Football tournaments include the World Cup, the Asian Cup, the East Asian Cup, and the Go World Series is often nicknamed the East Asian Cup by chess fans.
Let's take a look back at the history of the World Go Championship. The period from 1988 to 1994 was a period of hegemony between Japan and South Korea, and Chinese chess players, including the chess saint Nie Weiping Jiudan, could only watch from the sidelines.
Park Tinghuan nine sections
During this period, the Fujitsu Cup, the Yingshi Cup, and the Toyo Securities Cup produced a total of 12 gold cups, with Korea winning 7 times and Japan 5 times.
The period from 1995 to 2005 was the real Romance of China, Japan and South Korea, with a total of 43 world championship titles, Korea won 33, Japan divided 6, Chinese chess players finally entered the world championship rankings, relying on Ma Xiaochun 9 dan, Yu Bin 9 dan, Chang Hao 9 dan to win four world championships.
From 2006 to 2023, for 18 years, no Japan chess player was able to win the Toad Palace in the World Championship and become a full "little three", and the world Go evolved into a confrontation between China and South Korea.
A total of 73 World Championship trophies were won during this period, of which China won 44 and Korea won 28, and Chinese Taipei relied on Zhou Junxun's short-lived nine dan to get a very valuable one.
Entering 2024, Japan's experts finally made the list again, Yili Liao Jiudan defeated Wang Yuanjun 9 dan, Tu Xiaoyu 9 dan, Liu Yuhang 7 dan, Xu Jiayang 9 dan and Ke Jie 9 dan to reach the final, and in the five-game chess final to clean up Xie Ke 9dan, who performed exceptionally badly, and won the 10th Ying Cup championship podium.
Ke Jie nine paragraphs
In addition, Iyama Yuta Jiudan reached the semifinals in the second Ranke Cup this year, but lost to Gu Zihao Jiudan, and failed to reach the World Series finals for the second time in his Go career.
Throughout the 37-year history of the World Go Championship, the champions and semi-finalists are all from China, Japan and South Korea, so it seems that it is not inappropriate to call it the "East Asian Cup".
Japan Go has popped up, what about Chinese Taipei? Although they have not won the World Individual Go Championship for a long time, they performed amazingly in the men's Go Individual Competition at last year's Asian Games, with Xu Haohong 9 Duan Lianke Park Tinghuan 9 Duan, Shin Zhenzhen 9 Duan and Ke Jie 9 Duan reaching the top in one fell swoop, and the gold content and rarity of this gold medal even surpassed the so-called world champions.
In this year's 10th National Hands Mountain Cup, Lai Junfu 9 dan (at that time was still 8 dan) won the championship by defeating Park Min-kyu 9 dan, Fan Tingyu 9 dan, Bian Sang-yi 9 dan, and Shin Jinzhen 9 dan, this competition is regarded as an international second-level competition due to its small scale and small prize money, but Lai Junfu 9 dan can win the championship, which can go down in history in Taiwan and have a place in the international chess world.
Yili Liao nine sections
In general, the current situation of Go in the world is still dominated by the confrontation between China and South Korea, and the Japan Go, which is unwilling to sink, has shown signs of rising and is no longer a foil, and Chinese Taipei has also appeared from time to time to show its face, and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Four Directions seems to be becoming more and more lively.
I sincerely hope that Go, the quintessence of the country, can start from China, Japan and South Korea in East Asia, gradually break out of Asia, and enter the world as soon as possible!