China

Young go chess players rise from zero to hero

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-23 10:30

NANJING - China's young go chess players came under spotlight yet again recently as they swept the last four places at the Sixth Chunlan Cup Go Chess Competition for the second consecutive time.

The final, which takes place on Friday, will be China ace Chang Hao against his compatriot Gu Li.

The Chinese players have just completed a perfect 2006 when they took three world major titles, with Luo Xianhe winning the Samsung Cup on January 13, Gu Li winning LG Cup on April 21 and four Chinese sweeping the top places in Chunlan Cup on September 28.

Other promising players including Chang Hao, Xie He, Peng Quan and Zhou Heyang also made their names at the international arena, which was usually dominated by Japanese and South Koreans.

"A lot of efforts were made on training the teenage players in the past few years and now it is the time to get repaid," said Wang Runan, head of the Chinese Go Chess Academy.

Some specialists also argue that the Chinese go chess league helps the youngsters enhance their level, giving them more chances to play against those experienced players.

Besides, the popular Internet go chess games give another boost to the level of Chinese go chess fans, with the best of them surging from nobody to somebody quickly.