Ahan Tongshan Cup

China's great open door. Founded in 1999 when the Japanese Buddhist priest Kiriyama Seiyu extended his sponsorship across the sea — "Japan's writing came from China," he reasoned, "and the go the Japanese love came from China too" — the Ahan Tongshan Cup admits every professional registered with the Chinese Weiqi Association, plus the leading amateurs from the Wanbao Cup, then cuts a field of hundreds down to sixteen by single elimination. Nobody receives a minute of thinking time: thirty seconds a move from the first, with ten one-minute reserves to spend across the whole game. That openness is the point, and it shows in who it has made — a 17-year-old Ke Jie took the 16th title here in 2014, the first of his career, years before any world championship. Gu Li holds the record with four. China's sports ministry calls it the cradle of the country's elite players.