chess community has finally reached its verdict in a Zhejiang court. Six super grandmasters, including the reigning “Chess Number One” for 11 consecutive years, Wang Tianyi, have been sentenced for their involvement in match-fixing and trading chess games. The scandal of “buying and selling chess” began with a recording in April 2023.
The six super grandmasters who stood accused include Wang Tianyi, Zhao Xinxin, Hong Zhi, Xu Chao, Xie Jing, and Wang Yuefei. According to the court’s verdict, Wang Tianyi was charged with 22 counts of bribing non-state personnel, with a total amount of 942,000 yuan, as well as 2 counts of accepting bribes from non-state personnel, totaling 116,000 yuan. The prosecution recommended a concurrent sentence of 2 years and 9 months for the bribery and corruption charges. Another grandmaster, Zhao Xinxin, was recommended a concurrent sentence of 4 years and 9 months for the same charges. Hong Zhi, who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to 2 years and 7 months. The sentencing for the remaining four defendants was mostly in line with the prosecution’s sentencing recommendations.
According to reports by Feng Mian News, the “buying and selling chess” scandal began in April 2023 when a conversation recording between grandmaster Wang Yuefei and Hao Jichao was exposed online, which explicitly mentioned the involvement of Wang Tianyi, Wang Yuefei, and others in buying chess games and manipulating matches. In October of the same year, chess veterans Liu Dahua and Dang Fei publicly reported and called for a thorough investigation into the “fake chess” issue within the chess community.
The scandal’s exposure quickly gained social attention. Under public pressure, relevant authorities imposed penalties on the implicated players. In September 2024, Wang Tianyi and Wang Yuefei were announced to be banned for life from the sport and had all their technical titles revoked. In January 2025, the Chess and Card Sports Management Center reported that a total of 41 individuals participated in match-fixing through bribery and corruption, leading to lifetime bans and revocation of technical titles for players like Zhao Xinxin and Wang Yang.
The trial for this case officially commenced in May 2025. As revealed by defense lawyers, except for Hong Zhi, the other five defendants had all pleaded guilty to the charges, mainly for accepting bribes from non-state personnel and bribing non-state personnel. During the trial, Wang Tianyi admitted to “accepting extra rewards from sponsors to maintain his ranking” and expressed deep remorse.
The “whistleblower” of this case, retired national master Cai Yi, who made the revelations, pointed out that this case will have a profound impact on the Chinese chess community.