Life In 19x19

The new European professionals came 1st and 2nd in the Qinling Mountains Cup in Xi'an, China. Together with the other European students currently studying in China, they participated in this new event dedicated to the history of the silk road.

Pavol Lisy took 1st place with 8 wins (lost only to Andrii Kravets from Ukraine), and Ali Jabarin took 2nd with 7 wins (lost to Pavol and to Ma Qingchuan 6d). Andrii also had 7 wins and took 4th place. Jan Simara and Lukas Podpera both got 6 wins and finished in 8th and 11th place respectively. Dusan Mitic ended 16th with 5 wins.

Prizes for the first eight were
1. ¥60,000 (about $10,000 or €8,000)
2. ¥30,000
3. ¥15,000
4. ¥8,000
5. ¥5,000
6. ¥3,000
7. ¥2,000
8. ¥2,000

So in total, the European players took home ¥100,000, quite an amount.

For more info and a picture, see: http://senseis.xmp.net/?CEGOAcademicSys ... 42015#toc2

What kind of tournament is this and who may participate?

This is an invitational tournament where participants from countries along the ancient silk road were invited. Additionally, Chinese amateur players over 25 from Xi'an and further to the west participated. It seems there were 46 participants, of whom 21 were foreigners. From the results on the page, besides the already mentions players there were players from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Russia, amongst others. The Chinese players that participated seem to have been city champions (e.g. champion of Lanzhou, champion of Xi'an, champion of Urumqi). There were 9 roudns in 3 days, with thinking time of 60 minutes without byoyomi.

See also: http://hxweiqi.net/content.asp?id=27&n_ ... subs_id=98 (scroll down for English)

Pictures: http://slide.sports.sina.com.cn/go/slid ... 73355.html