LOCOMOTIVE ZHOU STEAMS THROUGH TO SECOND CHINA CHAMPIONSHIP
For a long time the National Team and Individual Championships were the main events in China, held as huge jamborees one soon after the other. In the early days they were the only national events. With the growth of sponsored events and international competition their prestige has declined. The China Weiqi Association therefore decided in 1999 both to streamline them and to give the Individual Championship a boost.
The team event has effectively been downgraded to a provincial event, but success in the individual event now carries with it automatic passage into more world championship events for either the first two or three available places.
Zhou Heyang of the Locomotive team thus did himself a lot of favours by winning the 1999 title in Hangzhou with a 10-1 record. It helped that Chang Hao and Ma Xiaochun did not take part.
The other main placings were: 2. Ding Wei 7-dan, 3= Wang Lei 8-dan and Wang Yao 3-dan, 5. Liu Xing 4-dan, 6. Cao Dayuan 9-dan. 70 players took part.
A special feature of this event was that the China Weiqi Association bent the rules to allow the inclusion of Kong Lingwen, the son of Nie Weiping and Kong Xiangming - both of whom at one time could lay claim to being the world's top players in their respective sexes. Young Kong is currently resident in Japan where he is a 1-dan in the Nihon Ki-in. He is known as Ko Reibun there.
In the parallel women's championship, Li Chunhua 4-dan of Hubei stormed to the front with a perfect 9-0 score. The other main placings were: 2. Hua Xueming 7-dan, 3. Yang Hui 8-dan, 4. Wang Rui 2-dan, 5. Xu Ying 3-dan, 6. Liang Yadi 2-dan. 22 players took part.
HOW DO THE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS WORK?
The National Individual Championships or All-China Championships have normally been sponsored by the Chinese Government, with additional local sponsorship depending on the venue. Despite gaps caused mainly by the Cultural Revolution, it is also the oldest event by far, starting in 1957 for men and 1978 for women.
There are separate championships for men and women, although Rui Naiwei and Feng Yun and other top women have been allowed to take part in the men's event. The tournament in recent times is usually held in September. It uses a Swiss system for up to around 100 players, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss. The winner and runner-up, and sometimes the third place player, in the men's section also qualify for international events. The women's winner qualifies for the international events such as the Japan-China NEC New Stars match. The women's placings are also used to identify invitees to other tournaments throughout the year.
When it was also the only way to earn promotion, the unpromotable 9-dans were excluded.
The men currently play 11 rounds, the women 9. In the past the men have played as many as 13 rounds and the women 10. Prize money in 1999 was 2,400 yuan for the winner down to 1,000 yuan for 10th place for men (the top six women get prizes).
Komi was originally 2.5 (Chinese rules), then 2.75.
National Team Championships began in 1975 for men and 1979 for women. Up till 1999, teams represented provinces or cities, or even institutions (e.g. Army, Locomotive, Firefighters). Men's and women's events were separate. The men's teams comprised six players, one of whom had to be a young player. The women had two to a team. This event is sometimes called Stage 1, Stage 2 being the Individual Championships later in the year. Early in 1999 it was changed to a league format for 12 teams of pros in Class A to play each home and away (i.e. 22 games). This was seen as a way of widening the pro base in the regions.
Click here to see the Winners List for the Individual Championships.
