From August 19th to 25th the Chinese Weiqi Association (CWA) celebrated its 3rd Chinese Go Congress in the city of Rizhao, Shandong province, China.

On the last days of the Congress, from August 23rd to 25th, the ‘Worldwide Weiqi Organization Leaders Friendly Match’ took place. In it representatives of go associations from over 55 countries, including Japan and Korea, gathered for a shared presentation on history and development of go in their communities.

The three-day event started on the 23rd with the opening ceremony and a banquet dinner on the Landbridge Jinjiang Hotel bowl room. Welcoming words were given by Yi Wang, Vice President of the IGF and Secretary General of the CWA.

Next on Saturday 25th, participants were taken to the Rizhao Technology and Cultural Centre, the Congress main venue. On the main hall, CWA President Mr Lin Jianchao gave a conference about China’s new perspective on go and their philosophy of the game.

After the conference, participants were taken to the exhibitions the congress venue offered such as the ‘New China’s Weiqi Achievements over 70 Years’ and the ‘New China’s Weiqi books over 70 years’ which consisted of a large photograph record and a book display. We found out there that Mr Lin Jianchao is actually a General of the Chinese Military.

On this same day the final match of the ‘2019 China Securities Cup World A.I. Weiqi Open’ was being played between FineArt and Golaxy. The winner turned out to be FineArt by two games to three. You may check the kifus here. It’s also worth mentioning that the Golaxy team had its go android playing games with the assistants.

On the top floor games of the Huawei Cup China City League took place, where we had players such as Chen Yaoye and Ke Jie. On the other hall of the Centre, most of the space was for tables on which massive tournaments took place. In the remaining space a big vendor area offered several kinds of go equipment and supplies.

At the end of this day, a friendly match was played between the international leaders and Chinese officials and players. Some of them were professional and some other had bonds with the Chinese Weiqi Association. After the game, with the aid of translators, the international leaders got the chance to talk to their Chinese counterparts about ideas to promote go worldwide.

On the last day of the event a worldwide go leaders associating activity took place in the Landbridge Hotel bowl room. A round table setting was arranged so each country representative had the chance to talk about the history of go in his/her country and of what they are doing to promote the game.

At last at the Technology and Cultural Centre a closing ceremony with a Shaolin exhibit and Chinese opera took place and farewell words from General Lin were given.

Undoubtedly this turned out to be a great experience for all the Associations representatives and it raises a lot of expectations on the new role China intends to play in the international go scene.

You may look at a very extensive photo album on the Congress here.

Report by Emil García