On October 30, 2012, 16 female pros and amateurs gathered at Qionglong Mountain in Suzhou, China to take part in the 3rd Bingsheng Cup.
Li He 3 dan at the 3rd Bingsheng Cup in Suzhou, China.
Li He
On November 3, 2012, Li He of China won the championship, after 4 rounds of play.
Li won 200,000 RMB (about $32,000 USD at the time of writing) along with a fast tracked promotion from 3p to 5p.
All China affair
After two rounds of play, the Chinese players had defeated all other participants, ensuring a win for China.
It didn’t surprise anyone that the legendary Rui Naiwei 9p stormed her way to the final.
Her opponent was 19 year old Li He, who’s a regular on the Chinese team in the Jeongganjang Cup.
Rui Naiwei (9 dan, left) plays Li He (3 dan) in the final of the 3rd Bingsheng Cup.
Perhaps the fairly fast time settings favoured the 19 year old, who proved too strong for Rui on the day.
Pro participants
China dominated the draw. Keeping Li company were Tang Yi 2p, Yu Zhijing 2p, Wang Chenxing 5p and Song Ronghui 5p – all under the watch of veteran Rui 9p.
Song Ronghui 5 dan.
Park Jieun 9p brought along Choi Jung 2p and Kim Hyemin 6p from Korea and Japan was represented by Shimosaka Miori 2p, Xie Yimin 6p and Mukai Chiaki 5p.
Park Jieun 9 dan – defending champion.
Taiwan sent Su Shengfang 2p while their other strong candidate, Joanne Missingham 6p, (who plays professionally as Hei Jiajia) played for Oceania.
Joanne Missingham 6 dan – 1st Bingsheng Cup runner up.
Amateurs rub shoulders with pros
Europe was represented by Rita Pocsai (4d – from Hungary) and North America by Sarah (Jin) Yu (6d – from Canada).
Rita Pocsai 4 dan (amateur) from Hungary.
The Bingsheng Cup
The Bingsheng Cup was first played in 2010, in Qionglong Mountain, Suzhou, China.
It’s sometimes also referred to as the Qionglong Cup for this reason.
It’s a women’s knockout tournament for 16 players from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, North America and Oceania.
Amateurs are allowed to take part if they win the right to represent their region.
The time settings are relatively fast, at 30 minutes main time followed by 1×30 seconds byo-yomi.
About Jing
Thank-you for the article Jing.
Is that little girl in the background the referee?
I wondered about the same thing, Logan. But I think she’s just watching the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if she turns pro in a few years though!