Tracking Foreign Teams in 2017 China Weiqi League

[kimidori]

@wolfking: Thank you for your great effort to report this.

By the way, do you have a link for the current standing of both leagues (B & C). What are the tie-breakers in orders (I guess number of win, then captain's win?)

[wolfking]

@wolfking: Thank you for your great effort to report this.

By the way, do you have a link for the current standing of both leagues (B & C). What are the tie-breakers in orders (I guess number of win, then captain's win?)

You are very welcome!
There is no central place that kept a standing. For the BL and WBL, if you following this link, you can find team's score at the bottom of each match up results table. But they did not show the score for CL. So the only way to get a standing of CL is to go back to results of each round and calculate ourselves. But the top teams are always reported at the top of each league so that should give you some idea which teams are in front.

As for tie breakers, it goes like this: 1. compare total round scores (if a team wins a round it gets 2 points; a tie, 1 point); 2. compare number of won games; 3. if still tied, compare total opponents round scores; 4. number of won rounds; 5. positional win rate, starting from position 1; 6. head to head records; 7. positional head to head from 1 to 4; 8. compare opponents final standing, from strongest to weakest; 9. If all fails, random draw!

[wolfking]

There was an interview of Surma apparently by Sina Sports (in Chinese) after his 4 consecutive wins. The title translates roughly to "European player unstoppable 4 wins in C-League, A pilot's Go dream come true". Mention of pilot is because Surma had aspired to be a pilot at a young age. A few interesting points from the interview:
1. When asked about young talents and other strong players in Europe, Surma listed 17 year old Fionin 6D of Russia, Stanislaw 6D of Poland, 13 year old Spaniard Oscar 4D, and a few players older than him, including Lukas Podpera of Czechia, Andrii Kravets of Ukrain, Tanguy of France.
2. He got quite a bonus for 4 consecutive wins but did not reveal the amount.
3. He started his own company about Go in May, and has written 9 Go books for readers ranging from beginner to about 3 kyu.
4. Asked if he will get a hero's welcome back home, he said he was not sure if there would be any reports about these events in Europe and if any fans knew about this. He might get some congrats from friends but certainly not a hero.
5. for this year's new European pro, he hopes Stanislaw can make it, but the competition is strong and could be anyone.

[wolfking]

Results of round 6

Team Japan 3:1 China Pingmei

1. Ida Atsushi (B) 0:1 Kim Sonjin 4p (W)
2. Yu Zhengqi 1:0 Tong Yulin 4p
3. Hsu Chiayuan 1:0 Shu Yixiao 4p
4. Shibano Toramaru 1:0 Li Chengsen 3p

Team Japan did a good job in winning the past 2 rounds and are still in position to earn a promotion to A-League. They have 7 points and are 3 points behind leader Zhejiang Kunlun, which happens to be their opponent in next round! If somehow they can beat Zhejiang promotion will really become a posibility. As of now they are 5th in standing, tied with 2 other teams.

Team Europe 0:4 Beijing Yiben Qingyuan

1. Ilya Shikshin (W) 0:1 Gao Yu 3p (B)
2. Ali Jabarin 0:1 Feng Hao 1p
3. Pavol Lisy 0:1 Yang Wenkai 1p
4. Mateusz Surma 0:1 Yao Xiaotong 1p

Unfortunately Team Europe could not take advantage of the relatively weaker opponent in round 6. They were swept the first time since round 1. Maybe the pressure has gotten to them. One would not be surprised by the result at the beginning of the tournament but after 4 good rounds you start to get the hope up. Surma's game was broadcast live on Fox Go Server, and maybe Jabarin's game too (since I found both game records on Sina.com). It probably feels different when there are record keepers at your table and in some sense the world is watching.

For the Taiwan teams, Haifeng Qiyuan tied Gansu 2:2, Zhonghuan tied Hangzhou Black-White Go Institute 2:2. Haifeng's women's team tied Wenshang Estate 1:1.

Edit: added Taiwan team results.

