Go in ChinaDespite having been invented in China, go has
not always enjoyed a place of honor in that country. During the
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), go was out of favor with the
zealous Red Guards, although the Chinese government officially
supported about 30 go players, classed as "national sportsmen and
sportswomen." It was not until 1981 that the current, well-supported
professional system was initiated.
Over the past 38 years, however, there has been an active go
exchange between China and Japan, consisting of goodwill tours
featuring games between Japanese professionals and the top Chinese
players. They began in 1960 and, with the exception of a six-year
suspension from 1967 through 1972, have continued until the present.
The rivalry between Japan and China took on a different character
with the introduction in 1984 of the annual Japan-China Super Go
knockout team match, which the Chinese won more often than not. In
1996, Japan's defeat was apparently so humiliating--nearly its
entire team was wiped out by the 20-year-old Chang Hao--that the
series was canceled.
Regular tournaments and title matches were first held in the late
1970s. Today, there are a number of big titles, similar to those in
Japan, with about 100 professionals competing for them. The
strongest Chinese players are Chang Hao and Ma Xiaochun.
Nie Weiping was the first Chinese player to seriously challenge
Japanese supremacy in go. In the late 1970s, he consistently
defeated some of the strongest Japanese players. On numerous
occasions, he anchored the Chinese team in the Japan-China Super Go
series to save China from defeat by beating the best players Japan
could field.
From the late 1980s, a new player, Ma Xiaochun, began to dominate
the Chinese tournament scene. However, his supremacy is now being
challenged by a new generation of players, the foremost of whom is
Chang Hao, who is only 21. Last year, he defeated Ma Xiaochun in a
major title match. Two other young professionals, Zhou Heyang, 22,
and Wang Lei, 20, have achieved significant successes not only in
Chinese tournaments but also in international tournaments.
In spite of the short history of China's professional go system,
there is no gap between the playing strength of the top Chinese
players and that of the top Japanese and Korean players.
How did the Chinese become so strong so fast? For one thing, the
government sponsors go in public schools, so talented young players
have a chance to compete for local and national titles at the
primary, junior high and high school levels. In addition, Chinese
professionals say that they have learned a lot from Japanese pros
who acted as tutors during the early years of the Japan-China go
exchanges. They also had available all the go theory that was
developed in Japan over the last 400 years.
More on illegal movesIn last week's column, I showed some
examples of illegal moves. If your stones have no liberties, they
cannot remain on the board. So, if you play so as to fill the last
liberty of your stones, you are committing suicide. This is
prohibited.

Diagram 1 is another example of an illegal move. Black
cannot play a stone at "a'' because it would have no liberties.
However, the three marked white stones in Diagram 2 are in atari:
Black is threatening to capture them by playing at "a."
Thus, Black 1 in Diagram 3 is not suicide, since playing there
results in the capture of White's stones. Diagram 4 shows the result
of this capture.

Black 1 in Diagram 5 is also illegal, but, if we add
the two marked stones in Diagram 6, then Black is allowed to play 1
because it captures two white stones. The result of this capture is
shown in Diagram 7. |