The 6th Round was played on June 25th, 2019 in home team's chosen venue. Here are the results:

Team Shanxi 2:1 Team Shaanxi
B1：Wang Zixin 1p vs Li He 5p (B+R)
B2：Huang Jiayi 2p vs Li Xinyi 2p (B+R)
B3：Chu Ke'er 2p vs Luo Chuyue 3p (W+R)

The two promotion teams met in round 6. Chu Ke'er's win guaranteed 2 points for Shanxi. Shaanxi dropped to 5th place in standing after the loss.

Team Hangzhou 2:1 Team Wuhan
B1：Fang Ruoxi 2p vs Zhang Zihan 3p (B+2.5)
B2：Wu Yiming 1p vs Lu Jia 2p (B+0.5)
B3：Gao Xing 4p vs Kim Cheayoung 5p (W+0.5)

Wu Yiming lost to Lu Jia 2p but Gao Xing 4p beat 2018 Wu Qingyuan cup champion Kim Cheayoung 5p to preserve the win for the home team.

Team Guangdong 0:3 Team Anhui
B1：Chen Yiming 4p vs Zhou Hongyu 5p (B+R)
B2：Zhao Guanru 2p vs Cho Hyeyeon 9p (W+5.5)
B3：Huang Ziping 1p vs Li Xiaoxi 3p (W+R)

Board 1 was a fight between this year's Mingren Chen Yiming 4p and Xinrenwang (a mixed sex event) Zhou Hongyu 5p. 16 years old Zhou 5p won the battle. On board 2 Team Anhui brought out their "big gun" Cho Hyeyeon 9p. Although spelled differently, her opponent Zhao Guanru 2p actually has the same family name so it was a flight between two "Cho"s and the Korean Cho won. Huang Ziping 1p also lost to Li Xiaoxi 3p. Guangdong got swept for the first time this year.

Chen Yiming 4p (Left) vs Zhou Hongyu 5pTeam Hebei 1:2 Team Jiangsu
B1：Wang Shuang 4p vs Yu Zhiying 6p (B+R)
B2：Jia Ganglu 2p vs Yin Qu 2p (W+R)
B3：Cao Youyin 3p vs Wang Chenxing 5p (W+3.5)

Winless Hebei ran into a poweral Jiangsu team. Weiqi TV's popular commentator Jia Ganglu 2p managed to beat Yin Qu 2p but Jiangsu's duo of Yu Zhiying 6p and Wang Chenxing 5p proved to be too strong to overcome for the home team.

Jia Ganglu 2p (Right) vs Yin Qu 2p
Team Shanghai 1:2 Team Xiamen
B1：Rui Naiwei 9p vs Lu Minquan 5p (B+R)
B2：Tang Yi 3p vs Zhao Yifei 3p (W+R)
B3：Pan Yang 3p vs Hei Jiajia 7p (B+R)

Rui Naiwei 9p is still going strong at age 55 and beat Lu Minquen 5p. But her teammates did not cooperate this time. Shanghai lost for the first time this year and now shares the league leading position with Jiangsu.

Pan Yang 3p (Left) vs Hei Jiajia 7p with Jiang Zhujiu 9p watching
Standing after 6 rounds:
Source: https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/25890?type=1

The 7th Round was played on July 19th, 2019 in home team's chosen venue. All 5 matches ended with a 2:1 score. Here are the results:

Team Xiamen 1:2 Team Guangdong
B1：Lu Minquan 5p vs Cai Bihan 4p (W+R)
B2：He Jiajia 7p vs Chen Yiming 4p (B+R)
B3：Zhao Yifei 3p vs Zhao Guanru 2p (B+R)

The meeting between the two southeast teams were held in the famous Wu Qingyuan Weiqi Clubhouse (吴清源围棋会馆) in Fuzhou (capital of Fujian Province). This is also the site of the final matches for the annual Wu Qingyuan Cup.

Cai Bihan 4p had an easy game against Lu Minquan 5p. On board 2 He Jiajia 7p's big dragon died in a ko fight and lost to Chen Yiming 4p. Zhao Yifei 3p managed to win the battle between two Zhao's (not related) in the final game for the home team.

