Bruce Liu - interview | 20th Chopin and his Europe Festival 

because he was OBJECTIVELY the better pianist in the competition. I prefer Garcia's or Sorita's Chopin but in a competition there are some criteria

Who do you think should have won instead??

When I listen to his performances once again, i can notice how inventive and creative he is when performing, even after listening the same Chopin pieces a thousand times, his sounds fresh and untamed, like he’s playing with music effortlessly, he may not be like Blechacz or Cho who really represented Chopin music essence in my opinion, but I feel like for this difference compared to everyone else he deserved 1st, I admit I was hugely skeptical when I first listen the beginning of his concerto, I liked Gadjiev and Sorita more but… eventually I found it really free, really energetic, interesting

@@jj22arc90 same for me. I listened live recitals by him and Gadjiev, they are completely different pianists but if I am to rank them I would put Liu first. p.s. still have to point out that Gadjiev's Sonata is of a different echelon

Go ask the jury who all gave Liu the highest scores through stage one to stage three and approved him as the only one to next stage. An even better answer may be from the Polish audiences who apparently favorite Liu at the competition, and now every concert this dude performs in Poland are sold out in hours. No one is more qualified on critic on perform of Chopin than the people in Poland.