The first path

Odd Boards - 1

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the net yields interesting things. A baduk plushie board!

36th Kisei - Title match games

2012-01-27T03:45:00.000-08:00

The title match of the 36th Kisei tournament is between the current title holder Cho U (right) and Takao Shinji (left). Before the match the win-loss-record was 27-21 in Cho U's favor. The first game was played at the 12.01.2012 and 13.01.2012.

Takao Shinji took black in this game. Cho U showed his talent to handle weak groups, but Takao Shinji was able to take advantage and win with 2,5 points. Here is the kifu:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Gokifu player.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

The second game was played at the 26.01.2012 and 27.01.2012.

This time Cho U was black and created a big framework. It was Takao Shinji who started a long battle with move 26. This battle spread over a big part of the board until Takao Shinji played a stone in Cho U's corner which looked like a probe, but it was ignored by Cho U. Cho U continued the fight instead and after 171 moves Takao Shinji resigned.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Gokifu player.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

This equalizes the standing to 1-1. The next game is at the 01.02.2012 and 02.02.2012. Who will take the lead then? Will Cho U win the last game?

The Neverending Road - Chapter 1 - Growing Pains

2012-01-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

This is not my own story but I think it deserves more attention then it gets on fanfiction.net. The author of this story is Leitbur and he deserves more credit than he gets! Drop by his fanfiction.net story and leave him a comment!

Chapter 1 – Growing Pains

"White's cut here was a good move. It took advantage of Black's two spaced jump."
Kiyoharu Yashiro, and Akira Toya nodded at Atsushi Kurata's remark. It had been an electrifying game, one that Hikaru had almost pulled out. Going into the game, not many outside of the room's four occupants had believed that Hikaru would have given any type of game close to this. Yashiro chimed in, "Here though, blacks move was brilliant. Ko Yeong Ha didn't see it until it was too late."
Again more nods. Akira now replied, "Yes, white should have swapped the order of these two moves, then he could avoid the issue."
After the closing ceremonies, the four members of Team Japan had agreed to meet back at Akira's house to finish discussing today's games. Yashiro would be staying the night, then leaving to go home to Kyoto in the morning. It had seemed better to do that then to stay in the hotels another night. While they had intended to discuss all three games, the First Board game between Hikaru and Ko Yeong Ha had been all they'd discussed thus far, and it was already getting late.
"This move, it separated White brilliantly. He can't just counter without putting his own stones in atari here."
"Yes, but White responded well here. The moves here forced a pitched central battle that cost Shindo territory."
The only one not talking, not even paying all that much attention, was the one who had played the game earlier that day in the Hokuto Cup. Lost in his own thoughts, Hikaru Shindo was reviewing not the game, but his own mental strength. He hadn't been strong enough earlier today, despite all his boasting. He had been selfish, forcing his way into the First Chair, just to take on Ko Yeong Ha, to vindicate Japan for what he had said about Shusaku. No, it wasn't for Japan; it had been for Sai. No one else knew, no one else understood the Sai that was in his Go; that drove him to seek the Divine Move. Yet today, he hadn't been strong enough.
Glancing next to him, Hikaru studied the intense face of his eternal rival. Akira was studying the board with powers of concentration that Hikaru knew matched his own. Would he have lost today? Could Akira have done any better than Hikaru had? The two had played so many games lately, and Hikaru knew Akira's strength. Still, they had played only once so far in an official game, and in such battles were where true strength, of both mind and spirit, were decided.
Akira meanwhile continued to study the Go board with eyes too transfixed to blink. This game… it was on a level beyond what he knew Hikaru to possess previously. He had gotten stronger. This was to be expected, in fact Akira would have felt betrayed if Hikaru didn't improve and grow in his Go abilities. What this game was showing however was that Hikaru had once again, moved closer to Akira.
It was true that the two were already neck and neck, and in fact Akira knew too well that the major difference in their abilities laid not in skill, but in experience. Hikaru would eventually be playing the high level Dans like Akira was now, and the edge in experience would dwindle further still.
Glancing over at his rival, Akira noticed the look in Hikaru's eyes. The pain and disappointment in them, he had experienced this before himself. Akira knew all too well that when Hikaru recovered mentally from this, that he would be even more formidable. His second game against Hikaru three years before, the one where he had been dominated completely, had caused a similar reaction for Akira. He could of course exploit this, attack Hikaru's wavering mental fortitude and delay his return to form a little longer, but he wouldn't. Not only because any victory would be empty, like a default win, and no true Go player ever wanted a default win, but also because Hikaru was his friend. No, not just his friend, he was his best friend. Their relationship over the years was complex for certain, and he doubted if he could describe it to anyone else, but it was what it was nevertheless.
Over the last two and a half years, Hikaru had been chasing Akira, and Akira knew that it would not last, despite his own steps forward. Soon they would be side by side, chasing one another, too close for one to be definitively seen as stronger. Where they would go from there he didn't know, but he couldn't wait to find out. The idea of the Go they would create filled him with joyous anticipation.
An hour later Hikaru and Kurata left, leaving only Yashiro and Akira to continue analyzing the game. When Akira suggested they analyze Yashiro's game next, Yashiro merely frowned, then replied that he'd rather play a game at the moment then review his earlier loss. This was something Akira didn't mind at all. After all, Yashiro was quite a strong player, although not yet near his own or Hikaru's level. Still, Yashiro's aggressive openings made for very fun games.
He was no closer though to solving the mystery that was Hikaru Shindo then he was the day he'd theorized, however crazy as it had sounded, that there was another Hikaru inside Hikaru. It had been the only thing that had made sense, in its own crazy way. The fact that Hikaru hadn't just blown it off, but suggested ever so slightly that he was on the right track, only complicated the matter. Hikaru was however, exactly what Akira had stated that day; nothing but the Go he played.
The matter with the Hikaru- Sai connection though could wait until later. At the moment, he needed to focus on the game at hand.

