The procession of young players now dominating all Chinese tournaments continued in the 12th CCTV Cup lightning championship, and at the end the bells rang out for Ding Wei 7-dan. He bested Luo Xihe 8-dan in the final, but both earn places in the international TV Go Asia Championship later this year.
In the semi-finals, Ding beat the only oldie who can keep his head above water at present, Ma Xiaochun 9-dan, by a mere half point, while Luo beat Kong Jie 6-dan.
Click here for the final game in downloadable sgf format.
HOW DOES THE CCTV CUP WORK?
This event has always been sponsored by the Chinese Weiqi Association and Zhongyang Dianshitai, (CCTV) who broadcast each Sunday afternoon. Since 1998 they have been joined by the Aiduo Electrical Goods Co. of Guangdong, which has led to doubling the size of the event and more than doubling the prize money. To the CCTV Cup is also added the Aiduo Cup.
First prize is now 300,000 yuan, increased from 120,000 yuan. The runner-up takes 128,000 yuan. The winner and the runner-up also qualify for the TV Go Asia Championship, which is effectively the world championship for quickplay go.
The tournament is a knockout, originally for 32 but now 64 top players. The previous winner is not seeded. The timing of the event has varied, though all the games are played over a span of about 3 months. The event used to be Beijing based but is now held in as many as eight cities.
Time allowances have varied between 20 minutes each plus 40 seconds overtime and 1 move in 30 seconds. Komi: 2.75 (Chinese rules).
TV go tournaments in China seem to have begun in 1983 but had a patchy history until NHK of Japan helped develop interest with an event intended to feature quickplay champions of each country. It was this that created the impetus for a regular event in China. The international event meanwhile developed in to the TV Go Asia Championship.
