What is the current progress of the inaugural Nanyang Cup (tentative name) World Go Masters, which will be unveiled on November 1? Have the top 32 of this competition all been released?
The Nanyang Cup is jointly organized by the Chinese Go Association and the Singapore Go Association, which is the first time that a Go organization outside China, Japan and South Korea has established a world competition, so it has attracted much attention.
Ke Jie vs. Shen Zhenzhen
The first Nanyang Cup adopts the invitation format, with a total of 32 places in this competition, which are specifically allocated to 11 Chinese (including 1 female chess player), 6 Korea (including 1 female chess player), 5 Japan (including 1 female chess player), 2 Chinese Taipei, 1 Singapore, 1 Malaysia, 1 Thailand, 1 Indonesia, 1 Europe, 1 North America, and 2 wild cards from the organizer.
10 of China's 11 participating places have been generated, of which Wang Xinghao 9 duan, Fan Tingyu 9 duan, Li Qincheng 9 duan qualified through the qualifiers, and the seven seeded players are: Li Xuanhao 9 duan, Ding Hao 9 duan, Ke Jie 9 duan, Dang Yifei 9 duan, Gu Zihao 9 duan, Xie Ke 9 duan and Lian Xiao 9 duan. The remaining female chess player has not yet been confirmed, and the 2024 Huanglongshi Cup world champion Zhou Hongyu Qidan is expected to be the favorite.
Japan's five-man roster was a bit unexpected, with Shinko Ying Cup world champion Ichiri Liao Kudan and former hegemon Yuta Iyama Kudan not selected, and Xu Jiayuan 9dan, Yu Zhengqi 8th dan, Yu Otake 7th dan, Fukuoka Kotaro 5th dan, and Ueno Aisaki 5th dan.
The six players in Korea are: Shin Jinzhen 9 dan, Park Jeong Hwan 9 dan, Bian Sang-il 9 dan, Shin Min Jun 9 dan, Won Sung-kyun 9 dan, Choi Jing 9 dan.
Korea team lineup
In other words, 21 of the top 32 seats in the Nanyang Cup have already been famous, and the other 11 tickets are yet to be determined, which is expected to be announced soon, because the competition will start in half a month.
The Nanyang Cup adopts the rules of Chinese Go, and except for the finals, which uses trilogy, all other matches are decided by one game.
Different from the existing World Go Championship system, the Nanyang Cup for the first time adopts the second system, which is 2 hours for each side, and then 15 seconds for each hand, and the overtime judgment is lost.
The inaugural Nanyang Cup Round of 32 to semi-finals will be held in Chengdu from 2-6 November 2024, with the final and third-place matches moving to Singapore from 25 February to 2 March 2025. The prize money for the first and second runners-up is 250,000 and 100,000 Singapore dollars respectively.
Considering that the confrontation between China and South Korea is the mainstream of the world chess scene, coupled with the absence of Li Liao, the author predicts that the first Nanyang Cup champion will be produced between several Chinese and Korean masters.
Li Xuanhao nine paragraphs
My judgment is that Shen Zhenzhen, Li Xuanhao, Ding Hao, Ke Jie, Wang Xinghao, Bian Xiangyi, Park Tinghuan and other seven good players are strong contenders for the crown of this year's Nanyang Cup.
Chess fans, do you recognize?