Taiwanese 9th-dan professional (9p) go player Hsu Hao-hung on Monday defeated Chen Chi-jui in a more than three-hour match in Taipei, to win his sixth consecutive Taiwan USE Judan title.
The victory gave Hsu his second title of the year and NT$700,000 in prize money, while setting a record for the longest any domestic go title has been held by a single person over the past decade, tournament host HaiFong Go Association said in a news release.
Hsu said he is playing better than he was in the first half of the year when he was approaching matches with the wrong mindset.
Photo courtesy of HaiFong Go Association via CNA
“It’s sort of like paying a debt, I guess. I won too many last year,” he said after the match.
Last year, he won eight of the top nine domestic go titles, failing only to secure the CMC Grandmaster Tournament title.
This year, he lost the HaiFong Tournament and Taiwan Meijin Go Tournament, the most prized domestic title, before defeating 8-dan Lai Jyun-fu at Taiwan Tengen in March for his first title of the year.
Chen, an 8th-dan pro, said he sought to avoid directly confronting Hsu during the early phase of the match, a choice that ultimately left him far behind later on.
“I have no idea how to play the game right now,” said Chen, who played white and surrendered on the 112th move.
In the final series of the Meijin event in May, Chen was defeated by Lai in the best-of-seven series.
Hsu said he was turning his focus toward upcoming international tournaments, including the Kuksu Mountains Baduk Championship in South Korea, the MLily Meng Baihe Cup World Go Open Tournament in China and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in late September.
At the first world cup-level tournament in South Korea later this month, Hsu is to be joined by 9th-dan pro Lin Shu-yang, while Lai and Chen are to play in MLily early next month.
Ninth-dan pro veteran Chou Chun-hsun, the only go player representing Taiwan to win a major international title with a victory at the 2007 LG Cup, said that Hsu was playing at only 60 percent of his full ability, and needs to adjust to prepare for the Asian Games.
The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee earlier this month announced Taiwan’s lineup for the Asian Games.
Hsu and Lai, who are to vie for the men’s individual title, would also compete in the men’s team category with Wang Yuan-jyun (9p), Lin Chun-yen (9p), Hsu Chia-yuan (9p) and Hsu Ching-en (5p).
The women’s team, led by 7th-dan pro Missingham Joanne Jia-jia, also includes Yang Tzu-hsuan (5p), Lu Yu-hua (4p) and Li Chia-hsing (1p), who is 15 years old.
Chou, who is coaching both teams, said that China and South Korea are “very strong” contenders, and he expects Taiwan and Japan to square off for bronze medals.
“We have decided the playing order of the men’s and women’s teams, but we’ll be able to come up with more specific strategies when other countries announce their playing order in late July or early August,” Chou said.
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