Mark Wang WeiQiang (王伟强) is the winner of the “Silver Anniversary Cup,” giving him his third straight Toronto Open championship. It is a feat accomplished only once before, when the legendary Nguyen Phuc won in 1997, 98 and 99.
Mark Wang (left), early in the tournament
To do it, Mark had to come from behind in a tough four-game match against Zheng Ziwei (郑志伟), who himself has emerged as one as one of Toronto’s best players. Zheng settled for second place. Third went to 2010 Toronto champion, Lin Shixiong (林世雄), who defeated Wang Hongwei (王紅偉), an impressive newcomer to our club.
The two matches took place on August 28 at New Kennedy Square in Markham. After they were over, the Toronto Xiangqi Association’s 25th anniversary was celebrated at a gala banquet with more than 400 attendees.
The full results of the matches are as follows:
Championship Match
- Zheng Ziwei 1 Wang WeiQiang 0 (45 minutes each plus 30 second increments)
- Wang WeiQiang 1 Zheng Ziwei 0 (45′ + 30″)
- Zheng Ziwei 1/2 Wang WeiQiang 1/2 (10’+5″)
- Mark Wang 1 Zheng Ziwei 0 (“Armageddon”: 6 minutes for the whole game vs. four minutes; Black would have won with a draw but lost on time)
Third Place Match
- Wang Hongwei 1/2 Lin Shixiong 1/2 (45′ + 30″)
- Lin Shixiong 1 Wang Hongwei 0 (45′ + 30″)
These were the top four players from a seven round Swiss tournament that finished on August 21. The entire tournament was jointly organized by the Toronto Xiangqi Association and the Scarborough Seniors Chess Club. Below is a gallery of images from the “Silver Anniversary Cup,” and below this, the cross-table from the Swiss tournament.
Click on any image for a larger version, use the small arrows (>>) at the bottom of each enlarged image to scroll through the gallery, and click on any enlarged image to close the gallery.
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Final results of Swiss tournament portion of “Silver Anniversary Cup”
