Gu Zihao of NCU Won the First “Quzhou Lanke Cup” World Go Open Championship

(From Jiangxi TV) On June 17th, the finals of the first Lanke Cup World Go Open Championship successfully wrapped up in Quzhou. Gu Zihao, a student of 2021 batch majoring in physical education at School of Physical Education of Nanchang University, defeated South Korea’s Shen Zhenxu by 2:1 in the finals. This win marks Gu’s second championship in his career. Yu Bin, the head coach of Chinese Go Team expressed that Gu Zihao showed exceptional concentration and calculation in these three games, from whom he can find the epitome of Li Shishi.

South Korea’s Shen Zhenxu and China’s Gu Zihao (left) compete in the finals

The Lanke Cup, the only world’s top-ranked Go game in China, is held annually offline and is sponsored by the Chinese Weiqi Association, Quzhou Municipal Party Committee, and People’s Government of Quzhou Municipality. It is worth mentioning that Jiangxi Weijia Team won the champion of Chinese Weijia League in 2020. And it was Gu Zihao the main force of the team who brought a historic victory in the critical finals, winning the first champion of Chinese Go League for Jiangxi. It is understood that Gu Zihao will compete in the Chinese Weijia League on behalf of Jiangxi Weijia Team this year.

After defeating Shen Zhenxu on June 17th, Gu Zihao said that Shen Zhenxu showed mood swings and made irrational moves during the middle game, which led him to an unfavorable situation. Although he successfully won, Gu Zihao still remained modest and acknowledged Shen’s awesome capability. In this competition, Mi Yuting, Ding Hao and Xie Ke constituted a support group to discuss Weiqi games and opponents with Gu Zihao in spare time. Gu expressed that what they helped him most was in mentality.

Gu Zihao, born in 1998, was famous for aggressive style and high morale. His ID name is called “Yinchengzhiba” (the overlord of Indianapolis) when playing chess online, after which his fans nicknamed him “Eba” (means powerful bully). Compared to Shen Zhenxu, who has been a strong Go Player in the past two years and has a high winning rate against Chinese players, Gu Zihao was not favored to win before the finals. After Gu lost the first game, few believed that he could turn the table.

However, Gu Zihao gave full play to his strengths and fearlessly fought back in the last two games. Even under the disadvantage of using black chess piece in the finals, he seldom showed mood swings when he lagged behind. Instead, Gu strategically assessed the overall situation and explored various alternatives to place continuous pressure on his opponent.

Taking the finals as an example, he made a bold decision to sacrifice the black chess piece on the side in the 57th round, and sought to create a large-scale framework on the periphery, forcing Shen Zhenxu to step into the new trap as he schemed. Artificial intelligence is not optimistic about his choice, but it is a human rather than a machine sitting opposite Gu Zihao. In the fierce competition, it is not surprising that Shen Zhenxu, known as “Shen’s Intelligence”, made some rash moves and miscalculations in the last two games.

Go on undeterred by the dangers ahead. Gu Zihao’s success is well deserved, which is bound to greatly inspire the Chinese Go circle and have a far-reaching impact on the future competition between China and South Korea.

Jiangxi TV: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EQgzkberzI_IJKyuCNOU-g

Editor: Zeng Hui

Responsible Editor: Tu Jinfeng