First World Grand Prix of Bloody Mahjong in Chengdu Kicks Off, Global Mahjong Lovers Gather in Dujiangyan
Hosted by Mahjong International League and Chengdu Wanda Town Investment Co., Ltd. and co-hosted by Ourgame International Holdings Limited and EasyLive, the “Wanda Town Cup” 1stWorld Grand Prix of Bloody Mahjong convened a news conference for the grand prix in Wanda Reign Chengdu Hotel on August 25.
Xing Xiaoquan, founder of China’s competitive mahjong and leader of MCR compilation group, Jiang Quansheng, principal of Chengdu Go Institute and director of Chengdu Mind Sports Management Center, Wu Guoliang, founding chairman of Mahjong International League and CEO of Ourgame International, Li Wenlong, Secretary-General of Mahjong International League, Dai Ping, vice general manager of Chengdu Wanda Cultural Tourism City, Yi Qixuan, CBO of EasyLive and delegates of all hosts and sponsors, etc. were invited to attend the news conference to unfold the mystery of the grand prix.
Music characteristic of Chengdu culture was played in the venue, marking an official kickoff of the grand prix. Following that, the logo of the grand prix and primary vision made their formal appearance, marking that bloody mahjong as a delegate for Chinese local rules was closer to the first international competition.
(Jiang Quansheng, principal of Chengdu Go Institute and director of Chengdu Mind Sports Management Center)
At the news conference, Jiang Quansheng, principal of the Chengdu Go Institute and director of Chengdu Mind Sports Management Center, made the first speech, speaking highly of mahjong’s potential competitive features including a wide range of audiences, high feasibility, high participation, etc. and expressing his sincere expectation on this grand prix with a one-million-Yuan award.
(Wu Guoliang, founding chairman of the Mahjong International League and CEO of Ourgame International)
Later, Wu Guoliang, founding chairman of Mahjong International League and CEO of Ourgame International, addressed a speech, who not only expressed sincere welcome and wish for all guests and mahjong masters on behalf of the grand prix’shosts and but also referred to the Mahjong International League (MIL) as an observer organization of International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) to hold a series of global promotional events in order to advance mahjong to formally become a mind sport. By holding the World Grand Prix of Bloody Mahjong, MIL took an important measure to attract more armatures of leisure mahjong to devote themselves in the boom of development of mind sports of mahjong by advancing all local rules to be competitive.
(Vitalii Novikov, member of MIL Rule Committee)
The speech was followed by research achievements in the Global Mahjong Survey Report released by Vitalii Novikov, a Russian member of the MIL Rule Committee, on behalf of MIL. Mahjong demanded not only a duplicate format in luck reduction and but also plenty of effective competitive mahjong armatures in an attempt to become an international mind sport. In a comprehensive survey of more than 30 member states and regions from five continents, MIL drew a conclusion that the rules of bloody mahjong (Sichuan Bloody Rules) were currently local rules in the widest range of mass basis and high competition in addition to the Mahjong Competition Rules(MCR) and advised to prioritize bloody mahjong among MIL’s promotional goals in advancing mahjong as a mind sport.
(Matthew Shim, mahjong’s cultural promotion commissioner invited specially by MIL)
Matthew Shim, American mahjong’s cultural promotion commissioner invited specially by MIL, introduced communications of different mahjong rules in the US, indicating that mahjong attracted people who came from different races and spoke different languages thanks to its intelligence. Therefore, MIL’s important measure of making all local rules competitive to advance mahjong to become a mind sport was very proactive.
(Li Wenlong, Secretary-General of Mahjong International League)
Li Wenlong, Secretary-General of Mahjong International League, elaborated rules, system, agenda and methods of application of this grand prix. The grand prix took Sichuan Bloody Rules as its fundamental rule and combined promotional experience of local citizens, international and domestic mahjong experts, etc. to make competition-oriented transformation. The grand prix’s rules were submitted to the MIL Rule Committee for preliminary examination, which was expected to be in the waiting list in MIL final certification with Japanese mahjong rules, Asia-Pacific mahjong competition rules, American mahjong rules, Harbin mahjong rules and Ningbo mahjong rules.
The grand prix was divided into two stages: preliminary and final. The preliminary’s offline selection continued from August 27 to October 23. Express finalists on single day were expected to fight out on every weekend and holiday and venue of competition was expected to be permanently Chengdu Wanda Cultural Tourism City. The final was scheduled to make its grand opening on November 4. By then, a total of 320 global bloody mahjong masters both online and offline were expected to gather in Dujiangyan to fight for the award worth a million Yuan.
By referring to manners of operation and management in modern sports, MIL charged no application fee and set no participation threshold in the whole grand prix in an attempt to realize a balance between wide participation of public leisure and competitive mind sport of mahjong. In order to facilitate those bloody mahjong amateurs who were unable to arrive at the venue of offline qualification trials, the grand prix opened online qualification channels as well for them to apply for online competition by the grand prix’s exclusive APP “Bloody Mahjong Master” free of charge and apply for teams by EasyLive APP to attend the final after qualification.
(Dai Ping, vice general manager of Chengdu Wanda Cultural Tourism City)
In the end, led by Dai Ping, vice general manager of Chengdu Wanda Cultural Tourism City, all guests appeared on the stage to touch the ball of grand prixkickoff to formally embark on the “Wanda City Cup” 1st World Grand Prix of Bloody Mahjong. The first offline preliminary was scheduled to be held in Chengdu Wanda Cultural Tourism City on August 27 while online qualification trial APP was expected to be available for downloading.