The opening ceremony of the knockout round for the 1st Quzhou Lanke Cup World Go Open Championship kicked off in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on May 4.

The Quzhou Lanke Cup World Go Championship is listed as the top professional Go competition in China, according to the Chinese Weiqi Association.

Lin Jianchao, chairman of the Chinese Weiqi Association, expressed gratitude to Quzhou for its strong support for the development of Chinese professional Go at the ceremony.

The 1st Lanke Cup World Go Open Championship is divided into three stages: preliminary round, knockout round and final round.

According to the results of the draw held on the same day, Ke Jie, the top Chinese Go player, will play against Lai Junfu from Taiwan in the first round. Chinese player Li Qincheng will challenge Shen Zhenxu, the top Go player from South Korea, and Chinese player Xie Erhao will play against Iyama Yuta, the top Japanese Go player.

The 32 top players in the world will decide the two finalists in the competition from May 5 to 9, and the championship and runner-up finals will be held in June.