"This certainly was an impressive game Hikaru. This move in the center, I wouldn't have even thought of that."
Once again Hikaru found himself staring down at a recreation of his game against Ko Yeong Ha. It had been two days since the tournament had ended, but it was obvious that everyone Morishita 9-Dan's had wanted to discuss the game with him. The game records had been published after all, and would soon be appearing in Weekly Go as well, making it only the second time his games had been recorded, the first of course being the Shinshodan match against Toya Meijin, the game Sai had played. So he had complied, and was now explaining his thinking on different moves with a less than enthusiastic tone. A fact that was not lost on the rest of the group, Morishita 9-Dan among them.
Rubbing his chin as he studied the boy, Morishita tried to look beyond to what was troubling him so much. It wasn't very difficult. This game seems to be something of a sore spot for him. It's hard to understand, it was a brilliant game, far better than any I've previously seen him play. Perhaps there's something more to it? He glanced down at the fan that Hikaru carried around with him all the time these days, or at least whenever Morishita saw him. He was gripping it so tightly, as if holding onto it for dear life. Yes, there's something more to this.
Promptly, Morishita sat back and said, "All right, enough of this, let's play a few games." Looking towards Hikaru, he continued, "Shindo, will you play with me?"
Looking over to Morishita, Hikaru gave a weak smile and nodded. "Yes Sensei, of course."
As they began to play, Morishita watched Shindo carefully, noting the boys trademark extreme concentration. There seemed nothing wrong with his moves from a technical standpoint, but what was lacking was obvious; the passion he usually put into each move.
"Is this the first game you've played since that game on Sunday?"
"No, I played Hon Suyon yesterday at his uncle's Go salon."
Morishita cocked an eyebrow. "Really? What made you do that?"
Shindo nonchalantly replied, "I promised him I would before the Hokuto Cup matches. He wanted to beat me and tell me his name was Hon Suyon."
Placing a stone down, Morishita asked, "How did it go?"
Responding with a stone of his own, Hikaru answered, "I won again. He seemed rather disappointed."
Klack. Another stone hit the board. "Disappointed in his loss, or disappointed in the way you played?"
Hikaru looked up from the board at Morishita with a somewhat surprised look across his face. "Sensei?"
"I have watched your game improve and evolve over these last two years, but what has remained the same was the passion you played with. That passion is what has made you what you currently are. I do not see that passion in the Go before me. I do not know why that loss to Ko Yeong Ha has been so difficult for you, but that loss will only make you stronger unless you don't allow it to. It's your turn."
Hikaru just sat there a moment, then quickly played a stone on the board. Why am I like this? It's because I couldn't defend Sai, prove to Ko Yeong Ha that Shusaku… that Sai, still could teach things… right? Playing another move, then another, Hikaru shook his head, then slammed his next stone down with his anger. No, it wasn't just about Sai. If it had been Sai, he would have moved on from that loss the second the first stone of the next game began. He had always said that even losing had purpose. I'm mad at myself, not for failing Sai, but for failing myself. That game, it was the first time I'd lost a game I couldn't lose no matter what costs. Tightening his grip on his fan, Hikaru's hand darted up to the upper corner of the board to cut off Morishita's attack.
It was difficult, realizing that even when heart and soul were completely placed into a game, when nothing mattered but victory no matter how it was achieved, holding complete confidence in that strength, that defeat could still come. As he placed another stone, a smile crossed Hikaru's lips. This must have been what Akira felt after Sai defeated him that second time. The doubt that my skills are enough, that I'll ever attain that height. If Akira saw me now, would he laugh?
As Hikaru played his next move and the move after that, a presence began to appear on the board, and an all too familiar fire began to burn in his eyes, in his heart. Well, let's just see him laugh at this! The same for Ko Yeong Ha too. Next year, the next team tournament, I'll qualify for it, and show Ko Yeong Ha and Akira my kind of Go, and next time I won't just be first chair, but I'll beat Ko Yeong Ha too!
As his next move went down, Morishita grinned inwardly. It appeared that the boy was getting over the loss, and would be back to playing his style of Go again shortly. Good, because he had his own style too, and he planned to be around to show Hikaru just what he could do the next time they met in battle.
As Hikaru placed his next move however, Morishita gasped slightly, and paused. Staring down at the stone, he blinked, then snapping out of it played the attachment. He then waited for Hikaru's next move, which came right after. No, he must have imagined it. For a moment, he could have sworn though that when Hikaru had played that stone, his fingers had been glowing.

