BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- World champion Ke Jie was among the top players who suffered surprising defeats in the first round of the CCTV Cup Quick Go Tournament which kicked off here on Thursday.
The single elimination tournament witnessed the fall of big names in the round of 64, including Ke Jie, who played with black pieces and lost to six-dan player Yang Kaiwen and Lian Xiao, who lost to another six-dan player Li Ming.
Yu Zhiying, the highest ranked Chinese female player, was defeated in the last stage by young talent Huang Chunqi.
Gu Li, with eight international titles under his name, survived the stunning first round to march into the next.
The tournament will continue on Friday and Saturday in Beijing and moved to Pinghu city of Zhejiang province, which is famous for the 10 Go manuals left from an epic match between two legends in 1739, for the semifinals (on April 8) and final (on April 9).
The winner and runner-up of the Quick Go Cup will represent China at the Asian TV Cup later this year. Lin Jianchao, president of the Chinese Weiqi Association, hoped that the players can help China regain the Asian TV Cup crown, which was last won by Yu Bin in 1997.
