GMXiangzhi Bu

Bu Xiangzhi was born in Qingdao in 1985. An older cousin introduced him to chess at six, and Xie Jun's 1991 world-championship victory increased his interest. His early reading included Bobby Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games. He became world under-fourteen champion in 1998. With sponsorship from a Qingdao mineral-water company, he traveled to European tournaments with coach Ji Yunqi in 1999. That autumn he completed three grandmaster norms within two months. At thirteen years and ten months, he became the youngest grandmaster in history, a record Sergey Karjakin later broke. Bu won the Chinese Championship in 2004. In 2006 he won the World University Championship and helped China earn Olympiad silver on first board. He won the Canadian Open and Bilbao Blindfold World Cup in 2007. A second world university title followed in 2012. He helped China win the 2015 World Team Championship and 2018 Olympiad. At the 2017 World Cup, he eliminated reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen. Bu is married to woman grandmaster Huang Qian.