Life In 19x19

The China Weiqi Leagues (also called Chinese Cities Leagues) do not get much attention on this forum but are actually very exciting with many international players participating. And when they do get some discussion usually it's about the A-league. But in my opinion the B-league and C-league are even more intense and more exciting than the A-league when they do have their annual meeting. And they are having their annual go congress style meeting this week.

And maybe not everybody knows this but Team Japan (their official name is Team China-Japan Friendship) has been playing in the C-League for 4 years in a row now. They started out playing in the B-league in 2012 but finished last place and got demoted to the C-league that year. For the past 3 years they have been fighting to get back to the B-league. This year they sent a strong team of Ida Atsushi, Ichiriki Ryo, Yu Zhengqi and Hsu Chiayuan (basically the same team as 2014 with Ichiriki Ryo replacing Yao Zhiteng). After 6 rounds they have 4 wins 2 ties and are leading the C-league with 10 points with 1 round left to play. They only need a tie in the last round to guarantee a spot in the B-league next year. So far Ichiriki Ryo and Hsu Chiayuan have won all 6 matches at 2nd and 4th position. Yu Zhengqi only lost 2 matches, and Ida Atsushi went 2 and 4 at the more competitive top position.

By the way Taiwan has two teams playing in the C-league but are in 8th and 12th position (out of total 28 teams!) so no hope to be promoted to B-league with only 1 round left.

The men's and women's B-league are playing at the same time. There are 11 Korean players playing in the men's B-league, including Lee Sedol(his team was demoted from A-league last year), Park Yeonghun, Na Hyun, An Sungjoon, Byun Sangil and Cho Hanseung. Lee Sedol beat his student Shin Minjun in the first round and is 5 and 1 after 6 rounds. The women's teams employed 6 top ranked Koreans of Choi Jeong, Oh Yujin, Park Jiyeon, Park Shiun, Oh Jeonga and Song Hyeryung.

Lee Sedol's game against An Sungjoon was rather exciting:

Do you have the link to results online somewhere? I've only been able to get results from Nihon Kiin.

oren wrote:Do you have the link to results online somewhere? I've only been able to get results from Nihon Kiin.

Here is a blog (in traditional Chinese) containing results from B-League, C-League and Women's League.

Uberdude wrote:Lee Sedol's game against An Sungjoon was rather exciting [..]

Oh wow, yes … but I wonder: is it common that players resign that late? To me it looks as if they’d been filling in Dame points already for a few moves when An Sungjoon resigned …

gamesorry wrote: Here is a blog (in traditional Chinese) containing results from B-League, C-League and Women's League.

Thanks! It helps to see everything now.

How strong are teams in the C league?

Some of players are very strong. This league finishes tournament in short period of time. So some players prefer this league over class A league.
For instance, Lee Sedol is one of them.

trout wrote:Some of players are very strong. This league finishes tournament in short period of time. So some players prefer this league over class A league.
For instance, Lee Sedol is one of them.

Lee Sedol is playing in B League, which happens at the same time and should be stronger than C League.

hyperpape wrote:How strong are teams in the C league?

The C league teams are normally not very strong. Unlike the B league teams that often invest big money to have strong guest players, C league teams mainly have lower ranked players. For example, at round 7, the Japanese players goratings ranks are: 62, 93, 105, 145. The opponents' ranks are: 235, 317, 442, & one new shodan player without rank. So there's no surprise that the Japanese team can do really well - they are simply stronger.

Are any of the new European (or AGA) pros playing in the C league? I seem to recall some discussions or plans to this effect.

gamesorry wrote:

trout wrote:Some of players are very strong. This league finishes tournament in short period of time. So some players prefer this league over class A league.
For instance, Lee Sedol is one of them.

Lee Sedol is playing in B League, which happens at the same time and should be stronger than C League.

Sorry. I was confused between B and C. Was wondering why B was missing.

gamesorry wrote:

oren wrote:Do you have the link to results online somewhere? I've only been able to get results from Nihon Kiin.

Here is a blog (in traditional Chinese) containing results from B-League, C-League and Women's League.

Thanks this is a well organized page with results of all the games! I have been getting results from sports page of sina.com but they only report results for each rounds. This is much cleaner and easier to see performance of any player or team.

trout wrote:Some of players are very strong. This league finishes tournament in short period of time. So some players prefer this league over class A league.
For instance, Lee Sedol is one of them.

The reason why Lee is playing B league is that he is not satisfied with his performance in A league last year (6-6) and very sorry about that.

hyperpape wrote:How strong are teams in the C league?

To add a bit more info to what Mace Lee said, C league teams only need to register to play (although players still need to be active pros with one amateur allowed at the 4th position) so there are more variations in strength between teams. That said the competitions are still fierce. Team Japan won the promotion to B-league next year but they basically sent the best possible team (Ko Reibun （Nie Weiping's son） said they got lucky with scheduling) and they might not have advanced if Ichiriki Ryo (who went 6 and 1 at 2nd positon) did not replace Yao Zhiteng in this line up. Team Taiwan Zhonghuan also send a very strong team (with Xiao Zhenghao, Wang Yuanjun, Chen Qirui and Lin Shuyang) but finished 5th and could not advance to B-league.