The FIDE Trainers Commission has recognized the rise of chess in China by instituting the Liu Wenzhe Award to recognize their first coach. See FIDE Trainer Awards for 2020-2021
Liu Wenzhe (October 7, 1940 – September 20, 2011) was an International Master chess player. He was one of China‘s top chess trainers.
He was the first Chinese player to defeat a grandmaster (Nikolai Krogius in 1965) and the first to be awarded the title of International Master. He is considered a pioneer of chess in China and a founding father of the Chinese School of Chess. He won the Chinese Chess Championship in 1980 and 1982.
In total, Liu made three appearances at the Chess Olympiads (1978–1982) with an overall record of 37 games played (+14, =4, -19). He also made four appearances in total at the Men’s Asian Team Chess Championship (1979–1981, 1991–1993) with an overall record of 17 games played (+10, =4, -3).
In 1986 he was appointed to the post of Chief Trainer of the Chinese Institute of Chess and head coach of the Chinese national chess team. He was succeeded by Ye Jiangchuan in 2000.
In 2002-3, he wrote a seminal book on the “Chinese School of Chess” called the same name. In the book he charts the dramatic progress of Chinese players over the past 25 years.