Category: Taiwan

  • Xu Haohong wins 14th Haifong Cup

    Xu Haohong wins 14th Haifong Cup

    The Haifong Cup is one of the oldest tournaments in Taiwan with this edition being the fourteenth time it’s been held. The favorite for the title surely was Xu Haohong 7p, who won this title last year (three times in total) and holds four other titles as well. His opponent Lin Junyan (left on the photo) was promoted to 9p after having enough wins by winning the semifinals [120 wins after being promoted to 8p, as I understand].

    The tournament is a single knockout tournament with 68 players, of whom 4 are seeded (Xu Haohong, Jian Jingting, Lin Junyan, and Wang Yuanjun). The finals are a best of three, so one can only afford one loss. In the first game (played on January 24th), Xu Haohong won by 1.5 points. And unfortunately for Lin Junyan, game three was never played, as he lost game two with 4.5 points (played January 27th).

    Image Source Featured image

    Source on the promotion of Lin Junyan

  • The 60th Judan – A Taiwanese party?

    The 60th Judan – A Taiwanese party?

    The challenger match for the 60th Judan title was played on the 27th of January. Sada Atsushi 7p playing white was pitted against Yo Seiki 8p, also known by his Taiwanese name Yu Zhengqi. The Game was more or less even after the first 100 moves, however soon after, Yo Seiki managed to build a comfortable lead, and won the game after 319 moves by 3.5 points.

    left: Kyo Kagen 9p; right: Yo Seiki (8p)

    Yo Seiki, one of the Kansai Ki-in’s best players, will challenge Kyo Kagen 9p (Hsu Chiayuan), who is also from Taiwan. This will be Kyo Kagen’s second time defending a major title, after being whitewashed by Iyama Yuta in the 43rd Gosei. Yo Seiki, still without a major title after reaching the finals of two major titles before, will be trying for the third time. Perhaps the third time is the charm?

    As a sidenote, it’s also the second time the finals of the Judan are to be played by two Taiwanese players. The first time was in 2004 when Cho U (Zhang Xu) challenged O Rissei (Wang Licheng) for the 42nd Judan (O Rissei won).