Chang Hao 9-dan won Game 3 of the 4th Lebaishi Cup and so retained his title with a 3-0 clean sweep on 25 February 2001. He beat Hu Yaoyu 6-dan by 2.25 points in Chengdu. Chang's pot of gold was 128,000 yuan, about 20 times the monthly salary of a skilled worker in China.
Already suffering from an attention deficit because of lack of a clear schedule (to be remedied next year) and a long lay-off since Game 2 on 17 January, Game 3 was a passive affair with no real fighting.
Older News From 17 January 2001: CHANG HAS MASSIVE EDGE
Chang Hao 9-dan built up a massive advantage by taking a 2-0 lead in the final of the 4th Lebaishi Cup on 17 January 2001. Challenger Hu Yaoyu 6-dan tried a new strategy in Game 2 in Beijing , but it failed him. In desperation he played an all-or-nothing move 108, but Chang stayed calm to hold him off.
Older News From 15 January 2001: CHANG THE QUARTERMASTER
The long haul of the Lebaishi Cup - unusual in Chinese tournaments - reached Game 1 of the final of the 4th term on 15 January 2001 when holder Chang Hao 9-dan beat Hu Yaoyu 6-dan.
The game was held at the Chinese Go Association headquarters in Beijing, and this will also be the venue for Game 2 on 17 January. But even the final here is a long-haul event and the dates and venues of the remainder of the best-of-five series have yet to be decided.
Click here for Game 1. At the board the bulky athletic figure of soccer-mad Chang rather dominated the tiny, bespectacled frame of Hu, but on the board it was agonisingly close. Hu got slightly the better opening, but Chang Hao came back well in the middle game. In the endgame he went slightly awry and was lucky to hold on by a quarter of a point.
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Older News From 11 January 2001: WHO? HU!
Hu Yaoyu 6-dan beat Wang Lei 8-dan in the Challengers' Final of the 4th Lebaishi Cup on 9 January 2001 in Beijing. He now goes on to play holder Chang Hao 9-dan.
Hu turns 18 next week, on 18 January. He is from Shanghai and has been a pro since 1993. He started playing go at age 6.
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Older News From 9 January 2001: WANG TAKES THE LOSER'S SECTION
Wang Lei 8-dan won the right to play Hu Yaoyu 6-dan to see who will challenger holder Chang Hao 9-dan in the 4th Lebaishi Cup. He defeated Shao Weigang 9-dan in the final of the losers' section on 9 January 2001 at the Chinese Go Association headquarters in Beijing.
The challengers' final will be held on 11 January.
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Older News From 30 December 2000: HU WINS THROUGH
Eighteen-year-old Shanghaiese Hu Yaoyu 6-dan, who's been a pro since the age of 11, won the first place in the Challengers' Final of the 4th Lebaishi Cup. He defeated Liu Xiaoguang 9-dan, at 40 now officially classed as a veteran. On 23 December 2000. They could meet again in the final, though, as Liu now goes back into the repechage section (players with one loss get a second chance).
On his way to the final, Hu beat Nie Weiping 9-dan, Wang yuhui 7-dan, Huang Yizhong 5-dan and Zheng Hong 9-dan.
His opponent could be one of several players apart from Liu. The repechage section is still in its early stages, but Yang Shihai 8-dan has one semi-final slot against Zheng Hong, and the other players still in contention are Gu Li, Shao Weigang, Wang Lei and Ding Wei.
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Older News From 15 December 2000: VETS FIGHT TO HOLD BACK MINI-MENAGERIE
Stage 3 of the 4th Lebaishi Cup opened in the the headquarters of the Chinese Go Association (Zhongguo Qiyuan) in Beijing on 11 December 2000. With seeds joining the Stage 2 qualifiers, 32 players gathered to play a repechage knockout (the Judan type).
