Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan went into the 3rd Chunlan Cup with an 86% win-loss ratio for the year and a long-term reputation for being invincible with Black. Joining the event in Round 2 as a seed and a former finalist, he met Chinese teenager Kong Jie, a mere 5-dan, had Black, and also had the benefit of the smaller komi of 5.5 points - and LOST!
That was probably the only real shock of Round 2, played again in Taizhou on 28 December 2000, although it was a grave disappointment for the Chinese fans to see Chang Hao 9-dan eliminated easily by the resurgent Yu Ch'ang-hyeokn 9-dan of Korea.
The Kong-Yi clash was understandably by far the most popular game as measured by online spectator figures. Next came the game of Ma Xiaochun 9-dan, still China's favourite son, with Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan of Japan. Ma scraped through by 0.75 point.
Last year's winner O Rissei 9-dan from Japan remains in contention after beating Yang Shihai 8-dan of China, and champion in term 1, Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan of Korea disposed of Yamashita Keigo 7-dan of Japan.
In the other games Chinese players secured places in the last eight. Wang lei 8-dan beat O Meien 9-dan (Japan) and Yu Bin 9-dan beat Peng Jinghua 6-dan (Taiwan), while Zhou Heyang 8-dan overcame Ryu Shikun 7-dan of Japan.
China thus has five players in its desperate quest to win its own premier international event for the first time. But the two Koreans and one Japanese-based pro left have pretty impressive recent international form. We will have to wait for the outcome until late April, when the last eight go to Hangzuou. The semi-finals will be in Xi'an in late May and the final in Beijing in late June. Better late than never.
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Older News From 26 December 2000: THIRD CHUNLAN UNDER WAY
Round 1 of the 3rd Chunlan Cup took place on 26 December 2000 in Taizhou, base of the sponsoring Chunlan Group in Jiangsu province. China is still seeking its first victory in this, its most prestigious international event.
The opening ceremony on 25 December was a truly international affair, too, with the heads of the Korean and Japanese go associations joining the Chinese at the top table. But of course all eyes were really on the players, and after the first day's play all the major go nations, including Taiwan, remained represented. The European player - Rob van Zeijst - and the US representative - Jimmy Cha - fell at the first hurdle.
Full results of Round 1:
Wang Lei 8d (China) 1-0 Hikosaka Naoto 9d (Japan)
Kobayashi Satoru 9d (Japan) 1-0 Liu Jing 8d (China)
Yi Ch'ang-ho 9d (Korea) 1-0 Zhou Junxun 9d (Taiwan)
Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9d (Korea) 1-0 Liu Xiaoguang 9d (China)
Ryu Shikun 7d (Japan) 1-0 Luo Xihe 8d (China)
Yang Shihai 8d (China) 1-0 Jimmy Cha [=Cha Min-su] (USA)
Yamashita Keigo 7d (Japan) 1-0 Seo Pong-su 9d (Korea)
Peng Jinghua 5d (Taiwan) 1-0 Rob van Zeijst 7d ama (Europe)
Round 2, when the eight seeds come in, is on 28 December.
Here is a sample game from Round 1, a brutal miniature from two of the most aggressive players around (and who actually share the same surname), Yu versus Liu.
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Older News From 9 November 20000: THIRD CHUNLAN SCHEDULE POSTED
The schedule for the 3rd Chunlan, China's most prestigious international event but one it still has to win, has been finalised.
The tournament will open on 24 December 2000 in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province - home of the Chunlan Group. Rounds 1 and 2 will take place there on 26 December and 28 December respectively.
The last eight will then go on to Hangzuou in late April 2001. The semi-finals will be in Xi'an in late May and the final will be in Beijing in late June.
China will have 8 players, Japan 5, Korea 4, Taiwan 2, America 1, Europe 1, the other three places going to seeds.
The Chinese contingent will be seeds Ma Xiauchun and Kong Jie, plus Yu Bin, Chang Hao, Zhou Heyang, Yang Shihai, Liu Jing, Wang Lei, Liu Xiaoguang and Luo Xihe.
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.
