One of the thrills of the lightning go format is that even underdogs can have their day. On 22 January 2000, 27-year-old Shao Weigang 9-dan slipped his leash and ran away with his second China NEC Cup title in the five years it has been running.
It may seem strange to call a 9-dan double winner an underdog, but that's the harsh reality when you are playing Chang Hao 9-dan, ranked No. 2 in China and appearing in his third NEC final.
For the parallel NEC Xinxiu Cup, see the separate entry.
*****
Older News From January 7 2000: CHANG AND SHAO TO TANGO IN CHINESE QUICKSTEP
The final of China's 5th NEC Cup will be between Chang Hao 9-dan and Shao Weigang 9-dan. This event is one of the lightning tournaments - 30 seconds a move.
In the semi-finals Chang overcame Luo Xihe 8-dan, his perpetual rival since their childhood prodigy days. In the other match, Shao defeated Zhou Heyang 8-dan.
The final is due in mid-January.
Here is a game in sgf format from the quarter-finals held in Kunming in Yunnan Province (home of the famous Chinese go stones). It is between Zhou Heyang and Fang Jie. Right-click and choose "save link as" to download onto your machine.
Fang features rarely in news reports, so we'll tell you that he was born in 1970 in Ninghai. He reached 7-dan in 1996. Zhou is one of the young stars and, like Chang Hao, this is his year - he's a Dragon, born in 1976.
Less experienced players may wish to note the explanation of certain moves that appear to interrupt the flow of the game. When a player is short of time, he often interposes a forcing move (115 and 119 are examples here) to reset his clock and thus give himself (here) an extra 30 seconds to think about a tricky move. This happens even in games with long time limits, but is obviously very common in lightning games.
HOW DOES THE CHINESE NEC CUP TOURNAMENT WORK?
The event is modelled on the NEC Cup in Japan. As in its Japanese counterpart, games are lightning games played in different cities and held in public, to bring go the masses. The sponsor, NEC, also supports several other events in China that use NEC in the title, so care is needed to distinguish them.
First prize is 120,000 yuan, high but boosted further by the fact that the winner joins the NEC SuperGo match between China and Japan. Until the Lebaishi Cup this was the most lucrative domestic event. The runner-up earns 40,000 yuan.
The tournament is a knockout starting with 12 players. The previous year's top two are seeded and join the six winners in the quarter-finals.
Time limits are 30 seconds per move plus 10 minutes thinking time. Komi is 2.75 (Chinese rules).
