Chinese Xinren Wang
Chinese Xinren Wang is a major tournament for emerging Chinese new talents. 'Xinren Wang', literally meaning the 'king of new people', is the Chinese equivalent of Japanese 'Shinjin O'. When this tournament first started in 1994, it attracted Japanese sponsorship. Since 2007 it has been officially associated with Jianqiao, a Shanghai-based private university, whose wealthy owner is a big fan and supporter of Go. Jianqiao also sponsored a Female Xinren Wang tournament between 2007 and 2011, which was later merged with the male-only tournament to form today's Xinren Wang tournament. Between 1998 and 2005, there was a bilateral competition between winners of this tournament and their Korean counterparts.
In recent years, 32 players compete in five rounds of knockout tournaments (was 16 or 24 players in earlier years). The finals have always been best-of-3 matches. The participants are selected using multiple criterion: official rank, age limit, dan-level limit, special arrangement for female players (after the merging with Female Xinren Wang tournament). For example, the exact condition for term 20 was: 23 top-ranked male players; 7 top-ranked female players; 2 wild-card players; male players younger than 20 and females 22; 7-dan or below; no title winners of other tournaments. In term 21, the age limit was further tightened to 16 for male players and 18 for female players, making this event truly for new stars.
- The first Xinren Wang title was won by Liang Weitang. At age of 30 and rank of 7-dan, he barely qualified to play as a 'new star'.
- Liu Jun was the surprise winner of term 4 as he entered the tournament as an amateur (he abandoned his professional status a few years ago due to poor health).
- The tough Chinese rank promoting system means good young players' ranks often lag their strengths. Gu Li was holding 4 major Chinese titles when he participated and won the 2005 Xinren Wang tournament. For this reason, the entrance criteria was tightened several times over the years.
- Fang Tingyu won three years in a row between 2010 and 2012, a big achievement because winners have to start over from round 1 next year.
- In term 21, Yu Zhiying 4-dan, a 16-year-old girl, conquered all 5 male opponents to become the first female Xinren Wang, such a great achievement that the sponsor awarded her with a special prize of 70,000 CNY (on top of the 60,000 CNY winner prize).
Term | Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Game Records |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1994 | Liang Weitang | 2-0 | Wang Lei (b) | |
2 | 1995 | Shao Weigang | 2-0 | Wang Lei (b) | |
3 | 1996 | Chang Hao | 2-1 | Wang Yuhui | |
4 | 1997 | Liu Jun | 2-0 | Wang Hui | |
5 | 1998 | Zou Junjie | 2-0 | Luo Xihe | |
6 | 1999 | Hu Yaoyu | 2-1 | Qiu Jun | |
7 | 2000 | Liu Shizhen | 2-0 | Ding Wei | |
8 | 2001 | Gu Li | 2-0 | Huang Yizhong | |
9 | 2002 | Peng Quan | 2-1 | Qiu Jun | |
10 | 2003 | Kong Jie | 2-0 | Hu Yaoyu | |
11 | 2004 | Qiu Jun | 2-1 | Wang Xi | |
12 | 2005 | Gu Li | 2-0 | Yin Hang | |
13 | 2006 | Li Zhe | 2-1 | Wang Yao | |
14 | 2007 | Zhou Ruiyang | 2-0 | Wang Lei (s) | |
15 | 2008 | Zhou Ruiyang | 2-0 | Tuo Jiaxi | |
16 | 2009 | Shi Yue | 2-0 | Zhu Yuanhao | |
17 | 2010 | Fan Tingyu | 2-0 | Yan Huan | |
18 | 2011 | Fan Tingyu | 2-0 | Mao Ruilong | |
19 | 2012 | Fan Tingyu | 2-0 | Huang Yunsong | |
20 | 2013 | Tao Xinran | 2-1 | Fan Yunruo | |
21 | 2014 | Yu Zhiying | 2-1 | Li Qincheng | |
22 | 2015 |