Hei Jiajia 7p (left) vs Chen Yiming 4pPro commentary by Chang Hao 9p (right) and Zhang Xuan 8p at the traditionally styled Wu Qingyuan ClubhouseTeam Jiangsu 2:1 Team Hangzhou
B1：Yu Zhiying 6p vs Wu Yiming 1p (B+3.5)
B2：Yin Qu 2p vs Gao Xing 4p (B+R)
B3：Wang Chenxing 5p vs Fang Ruoxi 2p (B+R)

Hangzhou's youngest female pro Wu Yiming 1p put up a good fight against China's number one Yu Zhiying 6p. At move 105 FineArt gave Wu's White a 80% win rate. But she could not keep the advantage and lost by 3.5 points. Then China's number two player Wang Chenxing 5p beat another young player Fang Ruoxi 2p to seal the vicotory for Jiangsu. Gao Xing 4p beat Yin Qu 2p easily to avoid the sweep for team Hangzhou.

China's strongest player vs youngest playerTeam Shaanxi 1:2 Team Shanghai
B1：Li Xinyi 2p vs Tang Yi 3p (W+R)
B2：Li He 5p vs Rui Naiwei 9p (B+R)
B3：Luo Chuyue 3p vs Pan Yang 3p (B+R)

Li He 5p had been playing very well but could not handle Rui 9p this time. Tang Yi 3p helped the home team to gain two points by beating Li Xinyi 2p.

Team Anhui 2:1 Team Hebei
B1：Li Xiaoxi 3p vs Ding Mingjun 2p (B+R)
B2：Zhou Hongyu 5p vs Wang Shuang 4p (W+R)
B3：Zhan Ying 1p vs Cao Youyin 3p (W+3.5)

Anhui's Zhou Hongyu 5p is simply unbeatable in league play this year. Li Xiaoxi 3p beat new pro Ding Mingjun 2p to deliver home team the victory. Hebei remained winless after 7 rounds.

Team Wuhan 2:1 Team Shanxi
B1：Kim Cheayoung 5p vs Huang Jiayi 1p (B+R)
B2：Zhang Zihan 3p vs Chu Ke'er 2p (W+0.5)
B3：Lu Jia 2p vs Wang Zixin 1p (W+2.0)

Home team Wuhan brought in Korean help Kim Cheayoung 5p but the drama was all on board 2, where Zhang Zihan 3p beat Chu Ke'er 2p by half point to secure the win.

After 7 rounds Shanghai and Jiangsu tied at the top with 12 points and 14 total games won. Their board 1 wins are same too. Shanghai is only 1 game ahead in board 2 wins.

Standing after 7 rounds:
Source: https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/26348?type=1

Some photos from Wu Qingyuan Clubhouse.Yes there is a Starbucks in the clubhouse!In fact this is said to be the only Go themed Starbucks in the world! The inscriptions on the floor are Go terms in Chinese

The 8th Round was played on July 29th, 2019 in a small town called Lulang near the tourist destination city of Linzhi, Tibet. This is the second congress style stop of the season (first one was the opening rounds in Pingxiang, Jiangxi) where all 10 teams compete in the same venue. In this round WAL took the opportunity to try out a new equipment which is the smart go board developed by Yike Weiqi(弈客智能棋盘). The smart board would automatically relay each move to Yike Weiqi's server and broadcast the game live.

Here are the game results:

Team Guangdong 1:2 Team Shaanxi

B1：Chen Yiming 4p vs Luo Chuyue 3p (B+R)
B2：Huang Ziping 1p vs Li He 5p (B+R)
B3：Zhao Guangru 2p vs Li Xinyi 2p (W+R)

Li He 5p killed Huang Ziping 1p's dragon to force a resign. Li Xinyi won the battle of 2p's and the promotion team Shaanxi gained 2 points for the round. They moved past Xiamen to the 4th place in standing.

Team Shanghai 2:1 Team Wuhan

B1：Pan Yang 3p vs Lu Jia 2p (W+R)
B2：Rui Naiwei 9p vs Tao Ran 2p (W+2.5)
B3：Tang Yi 3p vs Zhang Zihan 3p (B+R)

After a huge trade (over 100 points) Rui Naiwei sensei won with a small margin against Tao Ran 2p. Then Tang Yi 3p beat Zhang Zihan 3p to seal the victory.

