In 2021, Japan's TEIKEI Company launched three major Go competitions at the same time, namely the Elder Legend Battle participated by chess players over 60 years old, the Female Elder Legend Battle participated by female chess players over 45 years old, and the Junying Battle participated by chess players under 25 years old. On March 4 and April 2, the 1st Japan TEIKEI Cup Shunying Final was won three times, and Xu Jiayuan, who was born in 1997, defeated Shibano Tiger Maru 2-0 to become the first "early adopter". The prize money for the TEIKEI Cup Junying Championship was 10 million yen (about 520,000 yuan), setting a new high for restricted competition prize money.
The final was played in the Japanese Go Shogi Channel studio.
The TEIKEI Cup is aimed at all professional chess players under the age of 25 in the Japanese Chess Academy and the Kansai Chess Academy, and the first qualifier has a total of 95 people registered, which is a momentary event in Japan, where there has been no large-scale new tournament for a long time. There are no seeds in the game, and well-known chess players such as Yili Liao, Xu Jiayuan, Shibano Tiger Maru, Yu Zhengqi, and Guan Hangtaro must start from the preliminary selection, but they provide seed qualifications for Yili, Shibano and Xu who had titles at that time, and they can directly enter the final round of the qualifiers.
"Go Ambassadors" Hana Tojima, Along with Hoshina and Tomoshi Hirata, also served as TV commentators for Toshiei-chan.
The qualifiers started on 4 November 2021 and the 12 qualifiers were decided on 16 December. The three seeded chess players did not waste preferential conditions and easily passed the level. Yu Masaki, the first person in the Kansai Chess Academy, lost to Yu Daitake of the Central Headquarters of the Japan Chess Academy, but the second person, Tachibana Sada, took Ryoki Abe and Imatitaro, two unknown newcomers, out of the pre-selection, and the pattern of "East-West confrontation" still exists.
Generally speaking, the difference between men and women in the new chess game is small, and the fact that female chess players have repeatedly won in the Rookie King Tournament is a direct proof. This was also reflected in the 1st Japan Toshiei Battle, with Aimi Ueno winning consecutive victories over Yokota Hisano, Noboru Kondo and Reiya Takeshita, and Natsuo Kibe and Saeka Iwata also entered the qualifying tiebreaker round, unfortunately losing to Kenya Oninishi and Taro Imagita, one step away from the twelve-man list.
On December 6, Kwan Taro, the great dark horse, successfully challenged Ichiri Liao Tianyuan, but the first battle after the coronation was lost to Koya Koyama in the toshiei Battle Qualifier on December 9. Japan's post-00s star chess players Ryuhei Onnishi and Aktaro Fukuoka were both folded in the hands of Yuichi Hirose. The last person to qualify for the competition was Kazushi Tsuruta, one of the "Chubu Mita".
Group photo of 12 people in this competition. The front row starts from left Ueno, Koyama, Shibano, Otake, Hirose, Tsuruta, and Abe, and the back row starts from left on Onsai, Hira, Kazuri, Imita, and Sada.
The twelve qualified players were drawn into two groups and the five round-robin rounds began from 20 to 25 December 2021. Group A Shibano Tiger Maru and Ichiri Liao were both 4 wins and 1 loss, and Shino became the first place with a straight win advantage. Yili Liao is now a Japanese chess saint, and because he is not yet overage, the next Junying Battle is likely to have a scene of "the first person to play the new sharp competition".
Koyamaku, who has been a professional chess player for three generations, also won a surprise victory over Shibano Tiger Maru in the first round, and the last round also unexpectedly lost to Imatitaro, ending with 3 wins and 2 losses. "A Little Red" Aimi Ueno defeated Ryoki Abe and Taro Imamoto to win 2 and lose 3. This point is 2 wins and 3 losses, and Abe is 0 wins and 5 losses. Group B, Heike Iku Motoichi rode the dust and won all five battles, Yuichi Hirose won 4 wins and 1 loss, Sada Tsuruta 3 wins and 2 losses, Tsuruda Kazushi 2 wins and 3 losses, Otake Yu 1 win and 4 losses, and Ken Ohnishi won 0 wins and 5 losses.
The much-publicized gender confrontation, Ueno Ai-mi challenges Ichiriku and Shibano Tiger Maru in the Battle of Toshigeo without success.
The final was played between the top of the two round-robin rounds, and during the two matchdays of March 4 and April 2, 2022, Xu Jiayuan was trying to defend his title in the final five times (the first set on March 1, the second set on March 23, and the third set on April 7) in the final of the ten-stage battle, which was a two-line battle. The results showed that Xu Jiayuan's current state was above his opponents Shibano Tiger Maru and Yu Zhengqi, and not only did he have a 2-0 lead in the ten-dan battle, but Junying Zhan lost the championship in two straight sets.
The result of the first set was Xu Jiayuan's 219-hand half-eye victory.
The result of the second set was Xu Jiayuan's 238-hand victory.
Although the first set was only won by half a eye, the winning rate curve of both sets showed as Xu Jiayuan's complete victory, and Xu Jiayuan thus achieved his recent fourteen consecutive wins.
At this point, the three competitions of the Teikei Cup in Japan have all come to an end. Yuichi Yuantian and Kihisa Aoki were crowned Legendary Battle, Women's Legend Battle, and Xu Jiayuan was crowned the highest prize money Champion of The Handsome Battle. The prize money of more than 500,000 yuan for a new competition shows the importance that the Japanese Go community attaches to reserve strength.