CCTV New Year Cup

A televised quick-play tournament aired by CCTV around the Spring Festival — the week-long Chinese New Year holiday during which the entire country sits down with family and the television. Slotting Go into that programming places it alongside operas, gala variety shows and the Spring Festival CCTV Gala in the cultural furniture of the holiday, a quietly significant act of cultural patronage that reaches an audience far beyond the usual Go-fan base.