Rui Neiwei 9p (left) vs Tao Ran 2p
Team Shanxi 1:2 Team Jiangsu
B1：Huang Jiayi 1p vs Yu Zhiying 6p (W+R)
B2：Chu Ke'er 2p vs Wang Chenxing 5p (B+R)
B3：Wang Zixin 1p vs Yin Qu 2p (B+R)

Yu Zhiying 6p defeated Huang Jiayi 1p by calmly attacking Huang's invading stones to gain advantage and simplified the game afterwards with solid plays. Yin Qu 2p tried to kill Wang Zixin 1p's dragon and lost the game when she failed to do so. Fortunately Team Jiangsu can always count on Wang Chenxing 5p to deliver the win, who has won all 8 games this year.

Wang Chenxing 5p (left) vs Chu Ke'er 2p
Team Anhui 3:0 Team Xiamen

B1：Zhou Hongyu 5p vs Lu Minquan 5p (B+0.5)
B2：Li Xiaoxi 3p vs Hei Jiajia 7p (W+2.5)
B3：Cho Hyeyeon 9p vs Zhao Yifei 3p (B+4.5)

Like Wang Chenxing 5p, Zhou Hongyu 5p has also been undefeated this season. In this round however she ran into a tough opponent Lu Minquan 5p of Team Xiamen. They fight to the very last and Zhou 5p was able to edge out Lu 5p with half point and kept her undefeated record intact.

As close as this game was, the most "breathtaking" (pun intended) game must go to Hei Jiajia 7p vs Li Xiaoxi 3p. Hei Jiajia 7p had serious high altitude reaction before the game day and was still feeling dizzy when game started. She request an oxygen tank shortly after the game started to relieve some effect. Her opponent Li Xiaoxi 3p was not feeling so well herself and started taking oxygen in the midgame. In the end Li 3p was able to win the "game of oxygen" by 2.5 points.

Korean help Cho Hyeyeon 9p captured some stones with a ko early and managed to keep the advantage to beat Zhao Yifei 3p.

With the sweep Anhui solidified its hold on 3rd place.

The oxygen game: Li Xiaoxi 3p (left) vs Hei Jiajia 7p
Team Hebei 1:2 Team Hangzhou

B1：Cao Youyin 3p vs Fang Ruoxi 2p (W+R)
B2：Wang Shuang 4p vs Song Ronghui 5p (W+R)
B3：Ding Mingjun 2p vs Gao Xing 4p (W+R)

Team Hebei simply cannot buy a win this season. Hangzhou's Gao Xing 4p beat new pro Ding Mingjun 2p early. Then Cao Youyin 3p lost to Fang Ruoxi 2p in a game without much fighting. Hangzhou was getting closer to their preseason goal which was staying in WAL.

After 8 rounds Shanghai and Jiangsu are still tied at the top but now Jiangsu has one more board 1 win than Shanghai so they took over first place.

Standing after 8 rounds:
Source: https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/26579?type=1
http://sports.sina.com.cn/go/2019-07-29 ... 2639.shtml

The 9th Round was played on July 30th, 2019 in Lulang/Linzhi, Tibet. Again Yike smart go board was used.

Here are the game results:

Team Jiangsu 0:3 Team Shanghai

B1：Yu Zhiying 6p vs Rui Naiwei 9p (W+0.5)
B2：Wang Chenxing 5p vs Tang Yi 3p (B+R)
B3：Yin Qu 2p vs Pan Yang 3p (W+R)

Jiangsu meeting Shanghai is a clash of titans in many levels. They are the league leaders for the past a few weeks. Jiangsu is the only champion the WAL ever had and Shanghai has always been a strong contender. Rui Naiwei sensei was the former female number one not just in China but also in world. Yu Zhiying is the current number one in China. It is no surprise that CCTV (China Central TV) chose Rui vs Yu as the live broadcast game for this round.

And the result is not just surprising but even a bit shocking in my opinion. The six time champion Jiangsu got swept by Shanghai the perennial contender.

The focus of the round is on Rui vs Yu. Before the game Rui sensei actually felt dizziness and was planning on breathing some oxygen during the game. But once it started she was too immersed in the game to do so. Yu Zhiying had a comfortable lead into the late endgame and it seemed her victory was inevitable (FineArt win rate was approaching 100%). But somehow she missed an aji in her territory and Rui sensei did not miss that opportunity. White's move 156 was the attachment needed to exploit the weakness and capture two black stones. Yu Zhiying simply could not recover from a blunder this late into the game and lost by precisely half point.

Undefeated Wang Chenxing 5p was taken advantage of in an old style joseki in lower left corner. National team coach Yu Bin 9p smiled at the shape and said it had happened to him too long time ago. Kobayashi Koichi used to play that joseki. Tang Yi 3p was able to hold on to the lead. Yin Qu 2p's dragon was slayed by Pan Yan 3p which also ended the game.

