From the 17th to the 20th, the first stage of the 25th Nongshim Cup World Go Team Tournament will be held in Beijing.
After the draw on the 16th, the first match of this tournament was played by South Korea's pioneer Hyun Hyun against Japan's pioneer Xu Jiayuan. Chinese chess player Ke Jie said the Chinese team's goal must be the championship.
Photo courtesy of China Go Association.
The World Go Team Championship represents a very high level of team competition in the field of Go, and the importance is self-evident. The Nongshim Cup adopts a "fight" format, and five players from each of the three teams of China, Japan and South Korea take turns to play, with the winner defending the ring and the loser out.
In the past 24 competitions, the Chinese team has won 8 times. South Korea leads the way with 15 titles, while Japan has only one.
The last time China won the Nongshim Cup was in 2020, when Chinese coach Ke Jie defeated South Korea's Park Tinghuan in a decisive match. However, in the past three tournaments, South Korea has won three consecutive championships, and Shin Jinjin has finished three times.
Ke Jie in previous Nongshim Cup competitions.
The lineup of the Chinese team is: Gu Zihao, Ding Hao, Ke Jie, Zhao Chenyu, Xie Erhao, with Xie Erhao as the pioneer.
Shin Zhenzhen is undoubtedly the biggest opponent on the road to the Chinese team's championship, and he just helped the South Korean team win the gold medal in the men's Go team at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
For this tournament, Shin Zhenzhen is also full of confidence, and he is very much looking forward to playing as the main player after winning ten consecutive matches. In Shen Zhenzhen's opinion, the current state of the chess players of the three countries is very good. He quipped that he hoped that the Korean chess players would play well so that the Lord would be able to make it easier.
Yu Bin, the coach of the Chinese team, believes that in the ring, the personal strength of top chess players such as Park Tinghuan and Shin Zhenzhen plays a huge role, which is one of the reasons why the Korean team won three consecutive championships. "If the Chinese team wants to win this year, it must beat South Korea's top chess players. In this regard, we need to continue to work hard in our usual training. ”
In the last competition, Ke Jie, who held eight world championship titles, was eliminated by Park Tinghuan. Looking forward to this tournament, Ke Jie is very eager to play against the two leaders of the Korean team, Park Tinghuan and Shin Jinjin. He bluntly said that the goal of the Chinese team must be the championship.
Koo Zihao in the game. Image source: China Go Association
Koo Zihao also showed confidence in winning the championship. As the main general in the previous session, he almost achieved "one through three", but unfortunately lost Shen Zhenzhen in the last set.
"Although the last three championships have been won by the South Korean team, the Chinese team has also had a very strong period before. Hopefully we will work well this year and show a better level. ”
At the same time, the first World Go Veteran Strongest Battle will also kick off, Nie Weiping, Cao Xunxuan, Wugong Masaki and other chess titans attended the drawing ceremony.
"I have been old rivals for decades with Cao Xunxuan and Masaki Takemiya and have been friends for decades. We have been down many times before, but now it is less because of physical reasons. ”
For goodbye to his old friend, "Chess Saint" Nie Weiping is very happy, "This competition allows us to relive our old dreams, and we also hope that China, Japan and South Korea will enhance friendship through Go exchanges." ”
Nongshim Cup World Go Team Tournament List:
China: Gu Zihao, Ding Hao, Ke Jie, Zhao Chenyu, Xie Erhao
South Korea: Won Seung-hyun, Park Young-hwan, Bian-sang-il, Shin Jin-jin, Hyun-joon
Japan: Ichiriki Tatsu, Shibano Toramaru, Iyama Yuta, Sho Iemoto, Yo Zheng
List of the strongest battles of the world's Go veterans:
China: Nie Weiping, Liu Xiaoguang, Cao Dayuan, Ma Xiaochun
South Korea: Cho Hyun-hyun, Seo Bong-so, Choi Kyu-bing, Yoo Chang-hyuk
Japan: Yoda Koki, Takehiro Masato, Hikosaka Naoto, Yamashiro Hiroshiro