Chinese Xinren Wang

Overview: 

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.

Tournament Format: 

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.

Prize Money: 
Winner: 60,000 CNY; runner-up: 20,000 CNY. There is also a small game fee of 500 CNY per game per player.
Time System: 
Two hours each side followed by 1-minute byoyomi, with each player having 5 opportunities to go beyond 1 minute.
Ruleset and Komi: 
Chinese rule with 3 and 3/4 stones komi (equivalent to 7.5 points). The komi was 2 and 3/4 stones for term 9 and earlier.
Key Players, Events and Statistics: 
  • 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).
Historical Results: 

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

Go4Go Collection Note: 
Go4Go has all final games, plus many games from the earlier rounds.