A national Chinese chess champion was stripped of his title following a major cheating and bad behaviour scandal. Xiangqi, or Chinese chess is immensely popular across Asia. China's 48-year-old Yan Chenglong won over dozens of contenders last week to win the title of "Xiangqi King" at a national tournament hosted by the Chinese Xiangqi Association (CXA). But his title was revoked and the prize money confiscated after he was "disrupting public order" and displaying “extremely bad character” as his victory celebration ended with him defecating in a hotel bathtub.
What reports claimed about Yan Chenglong's behaviour?
Yan Chenglong is reported to have cheated during the competition by using anal beads equipped with wireless transmitters to send and receive signals with respect to his next moves. The player allegedly clenched and unclenched to communicate information about the chess board via code to a computer. The device would then sent back instructions on what moves to make in the form of vibrations.
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What Chinese Xiangqi Association said on Yan Chenglong?
"Based on our understanding of the situation, it is currently impossible to prove that Yan engaged in cheating via 'anal beads' as speculated on social media," the CXA said.
"Yan consumed alcohol with others in his room on the night of the 17th, and then he defecated in the bathtub of the room he was staying in on the 18th, in an act that damaged hotel property, violated public order and good morals, had a negative impact on the competition and the event of Xiangqi, and was of extremely bad character," the association said in a statement.
{{/usCountry}}"Yan consumed alcohol with others in his room on the night of the 17th, and then he defecated in the bathtub of the room he was staying in on the 18th, in an act that damaged hotel property, violated public order and good morals, had a negative impact on the competition and the event of Xiangqi, and was of extremely bad character," the association said in a statement.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, the CXA had published a social media post congratulating Yan and other players for their "spectacularly heated high-level gameplay".