Shanghai gained two points and takes the sole lead in the league.

Rui Naiwei 9p vs Yu Zhiying 6p
Team Xiamen 2:1 Team Hebei

B1：Zhao Yifei 3p vs Wang Shuang 4p (W+R)
B2：Lu Minquan 5p vs Ding Mingjun 2p (W+2.5)
B3：Liu Huiling 1p vs Cao Youyin 3p (B+R)

The Rui vs Yu game was not the only one that featured a big blunder in the endgame. It happened in the Lu Minquan vs Ding Mingjun game too, and this one is probably more costly.

Ding Mingjun played a really strong game and used a big ko fight to gain a decisive advantage. Going into the late endgame Ding had an insurmountable lead of about 15 points on the board. The only reason Lu Minquan was still playing was probably because 1. this is a team event; 2. there was still a ko left. But Ding did not need to win the ko and would still won by a bunch. But somehow she did not respond to White's ko threat and made her own ko threat instead with move 291. The resulting trade was not even close and Ding lost the game by 2.5 points.

To make things even worse, this was the game that finished last in the whole venue and her teammates had one win one loss. Had she won, Team Hebei would have won their first match of the season.

Ding Mingjun in tears after the loss. This is probably the time you realize she is only 14 years old.
Team Hangzhou 3:0 Team Shanxi

B1：Fang Ruoxi 2p vs Wang Zixin 1p (B+R)
B2：Gao Xing 4p vs Gu Wanshan 1p (W+R)
B3：Wu Yiming 1p vs Chu Ke'er 2p (B+8.5)

Yu Bin 9p's nickname for Wu Yiming 1p is "Little devil(小魔女)". This is also her Chinese handle on Fox Go Server (her English username is Snowbaby). She replaced Song Ronghui 5p to play against her fellow class 2018 new pro Chu Ke'er 2p. In the opening she sacrificed upper left corner to build a mojo on the right, which gained praise from Yu Bin 9p. Yike's AI initially lowered black's win rate. But after white's invading stone got cut off black's win rate shot up. Chu Ke'er was able to get the invading group to safety but black's mojo also turned into territory. In the end the players did not intend to count but the enthusiastic referee took a picture of the board and Yike's APP automatically counted. So the result was recorded as B+8.5 instead of B+R.

Gao Xing 4p and Gu Wanshan 2p also won their games and Hangzhou swept Shanxi 3:0.

Wu Yiming vs Chu Ke'er
Team Wuhan 2:1 Team Guangdong

B1：Lu Jia 2p vs Huang Ziping 1p (B+4.5)
B2：Zhang Zihan 3p vs Chen Yiming 4p (B+R)
B3：Tao Ran 2p vs Zhao Guanru 2p (B+R)

Reigning Female Mingren Chen Yiming 4p won an easy game against Zhang Zihan 3p but her teammates could not get the second win.

Team Shaanxi 0:3 Team Anhui

B1：Li He 5p vs Cho Hyeyeon 9p (W+2.5)
B2：Li Xinyi 2p vs Zhou Hongyu 5p (B+R)
B3：Luo Chuyue 3p vs Li Xiaoxi 3p (W+R)

It was somewhat surprising that this was actually the first time Korea's Cho Hyeyeon 9p played against Li He 5p given both players were active in international events. The game was close to the end but Cho 9p found a nice endgame tesuji to win by 2.5 points.

Li Xiaoxi 3p again requested an oxygen tank and beat Luo Chuyue 3p. Maybe she should consider bring an oxygen tank with her to games from now on

Jiangsu slipped to 3rd place after the sweep by Shanghai. Hangzhou moved to 6th place and further away from demotion. Poor Hebei is still winless.

Standing after 9 rounds:
Source: https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/26600?type=1
http://sports.sina.com.cn/go/2019-07-30 ... 0119.shtml

I'm glad to see Wu Yimming win a game. But I wish it was someone other than Chu Ke'er.

It looks to me in that picture that Wu Yimming is staring down her opponent. It doesn't seem to be a friendly look

Is it just my impression, or is Wu Yimming having an easier time winning against Chu Ke'er than against the other players in this league?