[wolfking]

sgf files from round 6

Jabarin vs Feng
Up to move 50 this seems to be a standard, run-of-the-mill kind of game. But at move 60 I think the game starts to favor white. Maybe black 53 was too submissive and should counter with something more severe? 59 was too slow? Once behind Ali tenuki couple of times on the left to reduce white center, and eventually black left side died.

https://lifein19x19.com/download/file.php?id=8587

Surma vs Yao
I think Surma had the control of the game until the very end, when black 113 inexplicably played away from the center fight and tried a probe on the lower side to potentially reduce white territory or help center fight. White ignored the probe to play 114 attachment and black center group died. I think starting from move 60 to about 100 black probably could have done more to bully the two weak white groups but still the game was not over until 113 happened.

https://lifein19x19.com/download/file.php?id=8588

[wolfking]

We are entering the crucial stage of league play. BL has two more rounds left, CL and WBL have only one round left. eweiqi.com is finally supplying some kind of standing. They listed next round's match up, with team's score next to the name, so you can get a pretty good idea who's leading and where each team is at. I have copied the match up table here, with team's points in parenthesis:

B-League Round 7 match up:

match 1: China-Japan Friendship (7) vs Zhejiang Kunlun (10)
match 2: Llasa Go Institute (9) vs Xiamen Wenguang Financial(7)
match 3: Quzhou Lanke (8) vs 21 Culture - Shanghai Foreign Language Univ. (8)
match 4: Jiangxi Xinjing Titanium Industry (7) vs China Mobile Shanghai(6)
match 5: Shenzhen Hande (6) vs Hulu Island (5)
match 6: Hangzhou Go School (5) vs Hebei Xin'ao (5)
match 7: Chongqing Go Institute (3) vs China Pingmei (4)
match 8: Yunnan (4) vs Beijing Qinglan (2)

C-League Round 7 (final round) match up:

match 1: Hangzhou Black-White (8) vs Guangdong (10)
match 2: Jiangxi Go Institute Qingyi (10) vs Shanghai Jianqiao Qingyi(8)
match 3: China Coal Industry Go Institute (7) vs Xinjiang Aosheng (8)
match 4: Gansu (7) vs Guangxi Yulin (7)
match 5: Hangzhou International (7) vs Haifeng Qiyuan (7)
match 6: Quzhou Hongxin (7) vs Taiwan Zhonghuan (7)
match 7: Hangzhou Go Association (6) vs Luoyang Software (5)
match 8: Hangzhou Go Institute Supor (6) vs New Tianyi Jiangsu (5)
match 9: Hangzhou Tianyuan (5) vs Beijing Zhenghong New Century (5)
match 10: Team MLily (4) vs Beijing Yiben Qingyuan (5)
match 11: Yunnan (4) vs Guizhou Yiyuan (4)
match 12: HeiLongJiang (3) vs Peking Univ. - Beijing Go Institute (4)
match 13: Tsinghua Zijing (Europe Pros) (3) vs Tianjin Univ. Chenrui Dojo (4)

[wolfking]

The fascination about the European team has not stopped even after round 6 losses. There was a new interview of Mateusz Surma by Sina. I will go over it briefly.

1. Mateusz liked his results, especially the game from round 3 when he beat Zhu Fengyi 1p. Unfortunately we do not have game record for it.
2. He thinks all opponents are stronger, but not overwhelmingly so and they had chance to win some games.
3. The Pro System has helped to improve the level of top players in Europe, because there were more training and more opportunity to play in tournaments. It also didn't hurt that there were more prize money.
4. Training at home was relatively light, mainly just by doing life death problems. It was not close compare to what he had to do in Korean and Chinese dojos.
5. Due to a busy schedule he has not had time to check out the Ke Jie AlphaGo games.
6. Thinks top pros should have a chance to win against AG with a two-stone handicap.
7. Looked at some AG self play games but found them hard to understand and will not play those moves.
8. Outside Go, he likes to watch movie, play football, and learn juggling!

