World Mahjong Championship 2007. Emeishan, 5 November 2007. The WMC Final

Andy Zheng and Wang Yingfu almost ready to start the final session. The ninth and final session is played only by the top 16 players. In a Swiss draw session they fight for the final points and table points which are added to their results from the previous eight sessions in order to find the winners. The last sessions counts only towards the individual competition. The team competition is determined by the results of the first 8 sessions.

The results for the 16 finalists after the first 8 sessions. At table 1 the top 4 meet will; the leading player starts as east, the second best as south and so on. Similarly at the other final tables. The player in position 17 was Laurent Mahé who took four table points at Li Li's table in the eight session and was very close to qualifying for the final. As it were, Désirée Heemskerk was the only European in the final.

Whats' the score? What's the score?

In the final there was a referee recording the score at each table. In the main tournament the score keeping often took a lot of time, since the score sheet has many sums to do and is not inituitive (e.g. you have to add numbers which are on a horisontal line, while it's easier for most people to add numbers that are below each other). This is Li Li selfdrawing in the 15th hand of the game, bringing him to a solid lead at +274. In the final hand Li Li gave a 10 point hand to Jiao Linghua so that she got the 2 table points rather than Minoru Imaeda from Japan who was ahead of her. Coincidence?

The final score at table 1 of the WMC final.

Everyone wants a picture of the winner Li Li. He was also the winner of last year's China Majiang Championship.

Interview with world champion Li Li.

After the hectic final the tranquility of Sichuan weather and the beautiful lake in front of the hotel was a relief.