2015 Irish Confucius Cup
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| Go (Weiqi) | Chinese Chess (Xiangqi) |
| Go & Chinese Chess Congress February 6th-8th Location |
 The Gresham Hotel |
The Irish Go Association in association with The UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland is pleased to present the 2015 Irish Confucius Cup. While this will be the 26th annual Open Go tournament, it will also host Ireland’s first Chinese Chess tournament. The Congress will take place at its new location at The Gresham Hotel right in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, and will be comprised of three tournaments:
– The Rapid Go Tournament
– The Confucius Cup Go Tournament
– The Confucius Cup Chinese Chess Tournament
The Rapid Go Tournament
The Rapid, to be held on the Friday evening, will follow a Handicap Swiss format with time allowances reducing each round.
| Sponsorship The IGA is grateful for the sponsorship from the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, ICBC, Huawei, Asia Market, and Ka Shing. |
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The Confucius Cup Go & Chinese Chess Tournament Rules
The Go and Chinese Chess tournaments will both consist of 5 rounds to be played simultaneously. There will be three rounds played on Saturday and two on Sunday. The Go tournament will be a class A tournament for EGF ratings purposes.
| Go | Chinese Chess | |
|---|---|---|
| Rules | EGF with fill-in counting. 6.5 komi | Asian Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) |
| Time Settings | 60 minutes plus overtime of 5 periods of 30 seconds byo-yomi | Fischer Time 55 minutes basic plus 10 seconds increment per move |
| Pairing System | McMahon | Swiss |
| Additional Chinese Chess Rules | |
|---|---|
| Tie-Breaking Game Time Rule | 5 minutes of main playing time for each player after which 5 seconds are added for each additional move played |
| Ranking Rule | In the case of a tie break, results are determined according to and in the order of the following measures: SOS (Sum of Opponent’s Scores), SOSOS (Sum of Opponent’s SOS), tie-breaking game (only used to determine top 5 placements) |
| Dispute | In the case that there is disagreement between the two players as to the facts in relation to the dispute, a third party is required as a witness so as to have the referee’s ruling on the dispute. The request for a ruling is not accepted otherwise. |
| Ruling on a Draw | The referee can rule on a well-recognised board position for a draw result |
Beijing Sporting Delegation
This year’s event will be honoured by a special sporting delegation visiting from Beijing. They will attend the congress to review top games, play simultaneous games, and award Dan certificates. Below is the list of experts and professional players in the delegation:
| Chen Zelan | – | Vice President of World Xiangqi Federation, Vice President of Board Games & Cards Administrative Centre of General Sport Administration of China. |
| Hua Xueming | – | 7 dan, Go Chinese National Team Captain. 16th and 18th National Go Women Individual champion; China 1st Mixed Pair Competition Champion; 2nd Women Fast Game Champion. |
| Huang Yizhong | – | 7 dan Go professional. |
| Guo Liping | – | Vice Director of the Chinese Chess Department, General Administration of Sport of the People’s Republic of China. |
| Jiang Chuan | – | Professional Chinese Chess player, National Champion, World Champion. |
| Liu Yun | – | Deputy Manager of Marketing Department of Chinese Xiangqi Association |
Prizes
The following cash amounts will be awarded to the top five finishers of the Go and Chinese Chess tournaments:
| Go | Chinese Chess | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place | €500 | €500 |
| 2nd place | €400 | €400 |
| 3rd place | €300 | €300 |
| 4th place | €200 | €200 |
| 5th place | €100 | €100 |
| Schedule | ||
| Fri 6th Feb | 19:00 | 18th Irish Rapid Go Round 1 |
| 19:45 | Round 2 | |
| 20:30 | Round 3 | |
| 21:15 | Round 4 | |
| 22:00 | Round 5 | |
| Sat 7th Feb | 09:00 | Tournament registration |
| 10:00 | Opening Ceremony | |
| 10:15 | Confucius Cup Go & Chinese Chess Round 1 | |
| 14:00 | Confucius Cup Go & Chinese Chess Round 2 | |
| 17:00 | Confucius Cup Go & Chinese Chess Round 3 | |
| 18:00 | Simultaneous Games Against Professionals & Dan Certifications | |
| 19:30 | Dinner | |
| Sun 8th Feb | 10:30 | Confucius Cup Go & Chinese Chess Round 4 |
| 13:30 | Confucius Cup Go & Chinese Chess Round 5 | |
| 15:30 | Professional Reviews of Top Go & Chinese Chess Boards | |
| 16:20 | Exhibition Rapid Go & Chinese Game By The Professionals | |
| 16:30 | Prizegiving | |
| 19:00 | Dinner |
Internet Broadcasting
The top board from each round will be broadcasted on the KGS server, look for user ‘IrishGo’ in the active games tab. A video stream will also be broadcasted on UStream.
Registration
Registration is now open for the Congress. For the Confucius Cup, the entry fee will be free for the Chinese Chess tournament and €25 for Go tournament. Students and the unemployed can avail of the concession rate of €10 for the Go tournament. Entry fee for the Friday night Rapid Go tournament will be €10.
To register, click on the Go and/or Chinese Chess registration form links in the table below and fill in your details.
| Go | Chinese Chess |
|---|---|
| Registration Form | Registration Form |
| Registered Players | Registered Players |
| Last Year’s Results |
Alternatively you can simply email the Tournament Director, Rory Wales, with your name, contact email address, entry rank, and club.
Watch this space for further details or email the Tournament Director, Rory Wales, to be added to the mailing list for updates.
Please contact Rory Wales at +353.87.133.0317 for any queries.
Accommodation
Several accommodation options are listed on this Google Map. The Gresham Hotel itself of course offers accommodation and there are several other hotels and guesthouses nearby, for instance the Charles Stewart. One hostel we have had players use in the past is Dublin City Bunkhouse. A few players have also opted to rent an apartment with airbnb.com and staydublin.com. Another website is visitdublin.com.