Yu Zhiying wins her first international title – 6th Bingsheng Cup

Yu Zhiying 5p defeated Park Jieun 9p in the final of the 6th Bingsheng Cup, on October 21, 2015.

The final was played in Suzhou, China, and Yu won by 2.5 points after 260 moves.

Yu Zhiying 5 dan (left) and Park Jieun 9 dan at the final of the 6th Bingsheng Cup.

Overcoming a rival

Yu Zhiying is currently ranked number one in China in women’s Go, and she’s in fine form.

It was very sensational that she defeated Mok Jinseok 9p and Choi Cheolhan 9p at the group stage of 2015 Samsung Cup.

Defeating Choi by half a point was very particularly impressive!

Choi Jung 6 dan (left) and Yu Zhiying 5 dan at the semifinals of the 6th Bingsheng Cup.

Yu earned her spot in the semifinal by defeating Zhang Zhengping 3p (Taiwan) in the round of 16 and Wang Jing Yi 2p (Japan) in the quarter final.

She faced Choi Jung 6p in the semifinal match.

Choi is the defending champion and currently ranked number one in Korea in women’s Go.

Yu and Choi are rivals and currently two of the strongest players in the women’s Go. Their head to head record before this match was 6-5 for Yu’s favor.

Yu defeated Choi in six consecutive games from the middle of 2013 to the end of 2014.

However, it seems like Choi found Yu’s weak spot and narrowed Yu’s lead by winning their next four encounters in 2015.

The game between Yu and Choi was an interesting contrast between Black’s (Yu) thickness and White’s territory.

The game maintained its balance after early fighting and the score became very close.

In the end, Black’s thickness prevailed in the endgame, and Yu went on to face Park Jieun 9p in the final.

Park Jieun’s come back

Li He 5 dan (left) and Park Jieun 9 dan, at the 6th Bingsheng Cup.

Park Jieun used to dominate women’s Go in Korea along with Rui Naiwei 9p but her results haven’t been as impressive in recent years.

She’s won four international tournaments in her career including the 1st and 2nd Bingsheng Cup in 2010 and 2011.

She defeated Rui by 1.5 point in the round of 16, and ousted Wang Chenxing 5p, the winner of the 4th Bingsheng Cup, in the quarter finals.

Park faced another former Bingsheng Cup champion, Li He 5p, in the semifinal.

The game was full of tough and fierce fighting and Park was just able to save half a point to proceed to the final.

Final

The final against Park was another challenge for Yu. The head to head record between Yu and Park before this game was tied at 2-2.

Yu Zhiying 5 dan (left) and Park Jieun 9 dan, at the end of the final game.

The final started with calm and peaceful opening, which suited Yu’s style of play.

Black (Park) started a tentative attack on White’s center stones, but her strategy wasn’t clear enough, and White successfully settled her weak groups with skillful sabaki.

The game was still very close as it entered endgame, but White’s position was thicker than it appeared. Yu maintained her lead until the end with her excellent endgame technique.

It was Yu Zhiying’s first international title! Congratulations!

The Bingsheng Cup

The Bingsheng Cup was first played in 2010 and is held annually at Qionglong Mountain, Suzhou, China.

The original name of the tournament is the Qionglong Mountain Bingsheng Cup, and it’s sometimes referred to as the Qionglong Cup (in English) because of this.

Currently the only women’s individual international Go tournament, it uses a knockout format for the top 16 players from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, North America and Oceania.

Amateurs are allowed to take part if they win the right to represent their region.

The time limit for games is 2 hours main time and 5 x 1 minute byo-yomi.

The first prize is 250,000 RMB and the runner up receives 100,000 RMB.

Qionglong Mountain is where Sun Zi (aka Sun Tzu) wrote The Art of War (孫子兵法), and is called the mountain of the wisdom.

Bingsheng (兵圣) literally means ‘soldier saint’ – named in honor of Sun Zi. The second character also appears in the names of the Qisheng and Kisei (Go saint) tournaments.

6th Bingsheng Cup photos

6th Bingsheng Cup full results

Round of 16

Yu Zhiying 5p (China) defeated Zhang Zhengping 3p (Taiwan)

Park Jieun 9p (Korea) defeated Rui Naiwei 9p (China)

Wang Chenxing 5p (China) defeated O Yujin 2p (Korea)

Li He 5p (China) defeated Mukai Chiaki 5p (Japan)

Choi Jung 6p (Korea) defeated Joanne Missingham 7p (Oceania)

Nyu Eiko 1p (Japan) defeated Song Ronghui 5p (China)

Wang Jing Yi 2p (Japan) defeated Wang Yinli 6d (North America)

Chen Yiming 2p (China) defeated Rita Pocsai 5d (Europe)

Quarter finals

Yu Zhiying 5p defeated Wang Jing Yi 2p

Park Jieun 9p defeated Wang Chenxing 5p

Choi Jung 6p defeated Chen Yiming 2p

Li He 5p defeated Nyu Eiko 1p

Semifinals

Yu Zhiying 5p defeated Choi Jung 6p

Park Jieun 9p Li He 5p

Final

Yu Zhiying 5p defeated Park Jieun 9p

Game records

Park Jieun vs Yu Zhiying – Final

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