Life In 19x19

For the first time the CWA is holding a new pro only tournament which is scheduled to begin shortly after the PQT. The official name is The First Yuan 19 Chinese Weiqi New Shodan Competition (第1届元十九杯中国围棋新初段争霸赛). All new pros are qualified to participate in the event. Out of 37 new pros 34 registered for the event.

The operational partner is Cao Dayuan 9p's Beijing Yuan 19 Educational Technology Co. Ltd. The "Yuan" in the company name obviously came from the last character of Cao Dayuan 9p's name. But in Chinese Yuan(元) also means origin/beginning, so it fits well with a new pro tournament.

The format is single elimination. Time setting is 1 hour main time plus 30 x 3 byoyomi before the semi finals, and 2 hours main time plus 1 min x 5 byoyomi for semi finals and final. Prize money is 60k CNY (a little less than 10k USD) for the champion and 20k for the runner up. All participants in the main tournament gets playing fees, any female player in the top 8 gets an extra 10k CNY.

There were two preliminary matches to determine the 32 players for the main tournament. In the prelims Wang Meicheng beat Cai Lichen, Mao Yanxin beat Wang Wenqi.

For introduction of these new pros please refer to my 2019 PQT thread here: viewtopic.php?p=248181#p248181. It is still ongoing and will take a few weeks to finish.

Yuan 19 Cup Opening Ceremony (this will also serve as shodan certificates issuing ceremony going forward)New pro certsissuing new pro certs (from left to right: Hua Xueming 7p, CWA chair general Lin Jianchao, Li Yuanqi 1p, Yang Tingxuan 1p, Zhang Mengyao 1p, Yao Jiahui 1p, Yu Bin 9p, Cao Dayuan 9p)

First round was played on August 29th. Here are the results (female color coded pink):

Mao Yanxin lost to Yang Ge
Lu Xunfeng lost to Liu Ruizhi
Wang Yucheng lost to Li Yuanqi
Li Xuemeng beat Yu Jingying
Chen Manqi lost to Yu Qingquan
Xie Xuebin beat Deng Wei
Li Xiaoxi beat Cheng Xiaoqing
Wang Chunhui beat Li Xinchen
Yang Tingxuan lost to Chen Tuli
Yao Jiahui beat Wei Xintong
Wang Mian lost to Su Guangyue
Zhang Mengyao lost to Zhou Runmin
Qu Ming beat Hua Chang
Hu Zhenpeng beat Wang Pengfei
Xu Jingqi lost to Li Sixuan
Zhao Fei beat Wang Meicheng

Xu Jingqi (left) vs Li SixuanWang Meicheng (Left) vs Zhao FeiZhang Mengyao (left) vs Zhou Runmin

Wang Meicheng is the daughter of Wang Jianhong 9-dan.

macelee wrote:Wang Meicheng is the daughter of Wang Jianhong 9-dan.

Yes. Wang Jianhong 9-dan is from Luoyang too so we can count Wang Meicheng as half Luoyang pro They are also the first ever father daughter pro pair in China.

From left to right: Wang Jianhong 9p, Wang Meicheng 1p, Cao Dayuan 9p

Round of 16 was played in the morning of August 30th. Two ladies got into the top 8 and earned the 10k special prize.

Yang Ge > Liu Ruizhi
Li Yuanqi > Li Xuemeng
Yu Qingquan > Xie Xuebin
Li Xiaoxi < Wang Chunhui
Chen Tuli < Yao Jiahui
Su Guangyue > Zhou Runmin
Qu Ming < Hu Zhenpeng
Li Sixuan > Zhao Fei

Li Sixuan (Left) vs Zhao FeiYao Jiahui(Left) vs Chen TuliLi Xiaoxi (Left) vs Wang Chunhui

Round of 8 was played in the afternoon of August 30th. Both Li Sixuan and Yao Jiahui were eliminated so no women in the semi finals.

Liu Ruizhi < Li Yuanqi
Yu Qingquan < Wang Chunhui
Yao Jiahui < Su Guangyue
Hu Zhenpeng > Li Sixuan

Su Guangyue (left) vs Yao JiahuiHu Zhenpeng (Left) vs Li Sixuan National team coach Yu Bin told 13 year old Li Sixuan that he expected to see her one day in the national team (she is in the field for the selection tournament but it might be tough for her to get into the national team on first try).

Yu Bin 9p and Cao Dayuan 9p presented top 8 special award to Yao Jiahui and Li Sixuan

Semi finals were played on Augst 31st. Both match ups featured U-25 new pro vs adult group new pro. And the senior players won both games.

Su Guangyue 1p > Hu Zhenpeng 1p

At 27, Su 1p is 10 years older than Hu 1p. Su Guangyue was behind in the middle game, but he successfully attacked Hu Zhenpeng's weak group on the right and killed the dragon to end the game.

Su Guangyue 1p (Right) vs Hu Zhenpeng 1p Li Yuanqi 1p > Wang Chunhui 1p

This game featured some ferocious fighting. Wang Chunhui 1p was white. After the AI style approach and attach joseki in the upper right corner, white 40 connected and moved out the three weak stones inside black's influence sphere. The ensuing pursuit and fighting expanded to the whole board and each side had 4 or 5 dragons involved at some point. Wang Chunhui had the upper hand for the most of the fight but made a crucial mistake near the end. Li Yuanqi 1p was able to take advantage of it and came out on top eventually.

Li Yuanqi 1p (Left) vs Wang Chunhui 1p

The final of the 2019 Yuan 19 Cup New Shodan Challenge was played on September 1st at the Yuan 19 Weiqi Club in Beijing.

The finalists Su Guangyue and Li Yuanqi had almost parallel life trajectories. They were born one year apart, Li 1p being the younger one. They were both from Luoyang, Henan Province. They both won Luoyang King of Weiqi. Su Guangyue won it in 2013, Li Yuanqi won the challenger tournament in 2014 and beat Su Guangyue 2:0 in the title match. They both went to Beijing dojos to study. They both failed to make pro before hitting the age limit and went to the same university. And now they met in the first ever new pro tournament final.

The game is similar to the semi final between Li Yuanqi and Wang Chunhui in the sense that it also started early in a corner and spread to the whole board. This time the fight started in the upper left corner. Su Guangyue's black left a weak group on the left side and took sente to build a moyo on the right side with 3 white stones inside the mojo. Then white leaned on that weak black group to revive the three weak stones and had the top black group sealed in. It would be a good game for white except that white's middle group was also unsettled, and white's upper left corner had a lot of aji in it. Black used that aji to create a ko in the upper left and won the ko to kill white corner and save the top group. White's gain from the ko was the capturing of the upper right black corner. But now that black's top group was completely alive, white's weak middle group was in trouble. And the game basically ended when Li Yuanqi's white group was unable to live in the center.

Champion Su Guangyue 1p (Right) and Runner-up Li Yuanqi 1p holding trophiesPresenting Award. From left to right, Cao Dayuan 9p, Li Yuanqi 1p, Su Guangyue 1p, Hua Xueming 7p.