Chunlan Cup
Chunlan Cup World Professional Weiqi Championship (春兰杯世界职业围棋锦标赛) is the first major international Go tournament organised by mainland China. It is named after the main sponsor Chunlan Corporation, one of the 50 large Chinese enterprises and best known for its air-conditioning products. Since term 3, the tournament has been held once every two years. Early rounds are often hosted at the city of Taizhou in Jiangsu province where Chunlan's headquarter is based.
About the Chunlan Cup: Chunlan Cup, the trophy, is a modern piece of artwork modelled after pottery utensils widely used in Yangshao Culture, an antient Chinese civilisation. The culture flourished along the Yellow River in China 5,000 - 7,000 years ago. Its artisans are known to craft fine pottery works.
The main event is a knockout for 24 players, with 8 players (normally the stronger ones) seeded to round 2 directly. Seats are mostly allocated to major Go playing countries but Chunlan is also kind enough to always invite European and North American representatives to compete in the tournament. Players are often paired a way that those from the same country do not meet in early rounds. The finals are best-of-3. Two losers of semi-final round play one extra game to compete for an automatic entry (together with the two finalists) in the next term.
- Lee Changho is the best performer in this tournament, winning it twice and entering the finals four times. Gu Li also won the title twice.
- Strange incident in term 10 - Lee Changho somehow forgot and therefore forfeited his scheduled game in his country's preliminary tournament, so he was unable to represent Korea to play.
Term | Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Game Records |
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1 | 1999 | Cho Hunhyun | 2-1 | Lee Changho |
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2 | 2000 | O Rissei | 2-1 | Ma Xiaochun |
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3 | 2001 | Yoo Changhyuk | 2-1 | O Rissei |
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4 | 2003 | Lee Changho | 2-0 | Hane Naoki |
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5 | 2005 | Lee Changho | 2-1 | Zhou Heyang |
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6 | 2007 | Gu Li | 2-0 | Chang Hao |
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7 | 2009 | Chang Hao | 2-0 | Lee Changho |
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8 | 2011 | Lee Sedol | 2-1 | Xie He |
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9 | 2013 | Chen Yaoye | 2-1 | Lee Sedol |
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10 | 2015 | Gu Li | 2-0 | Zhou Ruiyang |
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11 | 2017 | Tan Xiao | 2-1 | Park Yeonghun |
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