2017 Irish Confucius Cup Report
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The 2017 Irish Confucius Cup weekend occurred over the March 3rd-5th weekend under gradually improving weather conditions. The venue once again was the Ballroom Suite in the Gresham Hotel.
47 Go players attended from China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland and UK. It was the strongest field of players yet at the tournament with the bar set at 6 dan. In Chinese Chess, not only were well-known players such as EXF grandmaster Chunlong Huang, EXF grandmaster Nicolas Dang and WXF international master Chen Li, but also 3 local young players came to compete in their first tournament. In Chess there was an eleven-person junior team tournament between Ireland and Sussex who competed for the 4th time in the Sir Patrick Moore Cup (named after the astronomer who once played for Sussex). The Junior team shared the Ballroom Suite with the Go and Chinese Chess players while 150 more Chess players participated downstairs in the O’Connell Suite in two other separate tournaments.
The games began soon after the opening ceremony with three rounds of Go and Chess while the Chinese Chess players were kept busy with four. The Saturday evening rounds were concluded with an entertaining session of simultaneous games against the visiting professional players from China – Mr. Zhao Guorong (Xiangqi Grand Master), Mr. Yu Ping (2p Go player) and Mr. Chen Rui (5p Go player). They would also give very informative reviews of the top Go and Chinese Chess games on Sunday afternoon with Guo Juan (5p Go player) visiting from Amsterdam.
Round 3 was the title-deciding Go match where Kim Seong-jin 7d edged a half-point win over Pavol Lisy 7d, the smallest possible margin of victory. Lukas Podpera 7d also claimed two half-point wins over Cornel Burzo 6d and Zhiqing Zhang 5d. Chunlong Huang won the Chinese Chess with Haihan Chen second, and last year’s winner, Nicholas Dang, third. Sussex won the Junior Chess team tournament after building up big lead from round one.
Friday evening hosted the rapid Go games where Zhiqing Zhang 5d won with Mariusz Klimczak 9k in second place. The Blitz Chess was won by Sebastien Maze with Killian Delaney second, and Stephen Moran third.
An entertaining and enjoyable weekend had by all.
A very special thank you of course must be made to the Chinese Ambassador Yue Xiaoyong, the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, and all the sponsors for making this such a successful event.
| Final Results (Click Link) | |
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| Go | N/A |
| Awards Summary | ||||||||||||||||||
| Silly Prizes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Longest Name – Wojciech Szychowiak | ||||||||||||||||||
| Most Norwegian Player – Rasmus Stene | ||||||||||||||||||
| Most Splendid Shirt – Matthew Macfadyen | ||||||||||||||||||
| Most Splendid Haircut – Wie Xue | ||||||||||||||||||
| Irish Go Championships | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 Irish Champion – James Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Friday Night Rapid Winners | ||||||||||||||||||
| Go 1st Place – Zhiqing Zhang | ||||||||||||||||||
| Go 2nd Place – Mariusz Klimczak | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chess 1st Place – Sebastien Maze | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chess 2nd Place – Killian Delaney | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chess 3rd Place – Stephen Moran | ||||||||||||||||||
| Go Youth Awards | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marianna Szychowiak | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese Chess U-18 Irish National Awards | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1st Place – Yen Cheng Deehy | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd Place – Zehou Li | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd Place – Lorenz Cuffe | ||||||||||||||||||
| Go 4 Wins or More | ||||||||||||||||||
| Julien Renaud | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marianna Szychowiak | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alex Delogu | ||||||||||||||||||
| Colin Lafferty | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sona Smolarikova | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese Chess Best Female | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chen Li | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chess Sir Patrick Moore Cup | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sussex | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 Irish Confucius Cup Main Event | ||||||||||||||||||
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The game records from the top Go board for all five rounds are downloadable here:
Round 1: Lukas Podpera vs Pavol Lisy [Download]
Round 2: Cristian Pop vs Pavol Lisy [Download]
Round 3: Pavol Lisy vs Kim Seong-jin[Download]
Round 4: Kim Seong-jin vs Csaba Mero [Download]
Round 5: Lukas Podpera vs Kim Seong-jin [Download]
Photos
| Additional Thank Yous |
| Irish Chinese Chess Association |
| Irish Chess Union |
| Mr. Zhao Guorong – Xiangqi Grandmaster |
| Mrs. Shan Xiali – Xiangqi Grandmaster |
| Mr. Yu Ping – 2p Professional Go Player |
| Mr. Chen Rui – 5p Professional Go Player |
| Ms Guo Juan – 5p Professional Go Player |
| Guohan Zhang – Chinese Chess Tournament Organising |
| Sona Smolarikova & Confucius Institute for Ireland – High Quality Photos |
| Arthur Cater – The Heavy Lifting |
| Philippe Renaut – Clock Reseting |
| Ian “Javaness” Davis – OGS, KGS & YouTube Internet broadcasting |
| Complete List of Sponsors |
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