The opening ceremony of the 16th Weifu Fangkai Cup China Go King Championship
From January 5th to 7th, the final stage of the 16th Weifu Fangkai Cup China Go King Championship will be held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Ding Hao, Mi Yuting, Xie Erhao, Tong Mengcheng, Peng Liyao, Li Qincheng, Yang Kaiwen and Yi Lingtao will catch and fight against each other, and through the 3-day single-elimination competition, they will decide the winner of the first domestic event of the new year.
The Weifu Fangkai Cup opened on July 27, 2021, the first two rounds of the competition were fiercely competitive, the defending champions Fan Tingyu and Yang Dingxin, Gu Zihao, Jiang Weijie, Shi Yue, Tang Weixing and other world champions have been out, and only two world champions, Mi Yuting and Xie Erhao, are left in the top 8. The Round of 8 to the final was originally scheduled to be held in December 2021, but was postponed to January 2022 due to the epidemic, making the Weifu Fangkai Cup the first tournament to determine the championship in 2022.
So who has the best chance of winning the first title in 2022?
Let's take a look at the full-year performance of the 8 national players in 2021 and the preview of the top 8 matches:
1. Li Qincheng vs Peng Liyao
Latest China Ranking (as of December 2021): Li Qincheng 17th, Peng Liyao 18th
2021 results: Li Qincheng 32 wins and 18 losses (64% win rate), Peng Liyao 28 wins and 23 losses (54.9% win rate)
Historical record: Li Qincheng 3:3 Peng Liyao
This year's Weifu Fang Open Cup Li Qincheng's journey: wang Chuxuan was defeated in the round of 32, and Zhao Chenyu was defeated in the round of 16
This year's Weifu Fangkai Cup Peng Liyao's journey: won Huang Yunsong in the round of 32, and won the round of 16 against Fan Tingyu
Whether it is from the ranking of the two players, or from the historical record of the game, this is a contest of equal strength.
Peng Liyao is the only chess player in the top 8 who has won the Weifu Fang Opening Cup, but that was 10 years ago. Peng Liyao eliminated the defending champion Fan Tingyu in this year's Weifu Fang Cup, showing a good state, but if you want to relive the old dream, you must first cross the hurdle of "fast gunner" Li Qincheng.
2. Yang Kaiwen vs Yi Lingtao
Latest China Ranking (as of December 2021): Yang Kaiwen 32nd, Yi Lingtao 28th
2021 results: Yang Kaiwen 21 wins and 14 losses (60% win rate), Yi Lingtao 20 wins and 22 losses (47.6% win rate)
Historical record: Yang Kaiwen 2:4 Yi Lingtao
This year's Weifu Fang Opening Cup Yang Kaiwen journey: victory over Xu Jiayang in the round of 32, victory over Tan Xiao in the round of 16
This year's Weifu Fang Open Cup Yi Lingtao journey: victory over Li Xuanhao in the round of 32, victory over Yang Dingxin in the round of 16
The two players ranked closely in rank, and Yi Lingtao was superior in terms of mutual record.
The two sides did not meet in 2021, and from the perspective of the annual results, Yang Kaiwen's state was slightly better than that of Yi Lingtao. Overall, this is still a matching win- and-defeat.
3. Sherhow vs Tong Mengcheng
Latest China Ranking (as of December 2021): Cherhow 10th, Tong Mengcheng 22nd
2021 results: Cherho 19 wins and 21 losses (47.5%), Tong Mengcheng 21 wins and 25 losses (45.7% win rate)
All-time record: Cherhow 8:4 Tong Mengcheng
This year's Weifu Fang open cup Shelhao journey: the round of 32 to win Xie Ke, the round of 16 to win the battle against Yu Jiaxi
This year's Weifu Fang Open Cup Tong Mengcheng Journey: victory over Gu Zihao in the round of 32, and victory over Zhou Ruiyang in the round of 16
Judging from the ranking of the two and the historical record of the confrontation, Cherho has the upper hand.
Both players have been mediocre in 2021 and need to get off to a good start in the new year. World champion Serhoe has maintained four wins against Tong Mengcheng in the past two years, and is the more optimistic side in this group of duels. However, Tong Mengcheng had eliminated the champion Gu Zihao in this competition, and the 8th round of battle would obviously not be tied up in the face of "bitter hands", and the two sides would inevitably have a fierce battle.
4. Ding Hao vs Mi Yuting
Latest China Ranking (as of December 2021): Ding Hao ranked 3rd and Mi Yuting ranked 5th
2021 results: Ding Hao 42 wins and 16 losses (72.4% win rate), Mi Yuting 43 wins and 25 losses (63.2% win rate)
Historical record: Ding Hao 5:5 Mi Yuting
This year's Weifu Fang open cup Ding Hao's journey: the round of 32 wins Tang Weixing, the round of 16 wins the time Yue
This year's Weifu Fangkai Cup Mi Yuting's journey: the round of 32 won against Fan Yin, and the round of 16 won over Liao Yuanhe
Focus match in the Round of 8! One 3rd, one 5th, Ding Hao and Mi Yuting are ranked the highest among the top 8 players.
Ding Hao, the leader of the "post-00s" generation, ushered in an outbreak in 2021, winning a total of 3 domestic championships such as the Qiqi Cup, the National Hand Battle, and the Big Chess Battle, and the state can be described as hot. Mi Yuting did not hesitate to win his second world championship in 2021 , the Dream Lily Cup.
The two have a 5-5 draw in history, and the most recent meeting was in the semi-finals of the national hand battle in December last year, when Ding Haolik Mi Yuting defeated Ke Jie in the final to win the championship. It is worth mentioning that Mi Yuting won the runner-up twice in the Weifu Room Cup, and Xiao Mi, who played at home this time, must be full of desire for the championship.
Objectively speaking, the strength of the two is roughly 55, and the victory or defeat depends on the on-the-spot play. I believe that the two domestic top masters will surely bring us a classic showdown of "Mars hitting the earth".
Yike Go will bring the live broadcast and graphic reports of the 16th Weifu Fangkai Cup China Go King Championship 8 Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals to the majority of chess players from January 5 to 7, so stay tuned.
(Saury)
The 2021 "Weifu Fangkai Cup" Chinese Go King Championship is hosted by the China Weiqi Association and the Wuxi Municipal People's Government, and the participants are Zhou Hongyu, a female chess player selected by the top 31 professional chess players and the national women's Go team. A total of 32 chess players are played in two stages, the preliminary round and the current tournament, and the single elimination system is adopted. The competition adopts the rules of the Go competition approved by the Chinese Weiqi Association in 2002, and the black square pastes 3 and 3/4 subs. The duration of the match is one hour per side, followed by one minute at a time. The prize money for the winner is 150,000 yuan before tax, and the runner-up is 60,000 yuan.
Weifu Fangkai Cup past champions and runners-up:
Champion Runner-up
1 2003 Nie Weiping Yu Bin
2 2005 Kong Jie Zhou Heyang
3 2007 Hu Yaoyu Ma Xiaochun
4 2008 Zhou Ruiyang Li Kang
5 2009 Kong Jie Chen Yaoye
6 2010 Gu Lingyi Peng Liyao
7 2011 Tan Xiao Wang Lei
8 2012 Peng Liyao Fan Tingyu
9 2013 Yang Dingxin Zhou Ruiyang
10 2014 When crossing Jiang Weijie
11 2015 Ke Jie Fan Yunruo
12 2016 Huang Yunsong Mi Yuting
13 2017 Fan Yin Zhang Tao
14 2018 Gu Zihao Liao Yuanhe
15 2019 Fan Tingyu Mi Yu Ting