[wolfking]

Detailed match up of round 7

Team Japan vs Zhejiang Kunlun

1. Ida Atsushi (B) vs Byun Sangil 4p (W)
2. Yu Zhengqi vs Wang Xi 9p
3. Hsu Chiayuan vs Zhou Hexi 5p
4. Shibano Toramaru vs Qin Yuexin 4p

Team Japan will have a tough time going against a powerful Zhejiang team, one of last year's demotion teams from A-League. The top two positions of Zhejiang ranked 33 and 31 resp. on Goratings.org, and Wang Xi 9p is undefeated in this tournament. But Japan really needs a win here to have a reasonable chance at promotion. A loss will likely eliminate them from promotion altogether.

Team Europe vs Tianjin University Chenrui Dojo

1. Ilya Shikshin (B) vs Qiao Ran 3p (W)
2. Ali Jabarin vs Dong Ming 3p
3. Pavol Lisy vs Chen Weiting 1p
4. Mateusz Surma vs Sun Pengyu 5d

Last chance to get a WIN in this tournament! Tianjin is not strong and certainly beatable. Chen Weiting is one of several Taiwan born pros playing for non Taiwan teams in this tournament (in case some of you are curious, Li Wei of Yunnan, Pan Tingyu (he is Master's game 1 opponent on Tygem) of Hangzhou Supor, Zhuang Chengjun of New Tianyi Jiangsu, and beautiful Yu Lijun 1p of Hangzhou West Lake are all born in Taiwan. Yu Lijun is currently studying in Korea, and playing in Korea Women's League.).

[wolfking]

Results from round 7

Team Japan 0:4 Zhejiang Kunlun

1. Ida Atsushi (B) 0:1 Byun Sangil 4p (W)
2. Yu Zhengqi 0:1 Wang Xi 9p
3. Hsu Chiayuan 0:1 Zhou Hexi 5p
4. Shibano Toramaru 0:1 Qin Yuexin 4p

Team Japan was swept by Zhejiang and has been eliminated from promotion with only one round left. Zhejiang will be promoted to A-League, having accumulated 12 points.

Team Europe 0:4 Tianjin University Chenrui Dojo

1. Ilya Shikshin (B) 0:1 Qiao Ran 3p (W)
2. Ali Jabarin 0:1 Dong Ming 3p
3. Pavol Lisy 0:1 Chen Weiting 1p
4. Mateusz Surma 0:1 Sun Pengyu 5d

Ilya's game was again broadcast on Fox Go Server. Ilya fell behind after the very first skirmish on the lower side and could not recover from that. I will post the sgf when it becomes available. Despite the finish I think team Europe has exceeded expectations and gained valuable experience from participating in such high level competition. And they have really made a name for themselves among the Chinese audience. Sina had one interview of Ilya, two interviews of Mateusz, and 0 interview of all other teams combined! And they will be here for at least two more years. Hope this will have a lasting effect on European Go and western Go in general.

The two Taiwan teams finished in the middle of the pack and did not advance to B-League. Haifeng Qiyuan (7 pts) lost to Hangzhou International 1:3, Zhonghuan (8 pts) tied Quzhou Hongxin 2:2. Haifeng's women's team tied Dezhou Go School and finished at 6 points.

The CL and WBL has finished all matches. Guangdong, Jiangxi Go Institute Qingyi and Shanghai Jianqiao Qingyi advanced to BL. In women's league Wuhan Qingchuan Institute and Hubei Go Association advanced to women's A-League.

[Solomon]

Unfortunate to see a 0:4 sweep . Also, just wanted to express my thanks as well for posting these updates, much appreciated!

[wolfking]

Unfortunate to see a 0:4 sweep . Also, just wanted to express my thanks as well for posting these updates, much appreciated!

You are very welcome! I am happy to be of some help.
Yes it was a little sad to see both Japan and Europe teams got swept. I knew Zhejiang was probably too strong for Japan to handle. But I thought Surma would have a reasonable chance to beat Sun Penyu 5d. Sun finished 59th in last year's pro exam so you could argue that Surma was even favored in this match up. But overall it is still good tournament especially for Surma. I look forward to their performance in the upcoming MLily Cup.

[bayu]

Can you post the final standings in English? I suspect/fear that team Europe came last but I am not sure.

[wolfking]

Can you post the final standings in English? I suspect/fear that team Europe came last but I am not sure.

Sure. And your suspicion turned out to be true.

