- The wonderful ending of the National Siege League
- 2023-02-19 17:25:39.0 Source: Xinhuanet
Author: Wang Jingyu Wang Haoyu Chen Di
On the 18th, the final stage of the 2022 Huawei Mobile Cup China Go League One League ended in Chengdu, and the Supor Hangzhou team finally won the championship trophy. Despite some twists and turns caused by the epidemic, this annual heavyweight professional event has come to a wonderful end.
The new competition system is getting better
Since the National Siege League first implemented the regular season plus playoffs system in 2019, the intensity of the competition has increased significantly, and the just-concluded competition has reached a small climax.
The two semi-finals between Supor Hangzhou team and Zhejiang Zheshang Securities team, and Jiangsu Shenshou Feifei team and Shenzhen Longhua team were all decided by the rules of the master system when the two rounds were 4:4. Moreover, Lian Xiao, the main player of the Supor Hangzhou team, only won a quarter of the opponent’s Tan Xiao. In the final championship and runner-up finals, the same script was staged again, and the Supor Hangzhou team won a 4:4 victory by virtue of the outstanding performance of South Korean foreign aid Shen Zhenzhen.
In addition, the Lhasa Chess Academy team, which has world champions Jiang Dongrun and Chen Yaoye, also “go ashore” with the victory of the main player in the final round of the relegation battle against the Shanghai Qingyi Youth Team with a score of 4:4 in two rounds. .
Compared with the regular season, the exciting playoff system is a huge psychological test for the players. It may be like the Zhejiang Zheshang Securities team after securing the top eight in the upper half. The Yuanming City Hangzhou team “slid down step by step” after falling into the bottom eight in the lower half. The Longyuan Mingcheng Hangzhou team, which has the new world champion Ding Hao, fought until the last round before successfully relegation, which once again verified the cruelty of the Siege League competition. The new competition system has played a positive role in increasing the attention of the league.
Rising Stars Shine Champions Persevere
The National Siege League has always been a stage for young chess players to hone their skills and accumulate experience. The story of the Beijing Haidian team’s “Baby Army” headed by Zhou Ruiyang was a good story. In this year’s Siege League, Ye Changxin, who plays for the Shanghai Qingyi Youth Team and will turn 16, is one of the youngest players participating. Ye Changxin, who landed in Siege for the first time in 2021, did not play many games at that time, with a record of only 1 win and 5 losses. In this league, Ye Changxin has made remarkable progress and achieved a good record of 8 wins and 7 losses. The opponents he defeated also included famous players like Li Qincheng, and finally won the Best Newcomer Award.
A group of chess players with world championship titles are still the backbone of the Siege teams. At the age of 32, Shi Yue achieved a record of 17 wins and 6 losses. In the case of Ke Jie’s declining dominance, Shi Yue’s stable performance is an important factor for the Shenzhen Longhua team to win the third place. In addition, Tuo Jiaxi has 12 wins and 5 losses, Fan Tingyu and Jiang Weijie have 9 wins and 8 losses, Mi Yuting has 11 wins and 8 losses, and Chen Yaoye has 11 wins and 10 losses. These veteran world champions still maintain a strong fighting capacity.
In the fiercely competitive Siege League, there is a saying that “the winner wins the world”. However, judging from this competition, the top three teams rely on strong overall strength. Li Qincheng, Lian Xiao, Xie Ke and Shen Zhenzhen of the Supor Hangzhou team all have a winning rate of 58% and above, with 12 wins and 3 losses. Li Qincheng won the Most Valuable Chess Player Award.
Li Weiqing of the Shanghai Jianqiao Academy won the best player award in this league. He has achieved 11 wins and 4 losses in the main position, with a total record of 13 wins and 4 losses. Hua Xueming, the leader of the Chinese Go team, said that Li Weiqing won the Siege after many years of hard work in the Weiqi League. In the past, he was a little worried about gains and losses, but now he is more mature and is expected to achieve a breakthrough in the international arena. With the “double gun” combination of Li Weiqing and Wang Xinghao, the Shanghai team is only one game away from entering the top eight.
Another team that mainly relies on “two guns” to win the world is the Chongqing T23 team. Li Xuanhao with 17 wins and 2 losses and Yang Dingxin with 12 wins and 7 losses led the team into the upper half.
“Face Chess” Returns
In the past three years, many Go tournaments have been held online instead of offline due to the epidemic, and most of the games in the Siege League have finally returned to face-to-face.
Hua Xueming said that the feeling of “face-to-face chess” is very different from that of online games. It also tests the players’ psychological endurance and adaptability to the environment, and it also has a better guarantee for the fairness of the game. In this competition, the organizer installed a mobile phone signal jammer in the bathroom of the venue, and took more stringent measures to prevent artificial intelligence cheating. Hua Xueming said that the installation of jammers and detection gates is very professional, and it also increases the cost of running the competition. However, these have received strong support from the event organizers and the local government, and I would like to express my gratitude to them.
The Siege League has always been regarded as an important training ground for Chinese chess players to compete in the international arena. Hua Xueming believes that from the perspective of the Siege League, it is not easy for the top players in South Korea to play chess. 8 losses, while Jin Zhixi is only 4 wins and 8 losses. Although Shen Zhenzhen feels a bit like Ke Jie in previous years in all aspects, and is in relatively the best state, but I believe that Chinese chess players still have strong competitiveness in the international arena, so there is no need to be too pessimistic.
winter to spring
Due to the epidemic, the league, which was supposed to end before the end of 2022, has been delayed until now. In this regard, the participating teams and chess players expressed their understanding, and many people also lamented that the past few years have finally “survived”.
Hua Xueming revealed that because some teams did not finish their regular season due to the epidemic, this final stage of the tournament system lasted for a long time. In order to “squeeze out” this schedule, the Chinese Go Association specifically communicated with the Korean Chess Academy to advance the schedule of the finals of the LG Cup World Chess Championship between Chinese chess players Ding Hao and Yang Dingxin, so that there is a relatively sufficient competition period. The density of this game is relatively high, and the chess players have no complaints. They all feel that they are very happy to be able to play chess “face to face”.
Hua Xueming said that after the end of the Weijia League, domestic professional Go competitions such as the Chinese Go Rookie Tournament, Tianyuan Tournament, and Advocate Chess Cup will be held offline one after another. Wang Runan, the former chairman of the Chinese Go Association who came to watch the game, said with emotion that everything is slowly returning to normal.
