With the end of the fourth Wu Qingyuan Cup yesterday, this year's world championships have come to an end. Regardless of whether the results are good or bad, a year-end summary is required.
This year's men's individual World Series includes the 25th LG Cup, the 4th Dream Lily Cup, the 13th Chunlan Cup, the 26th Samsung Cup, and the 22nd Nongshim Cup of a team nature; the 9th Ying Cup and the 26th LG Cup, as well as the 23rd Nongshim Cup, have not yet decided to win the championship. The women's competition only has two events: the third Fanxing Cup world women's strongest battle and the fourth Wu Qingyuan Cup.
In this year's individual record rankings, Shin Zhenchen is far ahead of many professional masters with a world champion (Chunlan Cup), a runner-up (Three Star Cup), two final rights (Ying's Cup and LG Cup), and one Nongshim Cup (five consecutive wins).
Mi Yuting finished second with a world champion (Dream Lily Cup) and a semi-final four (LG Cup). This is a bit unexpected, since he entered the university, many people are worried about him, in fact, his state has indeed declined, fortunately, his current studies have ended.
Shin Jin-chan wins the Chunlan Cup
Samsung Cup champion Park Tinghuan and LG Cup champion Shin Min-ho are tied for third place in the rankings. Neither made it to the final four at other World Series. It should be said that Park Tinghuan has had good luck in the Samsung Cup, many reversals and wins, and the veteran who is close to 29 years old is still immortal, which is awe-inspiring. Shen Minyuan was like a satellite this year, and he unexpectedly defeated China's first man Ke Jie to ascend to the LG Cup. But he spun out in a number of subsequent competitions and finally failed to go any further.
In addition to the four champions, Shekko ranked fifth with a runner-up (Dream Lily Cup) and a finalist's transcript. I was optimistic that he would be able to defeat Mi Yuting to win the Dream Lily Cup and become the first post-zero world champion in the Chinese Go industry, but he failed to achieve his wish. Next year, if you want to win the YingShi Cup, I am afraid it will be even more difficult, and I can only wish him good luck here.
The pride of the Chinese Go world, the eight-time champion Ke Jie, only won the world runner-up (the 25th LG Cup) and the final four (the 26th LG Cup) this year, so he can only rank sixth. There will always be a time when the legend will end, but sooner or later. Lee Chang-ho won the last world championship title in 2005 when he was 30 years old, and only bid farewell to the final stage of the World Series in 2013. Lee Sedol won his last world championship in 2012 at the age of 29, Gu Li was 32 in 2015, and Chen Yaoye was 29 in 2018. I don't know if Ke Jie is a little embarrassed compared to these predecessors. Hopefully, he will be able to concentrate on Go and fight for more fame, rather than indulging in the gentle countryside.
Yang Dingxin, the second person in The Chinese Go ranking, ranked seventh with one final right (LG Cup) and one final four (Samsung Cup). In February next year, he will compete with Shin Jin-chan for the LG Cup, and it is expected that he will be fully prepared to turn the tide and suppress Shin Jin-chan's "arrogance" in the case of the restoration of the Hallyu.
Tang Weixing finished eighth with a runner-up (Chunlan Cup). Xuanzong's final right was obtained after defeating Ke Jie, and everyone felt sorry for Ke Jie at first, but now it felt as if Tang Weixing had done a good thing. If Ke Jie breaks into the final, the probability of him being won by Shen Zhenchen is extremely high, which is undoubtedly a great blow to him. Therefore, Tang Weixing's move was undoubtedly to cover up ke Jie's ugliness.
Park Wong-hwan won the Samsung Cup
Also in the final four of the World Series this year are Zhao Chenyu (Ying's Cup, Three-Star Cup), Xu Jiayang (Dream Lily Cup), Fan Tingyu (Dream Lily Cup), and Yili Liao (Ying's Cup). These are also worth listing separately.
Also worth mentioning is Yuta Iyama, japan's first man to win four consecutive games in the Nongshim Cup, which is eye-opening. The move broke the balance of power between China, Japan and South Korea in this tournament and has ensured that the Japanese team will not be at the bottom.
In the women's competition, Cui Jing and Yu Zhiying reached the finals of two major competitions at the same time, winning a championship and a runner-up each, but Cui Jing's Wu Qingyuan Cup was a three-game chess final, while Yu Zhiying's Fanxing Cup was a win-loss.
Overall, in this year's Three Kingdoms Speech between China, Japan and South Korea, South Korea left China and Japan far behind with the outstanding performances of Shin Jin-chan, Park Young-hwan and Shin Min-hoon. The championship ratio between China, Japan and South Korea is 1:0:3, and the original situation with China-South Korea confrontation as the mainstream has been broken, and the Korean Wave has become possible.
Because the Dream Lily Cup championship won by China was already done last year, this year's Chinese Go is indeed lackluster, on the contrary, the Japanese team has two bright spots, one is to reach the final four of the Ying Cup, and the other is the four consecutive wins of the Nongshim Cup Iyama Yuta.
Looking forward to next year, the ninth Ying's Cup and the 26th LG Cup final are the key, if Yang Dingxin and Xie Ke have one to beat Shin Zhenchen, then China and South Korea still have a battle, if both finals are lost, then the Chinese Go winter does not know when it will end. In addition, next year's World Series also has the Samsung Cup and the newly opened Rotten Ke Cup, as to whether the Tianfu Cup is renewed, there is no exact news, and the Lark Cup should be suspended with a high probability.
For Chinese chess fans, this year is definitely a year of humiliation. For Ke Jie, this year is not without pain. Now we can only look forward to the coming year.