On this day, 27 years ago, September 20, 1998 (July 30, 1998, the China Chess Online Open kicked off. The first China Chess Online Open, the "China Merchants Bank Card Cup" held on China Chess Online, has been halfway through to October 5 since its start on September 20. In the past half a month, the enthusiasm of the contestants remained undiminished, making the China chess game on the Internet more and more popular. So far, more than 4000 people have signed up to participate in the competition, and 2400 chess players have begun to play results, playing more than 40000 games of chess. The number of participants was so large that it greatly exceeded the pre-match expectations. This unprecedented online chess battle in China has attracted widespread attention and attention from chess fans at home and abroad. Chess players from all over the country (except Xizang) have signed up to participate, and chess players from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have even enthusiastically participated in the competition. Many chess players from the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and some European countries also tried their skills online. The first characteristic of online chess competition is "freedom", that is, you can sign up to participate at any time before and during the competition. The registration period for this competition ends on October 10, and it is expected that 5000 people will participate by then. Online competitions also have their "mystery", that is, the two sides do not meet each other and understand each other, and the level of opponents may differ greatly. There were many masters participating in this competition. Some performed well, some performed poorly, and they were defeated by some unknown chess fans. This is also the charm of online chess matches. All competitions end on October 20.