40000 Visitors!

2012-01-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

Today we breached the 40000 visitors border together!
Thank you all so much!

50th Judan challenger

2012-01-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

At the 23.01.2012 the game to decide the challenger of Iyuma Yuta in the 50th Judan title match was played between Cho U and Ko Iso.

After 157 move Cho U was able to force Ko Iso to resign. Here is the kifu of a great game with some complicated battles:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Gokifu player.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

This leads to a really interesting title match because last year it was Cho U who lost the Judan title to the challenger Iyuma Yuta with 2:3.

Tromp bet - The result: Welcome our new Lord Zen!

2012-01-23T03:16:00.000-08:00

A week ago the Tromp bet games have been played and the results from last year have been reversed and Zen beat Tromp solidly. Tromp won the first game by resignation but lost the two games after that and thus lost the bet! Welcome our new Lord Zen the bot!

Game 1:
(Won't upload to gokifu somehow. Will fix it later somehow...)

Game 2:
Gokifu player.

Game 3:
Gokifu player.

13th Female Myeongin - Challenger final

2012-01-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

Who will be the female Myeongin contender this time and thus be allowed to challenge Rui Naiwei for the title of the Female Myeongin this year ?

The challenger final is a Best-of-3 between Choi Jung (1.Dan) and Kim Miri (2.Dan).

