On May 23rd in Xi’an, China, began the 16th Chunlan Cup, a prestigious tournament gathering together the best players in the world. Stanislaw Frejlak 2p was invited as the European Representative.

On May 23-24th in Xi’an, China, began the 16th Chunlan Cup, a prestigious tournament gathering together the best players in the world. Stanislaw Frejlak 2p was invited as the European Representative. He shares with us a few impression from the event.

Last weekend, I traveled to Xi’an to play in the Chunlan Cup. This is quite an elite tournament: there were only 24 participants, 21 of them being 9 dan players.

At the opening ceremony, a short clip was played which introduced the 30-year history of the tournament, presenting the title winner and the runner-up of each edition. I really like this idea. It was nice to learn about the context of the event I participate in.

My opponent in the first round was Fukuoka Kotaro 7p. We played for 5 hours, and finished almost as the last pair.

We had a very fierce fight on the top side where my opponent saved his stones thanks to a double shortage of liberties. Unfortunately, after the fight ended, I was short on points. When my opponent stabilised all his other groups, I was forced to resign.

Eight players who won in the first round, played another match two days later against the seeded players. The next stage of the tournament with quarter-finals and semi-finals will happen in half a year.

Apart from playing my match, I played two friendly games with Alex Qi 3p, the American representative. I also went to the old town on one evening, it was very nicely lit up with many historical buildings, and the lively Muslim Street!