 From 1957 to 1966, national competition was almost held once a year and the number of players grew exponentially.The Chess Association of China was formed in 1962 as a minor affiliate of the Chinese Xiangqi Association due to the lack of popularity for the game at the time and only became a fully-fledged independent organization in 1986.It has been only in the last 30 or so years that chess has made major inroads in China, where the game is seen as the poorer cousin of the more popular xiangqi.