Choi Jung was able to win a row of 8 games during the 5th Auction cup. Besides she already met Rui Naiwei in tournament: She lost by 0,5 points in the final of the 5th Female Gisung. Will she be able to get her revenge ?

Kim Miri has already had some successes as well. One of the greatest was her qualification for the 14th Samsung Cup. And guess who was one of her opponents in the progress: Correct, in the last rounds of the preliminary she was able to defeat Rui Naiwei.

It seems like both challengers would be able to beat Rui Naiwei, who is holding the title since its 6th edition. But who will face her in the end?
The first game already took place at the 19.01.2012. Here is the corresponding kifu:

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Gokifu player.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

It just might be me but I'm impressed how Choi Jung was able to dominate in this game. She took the first victory and is in a good position now.

The next game will be on the 26.01.2012.
If a tie breaker is needed, it will be played on the 27.01.2012.

Meme Day - 6

2012-01-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

Meme Day - 5

2012-01-22T05:14:00.000-08:00

Meme Day - 4

2012-01-22T05:12:00.001-08:00

Meme Day - 3

2012-01-22T03:35:00.000-08:00

Have a idea? Submit it and see it on this blog!

Meme Day - 2

2012-01-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

Meme Day - 1

2012-01-22T02:49:00.001-08:00

« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

2012-01-21T06:12:00.000-08:00

Chinese

《施氏食獅史》

石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。

氏時時適市視獅。

十時，適十獅適市。

是時，適施氏適市。

氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。

氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。

石室濕，氏使侍拭石室。

石室拭，氏始試食是十獅。

食時，始識是十獅屍，實十石獅屍。

試釋是事。

Pinyin:

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.

Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.

Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.

Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.

Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.

Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.

Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.

Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.

Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī.

Shì shì shì shì.

English:

« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten lions.

He often went to the market to look for lions.

At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.

At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.

He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.

He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.

The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.

After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.

When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.

Try to explain this matter.

Kaya and 0.4 and 0.5

2012-01-21T03:19:00.001-08:00

Kaya is making tremdous progress theses weeks just have a look at the current changelogs:

 Version: 0.5 Alpha
   - Name: Fischer Time
     Desc: Added full support for Fischer time.
   - Name: Coord markers
     Desc: Messages in the chat are parsed so hovering text like "B7" draws

 a marker in the board. Try to click the board while holding the CTRL key.
   - Name: Custom Passwords
     Desc: Now you can reset your password from login and set your own

password in your profile.
   - Name: User List
     Desc: Can sort the list by rank, nick and karma.
   - Name: Alert on names
     Desc: Name calling now produces sound, and it has a minor improvement.
   - Name: Finished games
     Desc: Now you're able to browse the game as both observer and player,

 and share variations.
   - Name: Keyboard Shortcuts
     Desc: Try browsing the game with your arrow keys, even holding CTRL or

 SHIFT. Then back to game with ESC.
   - Name: Chat on Replay
     Desc: Chat stays when you refresh, now you can share variations and go

 comments and they will remain there for others to see and discuss.
   - Name: Gommander shortcuts
     Desc: There are shortcuts for all commands.
   - Name: Tweaki
     Desc: Over 12 issues closed from the Tweaki.
- Version: 0.4 Alpha
   - Name: Tweaki
     Desc: Added new command in gommander to gather up feedback quicker.
   - Name: Glicko
     Desc: Updated to the latest version and changed rating from elo based

 to aga like.
   - Name: Bots
     Desc: Improved the replay bot and implemented support for GnuGO bot.
   - Name: Antivirus clash fix
     Desc: We have made some port reassigning that might solve the issue of

 some Antivirus blocking the site.
   - Name: Gommander
     Desc: Now you can share links in-comments, as oppposed to using a full

 command. Also new Malkovich command.
   - Name: Mute
     Desc: Now you can mute the sound in games.
   - Name: Automatic grammar suggestions for the chat.
     Desc: I just realized the browser does it automatically. Nice feature :)
   - Name: Ranks are reset
     Desc: Ranks are all 30k by default and you can change it in your profile.

