Japan-China Super Go

Keywords: Tournament

The Japan-China Super Go (JP:日中スーパー囲碁 CN:中日围棋擂台赛) matches began in 1985 following the success of restarted Japan-China Go Exchange. It was sponsored by [ext] NEC and was the first international Go tournament in history.

Edition	Year	Winner	Score
1st	1985	China	8-7
2nd	1986	China	9-8
3rd	1988	China	9-8
4th	1988	Japan	7-2
5th	1990	China	8-3
6th	1992	Japan	8-7
7th	1993	Japan	7-5
8th	1993	Japan	7-3
9th	1994	China	6-3
10th	1996	China	7-5
11st	1996	China	7-2
After the first 11 terms, Tournament System changed.

The 1985 match shocked the Japanese team when Jiang Zhujiu defeated five Japanese players in succession: Yoda Norimoto, Kobayashi Satoru, Awaji Shuzo, Kataoka Satoshi, and Ishida Akira, before he was defeated in turn by Kobayashi Koichi. Kobayashi Koichi went on to win six games before losing to Nie Weiping, captain of the Chinese team. Nie then defeated Kato Masao, setting up the final between Nie Weiping, and Fujisawa Shuko. China emerged from the contest victorious.

The 1986 match saw Kobayashi Satoru respond to the challenge by defeating half the Chinese team. Once again, Nie Weiping, the Chinese team captain, had to carry the hopes of the Chinese on his shoulders. He defeated five Japanese players in a row to win the match, defeating Otake Hideo and Takemiya Masaki.

The 1987 match saw Yamashiro win five games in a row to pull Japan back into contention after a disappointing start. The two teams traded victories till Japan was left with only one player: Kato Masao who defeated Ma Xiaochun. Thereby setting the final game between Kato and Nie Weiping. Once again Nie won, extending his streak to nine wins in a row and earning the nickname the Iron Goalkeeper. Three times in a row, he has prevented Japan from winning the match.

The 1988 match saw a surge by the Japanese team with China losing the first six games. Nie Weiping scored two more victories, bringing this streak to eleven consecutive wins and raising the hopes of China that the Iron Goalkeeper could make a clean sweep of the Japanese team. Hane Yasumasa, the third player of the Japanese team, put a stop to Nie winning record and clinched the match for Japan.

From the 12th edition in 1997, the format changed; winner of NEC sponsored domestic tournament in each country (NEC Cup and NEC Cup China) played a 3-game match against his counterpart. There were also divisions for Youth and Women; three 3-game matches in all. Discontinued after the 16th edition in 2001.