Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 1 (Reporters Wang Jingyu, Wang Haoyu, Zheng Zhi) On the afternoon of the 1st, 22-year-old Ding Hao Jiuduan received flowers and a cardboard representing the championship bonus from the hand of the chairman of the Chinese Go Association, Lin Jianchao, with a calm expression.

In the just-concluded 27th LG Cup World Go King Tournament Sanfanqi Final, Ding Hao defeated Yang Dingxin 9th Dan 2:0, won his first world championship title, and became China's first "post-2000" Go world champion.

  "I think I should be happy, but I can't be happy." He said, "I would be very happy if I knew that I (will) win the world championship when I first decided."

  Ding Hao, who was born in 2000, started to learn chess under the influence of his father when he was a child, and went to a training class when he was 7 years old.

At first he just wanted to play, but then he was pushed forward by his own progress.

Because of learning chess, he went from Datong to Taiyuan, and then from Taiyuan to Beijing, where he joined Ge Yuhong Go Dojo and became a "Chongduan Boy".

  "The teacher thinks that I have a bright future, so I can try it in Beijing. In fact, my family's conditions are not very good, and the tuition fees in the dojo are very high for us. We just want to work hard for a few years, and then go back if we can't do it. Going to school." Ding Hao recalled.

  Due to economic reasons, Ding Hao considered giving up his career several times.

It wasn't until he succeeded in setting a stage, played in the second division league, and had a stable income that his Go career stabilized.

  Ding Hao still remembers the fixed stage race in 2013. If he failed that time, he might not have won the championship today.

  "I was particularly impressed, because in the last game I won the match, but I hit a big 'spoon' at the beginning, and I died as soon as I came up. Then my opponent may be under too much pressure, because he won. Set the stage. In the end, I kept fighting until I finally won, all kinds of "picking spoons"... That luck was very good, so it felt like God's will. If I lost that time, I should be in college now."

  Besides Go, Ding Hao likes to read books and listen to music, and his grades were also good when he was a child.

When he first learned chess, he also learned to play the flute, and later chose Go because of the conflict between the two.

He is also very interested in writing, and often leaves his thoughts on Weibo.

  Along the way, from a young chess boy to a world champion, Ding Hao thinks that he has a relatively high talent in chess, and then insists on doing one thing.

Counting playing chess, he spends about seven or eight hours a day on Go, and he is quite satisfied with his training efficiency and concentration.

  "As far as I know, many chess players will always be distracted and do other things at a certain stage. I'm still more focused."

  On the road of learning chess, Ding Hao has received help from many people, such as Han Ye from Shanxi, Li Kui from Shanxi, and Ge Yuhong from Beijing, all of whom had a great influence on him. He also thanked everyone who "recovered" for him teacher.

  In 2021, Ding Hao successfully reached the top in domestic chess competitions such as the National Hands Tournament and the Grand Chess Players Tournament.

In this LG Cup, Ding Hao advanced to the final after knocking out three Korean players, Kim Ji-seok, Kim Myung-hoon and Kang Dong-yoon.

After defeating his teammate Yang Dingxin in the final to win the championship, Ding Hao admitted that he still needs to improve, such as the accuracy of counting the seconds.

In the game on the 1st, Ding Hao, who was leading most of the time, found a "loss robbery" in the second half of the set, giving Yang Dingxin a chance to comeback.

  Due to the epidemic, this LG Cup final is the first face-to-face world championship matchup in a long time.

Ding Hao said that he likes the sense of ritual of "face-to-face chess", likes to review the game with his opponents after the game, and likes to go to different places when participating in the game.

Without these, just playing through the Internet, Go becomes a "simple job".

  China's first "post-00s" Go world champion was born.

Ding Hao said that his expectation for the future is "horizontal development" and winning a few more world championships.

  (Source: Xinhuanet)