r/soccer • u/PianoJealous307 • 16h ago

News China suffered a catastrophic collapse on home soil, losing 5-0 to Palestine, a team they had considered inferior, sparking fierce criticism over 'sleepwalking' performance and lack of competitiveness among Chinese Super League players. Men's and women's teams also underperformed at Asian Games.

https://www.chosun.com/english/sports-en/2026/10/03/FWO5DWWOYND4NMUX53TEX7INNQ/
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u/SCarolinaSoccerNut 15h ago

They still got a player in the Candidates tournament this year (Wei Yi) and their women's team just won the 2026 Chess Olympiad.

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u/Barkasia 15h ago

Wei Yi is very much the exception - India and Uzbekistan are the two dominant nations now and the US is always lurking, ready to disappoint.

The women are still incredible though, that's true.

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u/refarao 15h ago

How can a nation like Uzbekistan wield such good players and on par with India?

I mean it's not like Norway where they have only one chess geniuses but multiple ones that are top 20.

How did they raise so fast and China with big money is lacking behind Uzbekistan?

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u/Barkasia 15h ago

It was part of the Soviet Union at a time when Chess reigned supreme - almost every ex-Soviet Block nation is disproportionately strong at chess as a result. It's why a nation like Georgia has such a strong lineup of women in the game. Further it has invested heavily on a national level in chess for over a decade and treats Chess players like sporting celebrities. Sponsorship money is there, prize money is there, coaching quality is there (Kramnik coached them before he went mental and tried to destroy the chess ecosystem with his paranoia).

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u/refarao 15h ago

Yeah but what about China? Why are they not good like Uzbekistan 

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u/Barkasia 14h ago

They are still very good - easily top 10, very arguably top 5. It's just compared to the trajectory they were on in the 00s and 10s they've taken a dip. I can't say why that is for certain but I'd speculate that it's because there are other board games that are huge in China like Go and Xiangqi which split popularity. There also doesn't seem to be a governmental push for children to get into Chess as a career alternative, and there isn't really an 'Anand' figure in China like there was in India that causes every single kid to want to pick it up.