Final standing of CL and WBL:

C-League (numbers inside parenthesis are round score, game score, opponent round score resp.)

1. Guangdong (11, 38, 59)
2. Jiangxi Go Institute Qingyi (10, 38, 56)
3. Shanghai Jianqiao Qingyi(10, 36, 64)

The above 3 teams promoted to BL in 2018

4. Xinjiang Aosheng (9, 38, 57)
5. Hangzhou Black-White (9, 36, 58)
6. Hangzhou International (9, 34, 50)
7. Guangxi Yulin (9, 30, 55)
8. Quzhou Hongxin (8, 32, 54)
9. Taiwan Zhonghuan (8, 30, 50)
10. China Coal Industry Go Institute (8, 30, 48)
11. Hangzhou Go Association (8, 30, 41)
12. Hangzhou Go Institute Supor (7, 30, 45)
13. Gansu (7, 28, 44)
14. Beijing Yiben Qingyuan (7, 28, 40)
15. Taiwan Haifeng Qiyuan (7, 26, 52)
16. Beijing Zhenghong New Century (7, 26, 49)
17. New Tianyi Jiangsu (6, 28, 44)
18. Tianjin Univ. Chenrui Dojo (6, 24, 52)
19. Luoyang Software (5, 24, 45)
20. HeiLongJiang (5, 24, 42)
21. Hangzhou Tianyuan (5, 22, 52)
22. Guizhou Yiyuan (5, 22, 44)
23. Yunnan (5, 22, 42)
24. Team MLily (4, 24, 49)
25. Peking Univ. - Beijing Go Institute (4, 14, 46)
26. Tsinghua Zijing (Europe Pros) (3, 14, 36)


Women's B-League

1. Hubei Go Association (10, 20, 54) Number of rounds won: 5
2. Wuhan Qingchuan Institute (10, 20, 54) Number of rounds won: 4

The above two teams promoted to Women's A-League in 2018

3. Shanxi Tianyuan Go Institute (9, 18, 61)
4. Llasa Go Institute (9, 18, 59)
5. Hebei Xin'ao (9, 18, 57)
6. Guanzhou (9, 18, 53)
7. Shanghai Qingyi (9, 18, 53)
8. Hangzhou Go Association (8, 16, 56)
9. Wenshang Estate (8, 16, 45)
10. Team MLily (8, 16, 44)
11. HeiLongJiang (7, 14, 54)
12. Shanghai Fairy Tale (7, 14, 52)
13. Hangzhou Go School (7, 14, 50)
14. Hangzhou International (7, 14, 49)
15. Hangzhou Xiaoshan Mingshi (7, 14, 47)
16. Chengdu Go Institute (6, 12, 49)
17. Jiangxi Go Institute (6, 12, 47)
18. Hangzhou West Lake (6, 12, 44)
19. Taiwan Haifeng Qiyuan (6, 12, 44)
20. Shandong Qipai Management (6, 12, 39)
21. Dezhou Tianyuan (5, 10, 46)
22. Beijing Qipai Management (3, 6, 42)
23. Gansu (3, 6, 39)
24. Henan (3, 6, 38)

[wolfking]

By the way, some of you might have noticed that there were a host of Hangzhou teams in each league. That is because Hangzhou is the capital city of Zhejiang Province, which has a rich Go tradition. World champions Ma Xiaochun, Yu Bing and now Ke Jie are all from Zhejiang. As the capital of Zhejiang the city of Hangzhou has a large concentration of go talents, and Hangzhou Go Institute almost serve as the counter part of China Go Institute in Southern China, organizing and hosting a large number of international and domestic Go events. The recent Ke Jie - AlphaGo matches also took place in Wuzhen which is northern Zhejiang, and co-sanctioned by Zhejiang Sports Bureau. Hangzhou Supor is the reigning A-League champion. And finally Hangzhou is my hometown and a beautiful tourist destination. My only complain is that it is over crowded especially during holidays, due to the influx of millions of tourists. But it is great city to Go if you happen to be in the vicinity!

[Uberdude]

Hangzhou Go Institute has its own skyscraper with a go stone shaped restaurant on the top! http://www.ranka.intergofed.org/?p=3896