|
IGF News |
| 25th JAL Cup World Amateur Go Championship | ||
The 25th JAL Cup World Amateur Go Championship was held in the city of Kurashiki from 6 to 10 June 2004. All the participants received an enthusiastic welcome from the citizens of this city, which, located in western Honshu, is famous for the beauty of its traditional architecture, especially its Edo-period storehouses, and also for the outstanding art collections in its museums. Numerous events were held to welcome the overseas visitors before and during the tournament, and after it was concluded a group made a goodwill visit to Okayama City.
The championship was resumed after a one-year gap. It had been scheduled to be held in Kurashiki in 2003, but had had to be cancelled because of the epidemic of SARS influenza earlier that year. This year it set a new record, with representatives and guest officials from 64 countries and territories taking part. The honour of becoming the world's top amateur player fell to the Korean representative, Lee Kang Wook, who scored his countryfs third victory in the WAGC. The 22-year-old Lee is a go instructor from Seoul who was making his WAGC debut. He played brilliantly, winning all his games in the eight-round Swiss-system tournament. He wrapped it up in the final round with a win over the previous champion, Fu Li of China, but apparently he would have won on SOS even if he had lost this game. According to Ishida Yoshio 9-dan, the chief referee, Lee was never behind in any of his games. Second place was taken by Lai Yu-chang, a 14-year-old junior high school student from Taipei playing in his first WAGC. Laifs only loss was to Lee, whom he played in the sixth round. Lai defeated Fu Li in the 5th round, so the latter dropped to third place this time. Fu headed a group of six players on six wins, who were divided by SOS and SOSOS points. Taking fourth place was the best player from a Western country, Bernhard Helmstetter of France, who was also making his WAGC debut. This was an outstanding performance for a player who was listed in the program as just a 5-dan. His two losses came at the hands of Korea and Chinese Taipei. This year three new countries made their debuts in the WAGC: Mongolia, Nepal, and Panama. Mongolia and Nepal both made good starts, scoring three wins; the players were both 1-dan, so this is quite a respectable result. Shiba Shaw of India, the youngest player, at just nine years ald, did very well to pick up two wins. This was the same score as the oldest player, Augusto Unten of Peru, who was 79 years old and who was making his second appearance in the WAGC. The top places: 1st LEE Kang Wook 7-dan (Korea) 8-0 2nd LAI Yu-chang 7-dan (Chinese Taipei) 7-1 3rd FU Li 8-dan (China) 6-2 4th Bernard HELMSTETTER 5-dan (France) 6-2 5th NAKAZONO Seizo 8-dan (Japan) 6-2 6th Xianyu LI 6-dan (Canada) 6-2 7th TONG Ling Ying 5-Dan (Hong Kong China) 6-2 8th Ted NING 7-dan (USA) 6-2 9th Laurent HEISER 6-dan (Luxembourg) 6-2 10th Radek NECHANICKY 6-dan Czechia 5-3
JAL Cup World Amateur Go Championship Tournament outline Founded in 1979. Eight-round Swiss-system tournament Komi: 6.5 points. Time allowance: three hours per player Participants: One amateur player representing each country or territory affiliated with the International Go Federation Sponsored by: The Nihon Ki-in, Japan Airlines Organized by: The International Go Federation Supported by: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japan Foundation 25th tournament supported by: Okayama Prefecture, Kurashiki City, NHK Okayama Broadcasting Station, Sanyo Newspaper With the cooperation of: The Kansai Ki-in Special support: JAL Card, JFE |
