The Chunlan may start to rival the Yellow River as China's Sorrow. For the second year in its short life, China's richest and most prestigious event has been won by a foreigner. Unlike last year, in 2000 they at least had their own man in the final, but Ma Xiaochun 9-dan was not quite up to beating the Japan-based pro O Rissei 9-dan (Wang Licheng in Chinese).
Ma took Game 1, but O came back to win the final two games on 20 and 22 June in Nanjing. In the decisive game it was a narrow victory by 0.75 point - but they all count.
Here are Game 2 and Game 3 in downloadable sgf format.
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Older News From 18 June 2000: MA DRAWS FIRST BLOOD
There has been much speculation in the Chinese press as to whether Ma Xiaochun 9-dan can win the 2nd Chunlan Cup for the host country. In Kremlinological terms this can be interpreted as China being desperate for an international victory. Ma duly kept their hopes alive by beating O Rissei 9-dan in the first of the three-game series in Nanjing on 18 June.
In the 3rd-4th place playoff (a single game) China was able to celebrate a victory by Kong Jie 5-dan over Yoda Norimoto 9-dan. Here is that game.
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Older News From 19th May 2000: TENSION
The international tension remains in the 2nd Chunlan as it moves to the final in June in Nanjing. On 19 May O Rissei 9-dan, representing Japan, overcame Chinese Wunderkind Kong Jie 5-dan in Chongqing, while in the other semi-final veteran Ma Xiaochun 9-dan gave China hope with a brisk victory over Yoda Norimoto 9-dan of Japan.
Past meetings give no clue as to who's favourite in the final. Ma is the one with the experience; O is the man in form.
Here are the semi-final games in downloadable sgf format.
Older News From 29 April 2000: SUPERGO BLOOMS AGAIN
With yet another Chinese teenage prodigy - 17-year-old King Jie 5-dan this time - making his presence felt, Korea's interest in the 2nd Chunlan Cup was wiped out, leaving Japan and China to contest the semi-finals. The "Spring Orchid" Cup thus sees an intriguing revival of the old Supergo series.
Shock of the quarter-finals in Shanghai on 28 April 2000 was Kong's defeat of holder Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan of Korea. It is said of Kong that he plays better the better the opponent, and his victory was certainly a well wrought game that went right down to the endgame.
Oldie Ma Xiaochun 9-dan put in-form Zhou Heyang 8-dan in his place, and Chang Hao 9-dan went down to O Rissei 9-dan, representing Japan, which meant that the two most-fancied Chinese youngbloods were out. The final Chinese, Peng Quan 3-dan, was no match for Yoda Norimoto 9-dan, and that meant a native Japanese in the semis - shock horror.
The draw for the semi-finals in Chongqing on 19 May pits Yoda against Ma and O against Kong. What China will be dreading in their most prestigious tournament will be an all-Japan final after the all-Korea affair last year. The pressure is on Ma.
Here are the quarter-final games in downloadable sgf format.
Older News From 19 February 2000: GAMES FROM THE 2ND CHUNLAN
Perhaps the most remarkable result of the 2nd Chunlan was the defeat of Korea's Yu Ch'ang-hyeok by the Chinese youngster Peng Quan in Round 2 on 25 December 1999. Click here to see that game.
The Round 2 game between Ma and Yi is also given here.
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Older News From 26 December 1999: ASTONISHING RESULTS IN 2ND CHUNLAN
If the Chinese sponsors were a tad disappointed to have two Koreans in the final in the first term of their premier international event, the Chunlan Cup, they will be delighted to have five Chinese in the last eight in Term 2 - and to see two of the top Koreans out in their first game. Rounds 1 and 2 were played in Beijing over the Christmas season and whittled the 24 players down to the last eight.
In a mouthwatering game in Round 2, Ma Xiaochun got revenge over Yi Ch'ang-ho for his recent defeats, while youngster Peng Quan disposed of Yu Ch'ang-hyeok. Another upcoming Chinese star, Kong Jie, is making his name, though he now has to face the lone Korean, and holder, Cho Hun-hyeon.
Japan has two dangerous players in the last eight, Yoda Norimoto and O Rissei.
RESULTS:
Round 1 (23 December 1999, Beijing)
Kim Seung-chun 6d (Korea) 1-0 Peng Jinghua 5d (Taiwan)
Seo Pong-su 9d (Korea) 1-0 Ding Wei 7d (China)
Ma Xiaochun 9d (China) 1-0 Guo Juan 5d (Europe)
Zhou Junxun 9d (Taiwan) 1-0 Lin Zhaohua 5d (China)
Peng Quan 3d (China) 1-0 Jimmy Cha 4d (USA)
Morita Michihiro 9d (Japan) 1-0 Shao Weigang 9d (China)
Kong Jie 5d (China) 1-0 Cho Sonjin 9d (Japan)
Tono Hiroaki 9d (Japan) 1-0 Mok Chin-seok 4d (Korea)
Round 2 (25 December 1999, Beijing) - 8 seeds added
Cho Hun-hyeon 9d (Korea) 1-0 Morita
Chang Hao 9d (China) 1-0 Tono
Kong Jie 5d (China) 1-0 Ch'oe Myeong-hun 7d (Korea)
O Rissei 9d (Japan) 1-0 Zhou
Yoda Norimoto 9d (Japan) 1-0 Seo
Ma 1-0 Yi Ch'ang-ho 9d (Korea)
Peng Quan 1-0 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9d (Korea)
Zhou Heyang 7d (China) 1-0 Kim
This is mainland China's first venture in sponsoring a truly international event. Depending on your politics, the Taiwanese Ing Cup could be classed as the first Chinese international, but this uses the slightly quirky rules devised by Ing Chang-ki.
That allows mainland China the diplomatic ambiguity of referring to the Chunlan as the first international event held under Chinese rules.
The sponsors are the Chunlan Group, one of the top five enterprises in China. Based in Qingzhou City, Jiangsu province, they are makers of domestic electrical appliances.
24 players are invited, from China (9), Japan (6), Korea (5), Chinese Taipei = Taiwan (2), America (1) and Europe (1). The early rounds are arranged to avoid players from the same country playing each other.
It is a knockout with Round 1 limited to 16 players. The 8 winners combine with 8 seeds (3 Chinese, 2 Japanese, 2 Korean plus Yi Ch'ang-ho as world number 1 money winner) in a knockout culminating in a best-of-three final.
Each country makes its own arrangements about who enters. In China's case, a preliminary tournament is held among the 40 top-ranked players, but in Term 1 the Chinese Weiqi Association also recommended three players to be seeded straight through to the 2nd round.
The European and American representatives were professionals based in Japan.
First prize was US$150,000, roughly one eighth of the total prize fund of 10 million yuan.
Match fees in the early rounds graduated upwards each round.
Time limits are 3 hours each.
