Last year's 25th Samsung Cup World Go Open Final, because Ofshin Shin Shin-chan slipped the slide and finally lost to Ke Jie, while being the runner-up, it fulfilled the great cause of the eight crowns of Ke.
At a time when we still remember this, the new Samsung Cup, the 26th edition, will be held on the 20th of this month. At present, the list of 32 participating chess players in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan has been finalized, of which the hosts South Korea 15: Shin Jin-chan (last four), Park Tinghuan, Bian Sang-yi, Shin Min-suk, Kim Ji-seok (national seed), Lee Dong-hoon, Yoon Chan-hee, Ahn Sung-joon, Kim Seung-jae, Han Seung-joo, Lee Chang-seok, Lee Chang-joon, Lee Chang-ho, Cao Chengya (domestic pre-selection), Won Seung-jin (wild card); 12 Chinese chess players: Ke Jie, Yang Dingxin, Xie Erhao (last top four), Mi Yuting, Xie Ke (national seed), Zhao Chenyu, Li Weiqing, Peng Liyao, Dang Yifei, Lian Xiao, Fan Tingyu, and Fang Ruoxi (domestic pre-selection); Japan sent 4 generals: Xu Jiayuan and Yamashita Keigo (national seed), Ōnishi Ryuhei and Yamashiro (domestic pre-selection); Chinese Taipei (1 person): Wang Yuanjun (regional pre-selection).
The tigers will be eager to try, and they are bound to fight for this year's championship. When taking stock of the above list, it can be found that the Korean Chess Academy is an elite, and the top eight ranks are in the lineup; the Chinese team is missing Gu Zihao and Ding Hao, two of the top four masters of the rank, and Chen Yaoye, Tang Weixing, Shi Yue, Jiang Weijie and other generals have not been shortlisted, which may affect the final victory of Chinese masters.
Before predicting the winner of this tournament, let's take a look at the schedule of the tournament. Due to the epidemic situation, all the competitions were held online, and the champion was decided at once after several consecutive rounds. The schedule is: October 20-23, 25-28, and November 1-3. It seems that this year's Samsung Cup will resume the double-elimination system of the round of 32 and the semi-final triple chess mode. The final is still a triple game, and the time is November 1-3. In this way, if you win the championship process, you must play at least 8 games in 2 weeks. If you play full, you will play 11 games of chess.
Ke Jie, Xie Ke and others at the press conference
This devilish schedule is clearly in the interest of younger players. This was the case with the last Fujitsu Cup (24th in 2011), which was eventually taken away by 18-year-old Park Tinghuan, who defeated China's 29-year-old Qiu Jun in the final. Last year's Samsung Cup was also a one-time finish, but except for the final which was a three-game game, the rest were knockout systems, and as a result, 23-year-old Ke Jie and 20-year-old Shin Zhenchen both reached the final.
Judging from the above schedule and historical experience, the winner of this Samsung Cup gives priority to young people under the age of 25, combined with the recent state, I am personally optimistic about the following three places in the Korean chess players: The first place is naturally Shin Jin-chan. In addition to his energetic energy (only 21 years old) and his recent good form (five consecutive wins in the third stage of the Weijia), his stability is definitely the first in the world at present, and he has just won the 13th Chunlan Cup to be crowned double, it should be said that his chess strength, confidence and momentum are in a state of explosion, so he is the first obstacle for Chinese masters to win the cup.
The second strong opponent of the Chinese chess player is Bian Xiangyi. Born in 1997 at the same age as Ko Jie, he ranks third in The Korean hierarchy, behind Shin Jin-hyun and Park Young-hwan. The 24-year-old is in the middle of the year, and this Samsung Cup is an excellent time for him to make a breakthrough. Even if he fails to do so this time, according to the generally long life expectancy of Korean athletes, he will still have a chance in the future.
Park Tinghuan is a must be highly valued by Chinese players, although he is 28 years old, but the sword is not old, he is still majestic in the League, and recently won the same five consecutive wins in the third stage, in view of this, he is the third person that the Chinese team needs to watch out for.
The New Four Kings of Korea
Other Korean chess players, including Shin Min-jae, who is in a very unstable state (I don't know how Ke Jie lost to him in this year's LG Cup final, and chess fans have criticized him), Lee Dong-hoon, Won Sung-jin, etc., estimate that it is difficult to take advantage of the Chinese team with a thick iron wall.
Both Japanese players and Chinese Taipei players can be seen as soy sauce players. So which of China's young talents can be expected to add yellow robes in this Samsung Cup?
The first place is of course Ke Jie, although he has fallen all the way after the Samsung Cup last year, but from May the rally began to recover, the recent third stage of the wei jia, he and Shin Jin-chan and Park Tinghuan broke the bamboo five consecutive wins. As the toughest player in the history of the Samsung Cup with the most titles (4 times), he is a veritable Samsung Cup man. This year's Samsung Cup is the perfect time for him to be crowned nine champions, in addition, whether he can return to the top also needs to be tested by the World Series, and I look forward to my Ke being able to phoenix nirvana and create glory again! However, rational analysis, his probability of winning the championship will not exceed Shen Zhenchen.
In terms of strength, Yang Dingxin is the second person in the Chinese team, and he has the combat strength to kill any master in the world chess world, but the shortcomings of being strong when he is strong and weak when he is weak are the biggest enemies on his way forward.
Ke Jie won the Samsung Cup
Xie Erhao, Mi Yuting, Xie Ke, Fan Tingyu, Lian Xiao, Li Weiqing and other Chinese Junjie are not without opportunities, among which Mi Yuting and Lian Xiao's foreign combat results are very average, coupled with the recent state of the League of Champions League, unless the luck is particularly good, enjoy the great luck of feng shui rotation, otherwise there is little hope. Sheiko has reached the world series finals since last year, and with his chess strength, it may be difficult to achieve good results one after another. Li Weiqing has not played in the World Series many times, it seems that he has not yet reached the top eight resume, if you want to reach the top at once, the opportunity should be minimal, of course, can not rule out the possibility of a black to the end, his biggest advantage is age and no baggage. Fan Tingyu is 25 years old, he has been in a crown group for eight years, and he will not be able to win the double crown without any more effort, objectively speaking, his probability of holding the cup is only slightly higher than the above ones. Xie Erhao is 23 years old this year, it is the time when he is rich and strong, the results of the civil war are ordinary, the level of foreign war is also very general, and it has been seven consecutive defeats against Shen Zhenchen, if he has not encountered Xiao Shen in the process, then his chances will increase.
In the end, according to the comprehensive factors of age, strength, luck, state, confidence and so on, I launched the possibility ranking of the final candidates for the Samsung Cup: the first place is not Shen Zhenchen, Bian Xiangyi can be ranked second, China's first person Ke Jie I think can only relegate to third, Yang Dingxin ranks fourth, and Park Tinghuan is fifth. Others, such as Xie Erhao, Fan Tingyu, Li Weiqing, Shen Minwei, Li Dongxun, Lian Xiao, Mi Yuting, Xie Ke, etc., are not all likely to reach the final, but to win the Gold Cup, they need the special favor of The Heavens.
Half a month later, the feast of the new Samsung Cup will open, who is in charge of the bull's ear? We'll see you at that time, so I'd like to warm up this event with this article.