Sports
16:52, 15-Feb-2019
Go ‘Super-match’: 20-year-old Chinese Yang Dingxin becomes world champion
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In the much-anticipated international Go ‘Super-match', two Chinese players went head to head in the coveted final in Seoul, South Korea, Yang Dingxin defeated Shi Yue 2-1 to claim the status of the new world champion.
20-year-old Yang fell behind after the first round ended 1-0, but he soon clawed his way back into the game and leveled the score.
The game eventually went into the decider and the youngster continued his good form with a magnificent eventual 2-1 win.
As the new world champion, Yang is the 8th Chinese in the last 10 years to hold the world title.
Yang became professional on July 24, 2008, at the age of nine years and nine months, as the youngest Chinese professional at that time. In 2010, he made it to the semi-finals of the 3rd Quzhou-Lanke Cup, beating top Chinese pros Chen Yaoye – the then holder of the second biggest title in China, called Tianyuan – and Li Zhe before losing to Jiang Weijie.
Go is a unique abstract strategy board game featuring two players, in which the aim is to gain territorial advantage over the opponent. It was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and the board game is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day.