 Careful! only once :)

Gabriels message from before the update:

Ssup people!

We are in mid summer here in Buenos Aires and both dp and I are slowly

roasting in the heat.

We
 are staying in the outskirts o fBuenos Aires, so for a change, i get to
 see some green grass and trees, and some nature, away from the concrete
 city of Bueno Aires.

Being here without city-like distractions has made this Kaya.gs first

 summer camp, one we hope, of many.


We
 are 27hs away from the 0.5 release and with that release comes the 
change of Founder to Supporter. Founder accounts have not yet been 
designed but are very well documented in the server, and we have been 
thinking of what could we add to distinguish them. 

I liked the 
idea of a brick icon next to the nickname, as founders is asimilar 
concept to a builder. We are very flexible on this idea so its the best 
moment to suggest, as a Founder, how would you like to be showing in the
 server.

Palapiku said that a 72pt flashing banner was expected, but i'm afraid

 that would be a bit too invasive.

The
 best places to add something are user lists and profiles. With your 
suggestions bare in mind though, that people that aren't founders 
shouldnt feel secluded or left out.
 
Also 0.5 will have the first easter egg. We added something special that

 we hope those that find it will cutely enjoy :)

We
 are extremely happy with our work, and we have a really good pacing. 
Each week brings a whole new set of features and functionality, along 
with a great number of tweaks and fixes. I must say that the Tweaki is a
 great invention at the same time it is our doom :).

Stay tuned 
guys! and give an opinion for how you would like your founder accounts 
to show in the server, its your recognition, your brand!

Man vs Machine - The tromp bet

2012-01-12T05:52:00.000-08:00

I bet many KGS players know of this bet from last year. Now it has been renewed and we will see how much the computer can do now. Below the gogameguro article and Darren's message on the bet.

Tromp bet: January 13, 8pm US Eastern Time on KGS, the contender Zen is sporting a dual 6-core Xeon X5680 (overclocked to 4.2Ghz) so let us see how far the computer can go.

Many of you followed the Go Bet event in London at the end of 2010,
where John Tromp triumphed and I was forced to hand over the $1000. Now
it is time to see if the bots have improved in the past 12
months, as John will play another match with a computer program.

 When: During January 2012 (exactly when will be announced soon)
 Where: On KGS
 Format: Best-of-5 (first to three wins)
 Rules: Chinese, 7.5pt komi
 Time: 90 minutes each, with byo-yomi of 25 stones per 10 minutes
 Hardware: (to be announced)

Yamato, the author of Zen, was reluctant to take part a year ago, unsure
of the outcome. Well, this year he has agreed to take part. A sign the
machines have improved... or just over-confidence?

Darren

P.S. The match is online this time, and there is no wager, so my only
involvement is the publicity :-)


-- 
Darren Cook, Software Researcher/Developer

http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2012-January/004527.html

http://gogameguru.com/man-machine-showdown-board-game-go/

Kaya.gs development News

2012-01-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

The last days I have been enjoying being able to test Kaya.gs in it's Alpha testing. So far the experience has been very enjoyable. Features are implemented at a steady pace, currently updates happen every friday and in the last we received sound for placing stones. Bugs that are occuring usually are fixed quickly and staff is being very responsive to suggestions and bug reports.

This a picture from a pro game replay grabbed from gokifu and as you can see Kaya.gs looks promising. More news about it's development will follow!

Happy holidays

2011-12-24T03:59:00.000-08:00

Hey all

we wish you happy holidays and nice turn into the new year!

The school - Day 1

2011-12-10T12:42:00.001-08:00

Dec. 9th, It is always a slightly desperate feeling when you enter something new. This time for me it is a Baduk school. New teacher, new players and maybe potential new friends because we are all connected through. In this particular school there is many classes and many students competing in leagues and I wonder how I will be doing from now on. As I am new I do not know anything here and no one does know me. For better or worse that may be proven soon in the first game I will play soon. The teacher will introduce me to the students now...

