Go Commentary: Mi Yuting vs Chen Yaoye – 29th Tianyuan

This is game 2 of the 29th Tianyuan (Chinese Tengen) title match.

The game was played between Mi Yuting 9p and Chen Yaoye 9p on April 26, 2015, in Wujiang, China.

Chen Yaoye won the first game on April 24.

Mi Yuting 9 dan (left) and Chen Yaoye 9 dan at the 29th Tianyuan final.

Chen Yaoye

Chen Yaoye is currently ranked #6 in China.

Chen Yaoye 9 dan thinking: 29th Tianyuan final.

He’s held the Tianyuan title for six years in a row now, equaling Gu Li 9p’s record.

Gu held the Tianyuan title from 2003 to 2008, and Chen’s held it since 2009.

Chen defeated Gu Li (twice), Zhou Hexi 4p (twice), Gu Lingyi 5p, and Ke Jie 9p in the previous Tianyuan finals.

If Chen defends the title again, he’ll set a new record of seven consecutive years as Tianyuan.

Chen was also very strong in the China Korea Tengen matches, and he won the match four times (in 2009 and 2011-2013). He defeated Kang Dongyun 9p, Choi Cheolhan 9p (twice) and Park Younghun 9p.

Chen won the 9th Chunlan Cup in 2013, against Lee Sedol 9p, and it was his first major international title. He hasn’t won any international titles since then, but he’s still one of the top players in the world.

He likes to play thick and solid games, but he’s also a very good fighter. His reading is sharp and accurate, and his games are well balanced.

Mi Yuting

Mi Yuting 9 dan at the 29th Tianyuan final.

Mi Yuting was born in 1996, and is currently ranked #7 in China. This was Mi’s first Tianyuan final.

There was a very sensational event in December, 2013, when Mi Yuting defeated Gu Li in the 1st MLily Cup final with a 3-1 score.

In that tournament, Mi defeated Lee Sedol, Kang Dongyun, Kong Jie 9p, Dang Yifei 4p and Wang Xi 9p en route to the final.

Most Go fans didn’t doubt that Gu would win easily, because Mi was unknown at the time.

However, Mi showed his power and creativity in the final, and he became a new world champion.

His results in international tournaments since then haven’t been as impressive. However, he has a potential to become even more powerful in a few years, because he’s still quite young at 19 years old.

He used to play very tough fighting games, but he seems to prefer solid games recently.

Chen Yaoye played mirror Go as White, and I hope you’ll enjoy this interesting game.

Commented game record

Mi Yuting vs Chen Yaoye

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