| Feb-27-08 | | whiteshark: An incredible game:
[Event "USAT West, Los Angeles 2008"]
[Site "Hawaii"]
[Date "2008.02.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Deng, Kong Liang"]
[Black "Peters, Jack"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[PlyCount "53"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nxe4 7. d5
Qa5+ 8.Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Nb8 10. O-O g6 11. Qd4 Rg8 12. Re1 Nd7 13.
Bf1 Qc5 14. Qa4 Qxd5 15. Ba3 Kd8 16. Rad1 Qf5 17. Nd4 Nb6 18. Qb3 Qf6
19. c4 Bd7 20. Nb5 Bg7 21. c5 Be6 22. cxd6 exd6 23. Rxd6+ Nd7 24.
Rexe6 fxe6 25. Rxd7+ Kxd7 26. Qd3+
Kc8 27. Qc4+ 1-0
"It was game between IM Kong Liang Deng and IM Jack Peters. IM Jack
Peters underestimated the opening gambit played by IM Deng and went
down in flames. Deng sacrificed 2 rooks and threatened checkmate. IM
Kong Liang Deng was formerly the Hawaii State Chess Champion ..." -Clyde Nakamura Source: Brian Wall newsletter |
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| Jul-29-08 | | Hector Maluy: A few years ago I saw a guy playing chess online at www.pogo.com who claimed to be IM Kong Liang Deng.
His nickname at pogo was/is: badco355.
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| Aug-01-08 | | dumbgai: I was able to meet IM Deng at the 2008 USAT West, where many of his students were competing (mostly as teams representing his chess academy). He seemed like a very nice, sociable person who clearly was very passionate about chess and proud of his students. He even offered me a job to teach a beginner's class at his school, although I had to decline his offer due to my studies. By the way, some of his students are very good chess players, especially in blitz (as I found out the hard way between rounds). |
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Jun-12-25
 | | OhioChessFan: Here's the brilliant game mentioned by <whiteshark> K L Deng vs J Peters, 2008 |
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| Jun-13-25 | | stone free or die: A bit unusual for a Chinese middlename to be used. I found a page advertising his services as a chess trainer where his name is given as <Kongliang Deng> which would be more expected. It also gives this alternative
<Ben Deng>.
Some background info
<Chess career: Former Chinese national team member, was born in chess family, he learned chess at age 6, was taught by his father Deng Qizhan who was a first-generation chess mentor in Guangzhou, at 8 he became children champion of the city 13, he started his professional chess training in Guangdong sports institute.> https://www.beyondchess.net/english
In the late '90's he was also 3x Hawaii state champion. |
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| Jun-13-25 | | stone free or die: Over on <Lichess> he plays as <Beyondchess> but his profile has<Kongliang Deng>: <I am what I M> |
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| Jun-13-25 | | stone free or die:
<<Origin and meaning of the Kongliang last name>The surname Kongliang has its roots in Chinese culture, where it is believed to have originated from the combination of two characters: Kong (孔), which is a common Chinese surname meaning hole or opening, and Liang (良), meaning good or virtuous. Historically, the Kong family is linked to Confucius, whose family name was also Kong, suggesting a deep cultural significance and a connection to scholarly traditions. The surname Kongliang may have developed as a way to denote individuals who were seen as virtuous or of good character, reflecting the values of Confucianism that emphasize morality and ethics.> https://lastnames.myheritage.com/la... |
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Jun-13-25
 | | beatgiant: <stone free or die>
His FIDE profile shows Deng as the surname and is surely correct. Chinese does have some 2-character surnames, but we'd need a much better source than above to believe Kongliang is one of them. https://ratings.fide.com/profile/20... |
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| Jun-14-25 | | stone free or die: Hi <beat>,
I'm sorry I didn't clarify this, but sometimes I get tunnel-vision doing research. I wanted to see if Kongliang is used as a name and what its meaning is. I glossed over the issue of whether it is a surname or a prenom, given that he also goes by: <Ben Deng>
on his website (or the site he offers his abilities as trainer). So, I thought that aspect of the name parsing was solved, and only afterwards did it occur to me there might be some confusion about Kongliang, as pointed out by your post. But, as for the joining <Kong + Liang = Kongliang>, there are at least two major places this player himself does it. Is Deng ever used as a prenom? |
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| Jun-14-25 | | stone free or die: <MyHeritage> also gives <Kong Liang> as a surname, with just about equal number as <Kongliang> https://lastnames.myheritage.com/la... Low statistics though (14 vs 13). |
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| Jun-14-25 | | stone free or die: I guess this would make a third example of his name being <Kongliang Deng> https://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlM... (USCF player card) |
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Jun-14-25
| | beatgiant: <stone free or die> <Is Deng ever used as a prenom?> It can be. Here's a quick example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_... <Kong Liang> or <Kongliang> are just two alternate renderings in Latin script, and that choice has no impact on what the name would be in Chinese. There are many options for the Chinese characters, but this player actually has a page on the Chinese wikipedia here: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%8... where it gives it as 邓孔亮 and lists his father as 邓其湛 (Deng Qizhan), making it perfectly clear that Deng is the surname. |
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Jun-14-25
| | beatgiant: Further, I don't find Kongliang on any list of known Chinese compound surnames (like this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chine...), nor can I find any example of a person with this surname, so I remain super skeptical of the info cited from myheritage.com. |
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| Jun-15-25 | | stone free or die: <<beat> ... so I remain super skeptical of the info cited from myheritage.com.> To be specific - you mean the use of Kongliang as a surname only. Or are you also contesting their explanation of the means of Kong and Liang?
* * * * *
I could easily see that the transliteration between <Kong Liang> and <Kongliang> is almost a coin flip, without guidance from some informed authority. But in this case, the player seems to have a decided preference, with his FIDE card being an outlier. . |
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| Jun-15-25 | | stone free or die: Thanks for that info on Deng - I've only known it as a surname but my experience is limited surely (though I did work in a group once that had many Chinese nationals (and otherwise)). |
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Jun-15-25
| | beatgiant: <stone free or die>
<To be specific - you mean the use of Kongliang as a surname only.>
I don't think Kongliang is a surname. The translations of the meaning above are accurate. But note also that they had Liang as 良 (good) while this player's name has 亮 (bright). <without guidance from some informed authority> China actually does have a language authority that publishes recommendations, and in this case I believe Kongliang is the conforming version. |
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| Jun-16-25 | | stone free or die: <beat> what source are you using for his name in Chinese? . |
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Jun-16-25
| | beatgiant: <stone free or die> I cited his page on Chinese wikipedia above Kong Liang Deng (kibitz #12), and they provide several Chinese-language sources using the name. For example this one https://www.chinaqw.com/hqhr/2019/0... has his name both in Chinese characters and as "Kongliang Deng" and says he was training Annie Wang. |
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| Jun-17-25 | | stone free or die: This is getting to be a long thread, but I still have to ask - <Liang as 良 (good)> is this glyph(?) or character ever used in a name? In particular, is <Kongliang> always (孔亮) or can it also be seen as (孔良)? |
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Jun-17-25
| | beatgiant: <stone free or die> Liang as 良 (good) is often used in a name. Quick example: IM Wenliang Li is 李文良 (not to be confused with 李文亮, famous Covid whistleblower). Kongliang can be either 孔亮 or 孔良. Quick example of the latter: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9... Chinese prenoms are pretty unrestricted, but parents would often look for auspicious meanings for their child's name. |
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| Jun-17-25 | | stone free or die: OK, got it, <beat>. Many thanks for walking me through the particulars. |
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Kibitzing