Dec. 10th, The second day is over and I think I have settled down quickly enough. As it is middle in the month I will not be able to compete for the first place in the lowest class though. However that might prove difficult as I lost my first league game already by resignation. I made a pretty obvious defending misting pushing once too often before defending my weak centre group. I got tenukied and it ended a good starting game in a messy death. There is twelve classes to climb up to with 30 games every month so it will be tough. But I wanna be the very best. Beating them all is my real quest!

The first game:
Gokifu player.

Know

2011-11-27T12:18:00.001-08:00

How much do you know of Go? Suppose a god of Go knows Go 100. How much do you know of Go? One of the best Go player Fujisawa Hideyuki 9 dan pro in Japan answered "6".

LG Cup is going on...

2011-11-22T00:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday were played the quarterfinals of the 16th LG Cup in Beijing, China. In this stage the games were played by:

Kim Jiseok vs Qui Jun
Won Seongjin vs Jiang Weijie
Chen Shiyuan vs Yi Changho
Xie He vs Heo Yeongho

Game 1: Kim Jiseok vs Qui Jun

Game 2: Won Seongjin vs Jiang Weijie

Game 3: Chen Shiyuan vs Yi Changho

Game 4: Xie He vs Heo Yeongho

Kim Jiseok (l) vs Qui Jun (r) - Chen Shiyuan (l) vs Yi Changho (r)

Xie He, Kim Jiseok and Jiang Weijie - Yi Changho is missing

These three players plus Yi Changho are qualified for the semifinals on 23rd November 2011....tomorrow.

Games in the semifinals:

Kim Jiseok vs Jiang Weijie
Yi Changho vs Xie He

-a1r-

Yuki Satoshi lost his only title

2011-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yuki Satoshi has lost his only title, the Tengen. He faced Iyama Yuta in the final games after Yuta bet O Meien in the challenger match. The 37th Tengen was decided after three games all won by Iyama Yuta.

Now he is the youngest title holder in history of the Tengen. Previously Ryo Shikun with 23 yrs was the youngest one.

Youngest title holder - Iyama Yuta

Players	1st round 10-24 Hamamatsu Shizuoka	2nd round 11-08 Sapporo Hokkaido	3rd round 11-17 Kitakyushu Fukuoka	4th round 12-12 Awaji Hyogo	5th round 12-18 Tokushima Tokushima
Yuki Satoshi (Tengen)
Iyama Yuta (Judan)	W+R	B+0.5	W+R

As you can see, Iyama didn't want a long series so he managed a short rallye.

After losing his Meijin title to Yamashita Keigo on 28th November 2011 he collected a new one.

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3:

-a1r-

Cho Hanseung (조한승) captured Kuksu (국수)

2011-11-18T01:56:00.000-08:00

Cho Hanseung won the 55th Kuksu title. He challenged Choi Cheolhan for the title in a five game play-off.

Players	1st round 10-17	2nd round 10-25	3rd round 11-08	4th round 11-14	5th round 11-16
Choi Cheolhan (Kuksu)		B+R		B+R
Cho Hanseung (9 dan)	B+R		B+R		B+1.5

Here you can see the results of each played game with date.

The first match:
My first impression was that black played for territory - due to the opening but than turned into influence play. So he can varies his play individual....like every pro should do - I guess :P He gained more and more territory after more exchanges. In the end white resigned cause of less points.

The second match:

Choi Cheolhan had a better day. The opening was better and I felt like his is playing more aggressive this time. In an early stage of the game white lost a group by gaining a bit territory on the right side. But compared I think it was a lot less points worth. Black didn't stop to ut pressure on white and Cho Hanseung resigned after 177 moves.

