【2014】第2届黑白棋世界杯（修罗和猪蹄采访）

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Interview with Yan Song and Zhen Dong, King and Queen of Othello

Ladies final: Siew Kun Yap (MYS) and Zhen Dong (HKG)

This interview was done by Romy Hidayat, right after Yan Song and Zhen Dong won their final game and became King and Queen of Othello.
Special thanks to Sky Chong who acted as interpreter.

First of all congratulations both of you for becoming the new Champions, what a pleasant surprise.

Yan Song & Dong Zhen : Thank you, thank you very much/

So how do you feel right now ?

DZ : The feeling is very special for me, I feel there is still room for improvement for me, It is fantastic.

YS : I'm very happy right now. My original target was just to be in quarter final only, but eventually I became the Champion beating the others 7 japanese. Very very happy.

So how did you train / practice for this tournament in China ?

DZ : In China there is no a lot of competition like in Japan. So a lot is based on pure interest in this game. It's not also for the money because it's not much money involved in Othello, so a lot of times we practice this by going online to play with other players.

YS : In China I prefer to go to QQ games centre, something which is more for the Chinese people because the server in China is very slow to access PlayOK from China. Prior to this competition I played an averaged about 5-6 games just to teach myself up for the tournament.

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The final: Kenta Tominaga (JPN) and Yan Song (CHN)

How many empties can you calculate at the end of the game ?

YS : To be frank I'm not able to calculate the exact score because a lot of times when I feel that I have the win very often it turned out that it was some minus move. So I just predict the best line.

DZ : I find it's very very hard to calculate. I still feel that I don’t have the necessary experience to do that kind of calculation so it's good to learn from the champion Yan Song.

What do think should be done to make Othello more popular in China ?

DZ : In China a lot of them like to play in QQ games centre from the initial 200 plus people that play the game now it's more about 2000 plus. They actually have people to do research how to make the game more popular in China, and how to promote the game in schools and writing Othello books.

What was your most memorable game in this tournament ?

DZ : The game especially against Lee Choon Foong from Singapore, I actually played very daringly not my usual style of playing. And after playing that kind of style I've got 2 consecutive wins. I'm very happy about it.

YS : In the preliminary round game against Yusuke Takanashi. I actually felt against all the other Japanese players I still have some chance to win, but against Takanashi I had little confidence. In the end I won the game, so Im actually very happy about it.

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SONG, Yan 35 - 29 TAKANASHI Yusuke OWC 2014, round 9

Yan Song (CHN) is the new "King of Othello". Zhen Dong (HKG) is the "Queen of Othello"

LEE, Choong Fong 35 - 29 DONG Zhen OWC 2014, round 4

Romy Hidayat and Sky Chong

Last question, could you both give some advice to all the Othello fans how to improve their game ?

DZ : I feell that to improve the game the best way is to play against WZebra. You can go online and play against opponents but they won't play the perfect moves against you. So if you’re playing against a program like WZebra you will always have a very tough opponent.

YS : I feel the best way to improve your game is to play on the board, review the games, play against other players, there is more interaction with them and you gain more experience. After that you can go home and practice against the program, but the best way is still on the board training.

Thank you very much Dong Zhen and Yan Song for this wonderful interview and once again congratulations to the both of you.

At the Victory Dinner, Yan Song was asked to deliver a speech. At the end of that speech he said that he was both happy and sad. He was happy because he won the tournament but also sad because all has to end and we all will go home. Very well said Song Yan, the new King of Othello!