Yes if we count the PQT, she is 3-0 against Chu Ke'er. But she simply plays better against her fellow class 2018 pros than against other pros. In fact she is 6-1 since turning pro against other 2018 female pros. Her only loss was against Huang Jiayi 1p in C-League play this year. So far she won 17 out of 41 games with a 41% win rate. Consider she played top female players quite a few times I think that is a respectable result.

Round 10 was played on August 9th (except Xiamen vs Shaanxi which was played on August 8th) at home teams' chosen venues.

Here are the game results:

Team Shaanxi 1:2 Team Xiamen

B1：Li He 5p vs Zhao Yifei 3p (B+R)
B2：Wang Qianyu 1p vs Lu Minquan 5p (B+3.5)
B3：Luo Chuyue 3p vs Liu Huiling 2p (W+R)

Both Shaanxi and Xiamen had accumulated 10 points so far. Liu Huiling 2p got the win first for the guest team Xiamen. Li He 5p has been solid all season and beat Zhao Yifei 3p to tie the match for Shaanxi. I think this was Wang Qianyu 1p's first showing for the season and it was not a walk over for her opponent Lu Minquan 5p. It took some bitter fighting and more than 5 hours for Lu 5p to get a 3.5 points win.

Wang Qianyu 1p
Team Hangzhou 2:1 Team Shanghai

B1：Fang Ruoxi 2p vs Tang Yi 3p (B+R)
B2：Gao Xing 4p vs Pan Yang 3p (W+R)
B3：Wu Yiming 1p vs Rui Naiwei 9p (W+0.5)

After playing current number one Yu Zhiying 6p couple of rounds ago, our "Little Devil" Wu Yiming 1p found herself sitting across former number one Rui Naiwei 9p. Unlike the Wu-Yu game this one did not start well for Wu 1p. But she fought back and actually reversed game going into endgame with some brilliant plays. But some slack moves in the endgame cost her and she lost by half point. Apparently Rui 9p still has not lost her sharpness and won two weeks in a row by a whopping total of 1 point!

But the other members of the league leading Shanghai team could not duplicate Rui 9p's result. Tang Yi 3p made a huge blunder in dame stage (although she was losing by a slim margin anyway) and resigned. Gao Xing 4p proved to be too strong for Pan Yang 3p. And the league leader relinquished the position to Team Anhui.

Gao Xing 4p
Team Jiangsu 3:0 Team Guangdong

B1：Yu Zhiying 6p vs Huang Ziping 1p (B+R)
B2：Wang Chenxing 5p vs Chen Yiming 4p (W+R)
B3：Wang Xiangyun 3p vs Zhao Guanru 2p (B+0.5)

Jiangsu was unexpectedly swept by Shanghai in last round. So they decided to take it out on the next opponent which was Team Guangdong. After the sweep Jiangsu tied in points with Anhui and Shanghai but stayed 3rd place due to less won games.

Team Wuhan 0:3 Team Anhui

B1：Tao Ran 2p vs Zhou Hongyu 5p (W+R)
B2：Zhang Zihan 3p vs Cho Hyeyeon 9p (B+2.5)
B3：Lu Jia 2p vs Li Xiaoxi 3p (W+R)

Tao Ran 2p ran into a buzz saw disguised as a pony-tailed teenager. Cho Hyeyeon 9p won her 3rd game in a row in the WAL and so did Li Xiaoxi 3p. Anhui jumped to number 1 in standing.

Zhou Hongyu 5p
Team Hebei 2:1 Team Shanxi

B1：Jia Ganglu 2p vs Wang Zixin 1p (W+R)
B2：Wang Shuang 4p vs Chu Ke'er 2p (W+R)
B3：Cao Youyin 3p vs Gu Wanshan 1p (W+R)

Hebei finally won! Weiqi TV's popular host Jia Ganglu 2p lost to Wang Zixin 1p but that was the only win Team Shanxi got.

After the loss Team Shanghai slipped to 2nd place. Hangzhou move past Shaanxi to 5th place. Anhui became the new leader after sweeping Guangdong. Hebei won their first match of the season but is still deep in the demotion hole.

Standing after 10 rounds:
Source: https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/26817?type=1

Round 11 was played on August 11th (except Guangdong vs Hangzhou which was delayed to August 12th) at home teams' chosen venues.