The third game:

From the beginning the game was influenced by fighting. Black played the Chinese opening and white fighted back immediatly. After saving a white group by Choi Cheolhan, black could gain more and more points for a comfortable lead. Choi Cheolhan resigned 173 moves.

The forth game:

After this game the standing was 2-2. Choi Cheolhan killed few groups of Cho Hanseung and could win by resignation.

The diciding match:

Cho Hanseung (black) vs Choi Cheolhan (white). The last game in the 55th Kuksu tournament. A fearce battle has begun. Black killed some of white's groups but couldn't get the lead on the board. A pae fight was in the end of that game. That was a dicisive moment in the game. After almost 300 moves Cho Hanseung won the game by 1.5 points and captured the title!

This is the game:

Choi Cheolhan looks very diappointed after the result was offical.

Maybe he can recapture the title in the 56th edtion!

- a1r -

Gu Li and Won Seongjin advanced to the finals

2011-11-08T03:14:00.000-08:00

Won Seongjin 9p

Gu Li 9p - current title holder

This guys above are the finalists of the16th Samseong Cup 2011. The final games will be held from 6th ~ 9th December 2011 in Shanghai, China.

But now I will show you the games they both played in the semifinals. The semifinals are best-of-three play-offs.

Gu Li had to face Na Hyeon 1p from Korea. In the first game Gu Li w/black played a hoshi - shimari opening against white's chinese opening. First impression - territory and fighting!

In the second game, Na Hyeon played better than in the first game. Unfortunately Na Hyeon couldn't beat Gu Li in this match again and had to resign after just 130 moves. Gu Li advanced to the final with a 2-0 score over Na Hyeon.

The second semifinal was between Won Seongjin and Chen Yaoye 9p from China. Both players are well known in the Baduk community and they showed interesting games.

A short introduction of the first game: White, Chen Yaoye resigned after 203 moves, due to less points :)

The second game was better for the Chinese representive. Chen could fast biuld up a huge territory on the left side. But this didn't last long, as Won invaded it successfully and reduced the points down. In the end the game was won by Chen with a margin by 2.5 points.

The standings are even now. The last game dicided the semifinal #2 between Won Seongjin and Chen Yaoye.

This time Won Seongjin was white again and fought well until the end. The last result in this years semifinals was a victory for the Korean. He won the game by 7.5 points - kinda huge in pro world.

I hope that Won Seongjin will win the title, due to the fact, that Gu Li is the current title holder :P

- a1r -

6th Korean Prime Minister's Cup - 2011

2011-10-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys
long time no see. I am back with an international amateur tournament from Korea - the Korean Prime Minister's Cup. This time the championship was held in Pohang.

This time over 60 countries participated. Overall just three Europeans came into the top10...kinda sad.

And the winner is.......China! Zijian CHEN 6dan, born in 2000, became the champion after beating some strong guys ;)

I guess that he will be professional in china in some years or maybe even closer.

Second place went to the Korean 유병용 - Yu Byeongyong and the third place to Japan in person of hiraoka Satoshi, two-times worldchampion.

Here are th top10:

1위 - 천즈지엔(중국) - Zijian CHEN 6dan - China
2위 - 유병용(한국) - Byeongyong YU 6dan - South Korea
3위 - 히라오카 사토시(일본) - Satoshi HIRAOKA 8dan - Japan
4위 - 양징(캐나다) - Jing YANG 6dan - Canada
5위 - 대만(린스쉰) - Sry
6위 - 분핑텅(말레이지아) - Boon Ping TENG 5dan - Malaysia
7위 - 온드레이 실트(체코) - Ondrei SILT 6dan - Czech
8위 - 프레드릭 블롬백(스웨덴) - Frederik BLOMBACK 6dan - Sweden
9위 - 벤자민 토이버(독일) - Benjamin TEUBER 6dan - Germany
10위 - 파볼 리지(슬로바키아) - Pavol LISY 5dan - Slovakia
And here are some pictures again :)

Hope you liked it :)

See you next time...

- a1r -