Husband-and-wife team Chang Hao 9-dan and Zhang Xuan 8-dan won the revived Hitachi Pair Go Cup on 26 June 2000 in Shanghai, restoring harmony to an event that was rocked by ostentatious withdrawals.

The event was heralded initially as the return of superstar Rui Naiwei 9-dan to play in her homeland, but shortly before it began Nie Weiping 9-dan announced he was withdrawing (to be replaced by Zhou Heyang) in protest at the inclusion of "a woman professional who deserted China for overseas some 10 years ago." He said it was only natural that a person - it was odd that he could not bring himself to mention her name - who joined the Korean Go Association could not be regarded as a Chinese professional.

It seems, though that Nie was not speaking for the Chinese authorities but for himself. Insiders say he had a run-in with Rui when he served as State Go Controller a decade ago.

Probably connected with that, Luo Jianwen 7-dan, a Deputy Controller, also withdrew, to be replaced by Hua Yigang 8-dan. More significant, however, was the appearance of Chinese go supremo Chen Zude.

Even more significant (and pleasing in a perverse way) is that the Chinese go players can now have these spats in public.

Back to our muttons: in the semi-finals on 25 June, Chen and Hua defeated Yu Bin 9-dan and Zhu Jufei 5-dan, whilst Mr and Mrs Chang beat Liu Xiaoguang 9-dan and Rui Naiwei. Round 1 took place on 24 June.

The event is run under normal pair go rules, teams being one man and one woman who each play alternate moves for their side without conferring (except on resigning). Eight teams take part.

The winners' prize is 30,000 yuan and the runners-up take away 20,000 yuan.