Since the seeds included a fair number of veterans (Chinese for 30-something), the contest was seen as a battle between them and the little dragons and little tigers. The animals scored heavily but a cheer went up among the wrinklies when Liu Xiaoguang 9-dan (40) upset the odds to beat current number one Zhou Heyang 8-dan (24).
After the games completed on 14 December, the last four in the winners' section are now known: Liu is joined by another vet, Zheng Hong 9-dan (32), and two of the superbrats Ding Wei 7-dan (21) and Hu Yaoyu 6-dan (18).
The losers' section is yet to clarify itself but one certainty is that vet Yu Bin 9-dan is out. He was a victim of 18-year-old Gu Li 5-dan from Chongqing who has been burning rubber in this event. He dumped out Cao Dayuan 9-dan in Round 1 of this stage.
Zheng Hong normally does not get himself noticed too much, but in this stage he has beaten Liu Jing 8-dan, Yang Shihai 8-dan and Gu Li.
Here is a sample of games from the first three rounds of Stage 3:
Older News From 3 November 2000: STAGE 2 COMPLETED
Stage 2 of the 4th Lebaishi Cup took place on 17 August 2000 in both Hangzhou and Chengdu, the 1 to 4-dan qualifiers joining the 5 to 7-dans.
The players to win through to the next stage from Hangzhou were Hu Yaoyu 6-dan, Ding Wei 7-dan, Wang Yang 4-dan and Xie He 4-dan. In Chengdu the qualifiers were Gu Li 5-dan, Huang Yizhong 5-dan, Wang Yuhui 7-dan and Dong Yan 7-dan.
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Older News From 9 August 2000: NEW TERM UNDER WAY
Stage 1 of the 4th Lebaishi Cup was completed on 9 August 2000. This stage was only for the 1- to 4-dans at the time of entry, and would not normally be worth reporting for a western audience. However, it is a good illustration of the special demands made on tournament organisers (and players) by the sheer size of China, because it was divided into four zonal events.
In Changsha (central China), the four qualifiers (who join the 5- to 7-dans in Stage 2 which takes place on 15-17 August), were Huang Yizhong, Shi Zhou, Zhou Yi and Yang Yi.
In Hefei (east China) the qualifiers were Wang Lei (a different one from the current big star), Zhang Dongyue, Wang Xi and Lin Feng.
In Guiyang (south-west China), Gu Li, Gong Shiyun, Liu Xi and Li Jie qualified.
In Harbin (far north) the qualifiers were Ma Wei, Niu Yutian, Xie He and Wang Yang.
Most of these have been around for some time, without havings set the world alight, which may be a sign of something but there are two names that should be familiar: Huang Yizhong and Gu Li. They are in fact now 5-dan, having only just been promoted.
Lebaishi, the Chinese approximation to "robust", is the brand name of a company which is one of the new capitalist ventures in Zhongshan in southern China. It makes milk drinks.
By far the biggest prize money in China is on offer here: 128,000 yuan. Second prize is 32,000 yuan.
The main event is a knockout for 32 players to decide a challenger. This event replaced the Bawang (Monarch) tournament, which was previously the highest rated title.
The first stage of this was organised by four regions in July. In these, players of kyu grades up to 4-dan competed in a knockout. 16 players won the right to proceed to the next stage.
In Stage 2, they were joined by 5- to 7-dans, and two regional events comprising 64 players were held as a three-round knockout in August to give 8 players who could proceed to the main Stage 3 with the top ranked players in November and December.
This was also a knockout, designed to produce a challenger to the holder in a best-of-seven final, but was more complicated in that it incorporated a repechage system for losers, like the Judan in Japan.
Prize money in 1997 was 80,000 yuan for the winner and 20,000 yuan for the runner-up.
Komi has always been 2.75 in both events (Chinese rules).
Lebaishi, the Chinese approximation to "robust", is the brand name of a company which is one of the new capitalist ventures in Zhongshan in southern China. It makes milk drinks.