Here are the game results:

Team Anhui 1:2 Team Jiangsu

B1：Zhan Ying 1p vs Yu Zhiying 6p (W+R)
B2：Zhou Hongyu 5p vs Wang Chenxing 5p (W+R)
B3：Li Xiaoxi 3p vs Wang Xiangyun 3p (W+R)

Zhou Hongyu 5p was on the verge of losing first league game this season when her win rate dropped close to single digit according to FineArt during the middle game. However she was able to reverse the game and beat Wang Chenxing 5p for 11th win. But both Zhan Ying 1p and Li Xiaoxi 3p lost so Anhui dropped to 3rd place on standing. They really missed Cho Hyeyeon 9p in this round.


Team Shanghai 3:0 Team Shanxi

B1：Rui Naiwei 9p vs Chu Ke'er 2p (B+R)
B2：Pan Yang 3p vs Wang Zixin 1p (W+2.5)
B3：Tang Yi 3p vs Gu Wanshan 1p (B+R)

Anhui's loss paved the way for Shanghai to get back to the top, and they did not disappoint. Shanghai beat Shanxi with a clean sweep to retake the lead. Shanxi only won twice after 11 rounds. Each loss brings them closer to demotion.

Shanghai vs Shanxi
Team Xiamen 1:2 Team Wuhan

B1：Lu Minquan 5p vs Lu Jia 2p (B+1.5)
B2：Liu Huiling 2p vs Tao Ran 2p (W+R)
B3：Zhao Yifei 3p vs Zhang Zihan 3p (B+R)

Board 1 was the last game to finish between Xiamen and Wuhan and Lu Minquan 5p prevailed. Tao ran 2p took three corners and won the game after successfully settling her weak group in the center. Zhao Yifei 3p and Zhang Zihan 3p were in a fight involving more than 100 points and Zhang 3p's group had one more liberty.

Team Shaanxi 3:0 Team Hebei

B1：Luo Chuyue 3p vs Jia Ganglu 2p (B+1.5)
B2：Li Xinyi 2p vs Cao Youyin 3p (W+2.5)
B3：Li He 5p vs Wang Shuang 4p (B+0.5)

Luo Chuyue 3p turned 18 on August 10th. Team Shaanxi celebrated her birthday with a huge cake and a sweep of the guest team.

Luo Chuyue 3p and the birthday cake
Team Guangdong 1:2 Team Hangzhou (played on August 12th)

B1: Zhao Guanru 2p vs Gao Xing 4p (B+R)
B2: Chen Yiming 4p vs Fang Ruoxi 2p (B+0.5)
B3: Cai Bihan 4p vs Song Ronghui 5p (W+R)

It turned out Wu Yiming 1p had high fever when she battled Rui Naiwei 9p couple of days ago, so it is understandable that she did not fly to Guangdong for this round. Song Ronghui 5p took over for her and beat new mom Cai Bihan 4p. Goa Xing 4p lost a ko fight and also the game against Zhao Guanru 2p but fortunately for Hangzhou Fang Ruoxi 2p hanged on for a half point win against Chen Yiming 4p. Hangzhou won 4 rounds in row and moved up to 4th place in standing.

Wu Yiming 1p with some medication on her forehead in round 10
Standing after 11 rounds:
Source: https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/26854?type=1
https://weiqi.qq.com/news/10273.html

Round 12 was played on September 8th at home teams' chosen venues. The surprise of the round is that both teams at the top lost to relative weaker opponents. Shanghai's loss to last place Hebei was especially unexpected.

Here are the results:

Team Hangzhou 1:2 Team Anhui

B1：Fang Ruoxi 2p vs Zhan Ying 1p (B+1.5)
B2：Wu Yiming 1p vs Zhou Hongyu 5p (B+0.5)
B3：Gao Xing 4p vs Li Xiaoxi 3p (W+R)

Wu Yiming 1p played another good game against perhaps the best player in WAL and was leading most of the time but lost it in endgame. AI was predicting a half point white win until the small yose. In this WAL season the 12 year old has played the best of WAL Yu Zhiying 6p, Rui Naiwei 9p and Zhou Hongyu 5p and lost all three games, but only by a total of 3.5 points. Her inexperience certainly showed against these top players, but from commentators to coaches to fans, everybody believes she has a bright future.

Zhou Hongyu 5p stayed undefeated in WAL play. She is herself only 17 years old and already won the mixed tournament Xinrenwang in 2019, became the 2nd female winner (Yu Zhiying won it in 2014 at age 16) of the event. Maybe she can lead Anhui to championship this season.

