We can now add some more details to our earlier report.
Luo Xihe did indeed win the Men's individual championship with a 9-2 score and Shao Weigang was second with 8-3. Shao had the same score as Xie He 4-dan but had a better sum of opponent's scores.
In fourth place was Huang Yizhong 5-dan, followed by Yang Yi 3-dan and Wang Lei 8-dan.
Xu Ying
Both Luo and Shao also qualify for next year's Fujitsu Cup.
In the women's event (their event finished on 25 September) the new champion is popular tv presenter Xu Ying 3-dan, ahead of Cui Zhu 1-dan, Li Chunhua 4-dan (last year's winner) , Zheng Yan 2-dan, Cao Cheng, Huang Jia 1-dan and Hua Xueming 7-dan. It is Xu's second victory - she triumphed in 1997.
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Older News From 28 September 2000: LUO BECOMES NATIONAL CHAMPION
Luo Xihe 8-dan came out ahead of 70 players in a gruelling chess-style 11-round tournament to become the National Champion of China on 27 September 2000. His final score was 9-2 according to one report (10-1 according to another).
It has been badly under-reported, a constant problem with many Chinese events, but it seems that Shao Weigang 9-dan came second with 8 wins.
Last year's runner-up, Ding Wei 7-dan, suffered the indignity of losing to a new 1-dan, Bian Zhiwen, in Round 1.
The event took place in the Wuyunshan (Five Clouds Mountain) sanatorium beside the famous West Lake in Hangzhou, the sort of venue favoured in the past by older players, but there was barely any one over 30 on this occasion. Taiwan's top player Zhou Junxun 9-dan, a regular participant in Chinese events in his younger days, was allowed to take part. Korea's Mok Chin-seok 5-dan was also there as an observer - he is learning Chinese and has many Chinese friends.
We have not yet seen results for the parallel women's event, but front runners after the halfway stage were Xu Ying and Li Chunhua.
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.