Team Wuhan 1:2 Team Shaanxi

B1：Lu Jia 2p vs Luo Chuyue 3p (W+0.5)
B2：Zhang Zihan 3p vs Li He 5p (B+2.5)
B3：Kim Cheayoung 5p vs Li Xinyi 2p (B+R)

Korea's number three Kim Cheayoung 5p beat Shaanxi's Li Xinyi 2p but it was not enough for Wuhan. With Shanxi's win Wuhan is getting close to last two teams.

Team Jiangsu 0:3 Team Xiamen

B1：Yu Zhiying 6p vs Lu Minquan 5p (W+R)
B2：Wang Xiangyun 2p vs Liu Huiling 2p (B+R)
B3：Wang Chenxing 5p vs Zhao Yifei 3p (W+0.5)

Jiangsu picked Chayuange (茶缘阁, meaning Tea Destiny Pavilion) in the five star tourism destination of Huanglongxian as the host venue. But the beautiful scenery did not help the home team. Jiangsu got swept the first time this season.

Team Jiangsu vs Team Xiamen, players from left to right: Liu Huiling 2p, Wang Xiangyun 2p, Lu Minquan 5p, Yu Zhiying 6p, Zhao Guanru 2p, Wang Chenxing 5pVenue of competition Chayuange sits in a vast field of tea trees.

Team Hebei 2:1 Team Shanghai

B1：Wang Shuang 4p vs Pan Yang 3p (B+R)
B2：Jia Ganglu 2p vs Tang Yi 3p (W+R)
B3：Ding Mingjun 2p vs Rui Naiwei 9p (W+R)

Rui sensei gave Shanghai the only win of the round. Wang Shuang 4p has the tendency to perform very well in tournaments (she was runner up in 2019 Mingren and is in 2019 Jianqiao Cup final together with her opponent Pan Yang 3p) but sub par in league play. The board 1 game is kind of preview of Jianqiao Cup final which is scheduled for December in Macau. If it is any indication then maybe this is the year that she gets her first title.

Team Shanxi 2:1 Team Guangdong

B1: Wang Zixin 1p vs Cai Bihan 4p (B+R)
B2: Huang Jiayi 1p vs Chen Yiming 4p (B+R)
B3: Chu Ke'er 2p vs Zhao Guanru 2p (B+0.5)

Team Shanxi picked Shanxi University's Boya Convention Center as the venue. There were several events scheduled before and after the games. Wang Yuan 8p gave a talk at the Boya Center on Chinese Poems and Weiqi, and presented his own Go related poems. Ma Xiaochun 9p and Chen Yiming 4p went to Shanxi Conservatory and performed piano solos and duos. I did not even know that Ma 9p played the piano. It was a fun weekend for the university students and faculties.

All that activity seemed to have brought good luck to the home team. At board 1 Wang Zixin 1p was able to overcome a formidable opponent in Cai Bihan 4p, who just beat Yu Zhiying in Jianqiao Cup quarter final two weeks ago. Chu Ke'er 2p contributed a crucial half point win at board 3 against Zhao Guanru 2p (it was won by Chinese rule specialty "粘劫收后 or filling dames before filling final ko"). With the win Shanxi is still in 9th place but now only 2 points away from Guangdong and Wuhan.

Wang Zixin 1p (left) vs Cai Bihan 4p
With Shanghai and Jiangsu losing Anhui moved to number one due to tie breakers. Guangdong and Wuhan is getting dangerously close to demotion zone.

Standing after 12 rounds:
Source: http://sports.sina.com.cn/go/2019-09-08 ... 3893.shtml
https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/gonews/detail/27581?type=1

This is about Team Shanxi's member Wang Zixin 1p's name pronunciation.

I just found out from Shanxi Weiqi Association's website that the last character in 王梓莘's name should be pronounced as Shen not Xin. This was confirmed by the player herself. So from now on I will write her name as Wang Zishen instead of Wang Zixin.

John pointed out couple of years ago that her name might be pronounced as Xin because both Zi and Xin are plant names. I think that makes good sense. There is a chance that her name was meant to be pronounced as Xin but once everybody started to call her Wang Zishen she just went with the flow. Since the player agreed that Shen was the correct pronunciation I guess we just have to go with that.

"Although it is not a nickname, he did have another name among go fans at this time: Sakata Hideo, using the commonest reading. Fame in Japan is perhaps when people get your name right."

--John F., Honinbo Tournament, The Early Years

And I think Fujisawa Shuko has a similar issue.



Take care.

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一碁一会