The Mystery of 19×19

False ko threats are usually bad. However, in the 2010 Chinese Go League, Korean 9P Choi CheolHan intentionally played a “false” ko threat. Graph 1. Black is Choi 9p. White (Liu Xing 7P) just took the Ko on the upper right corner. If we count ko threats, it is clear that black does not have [...]

In the 2nd World BC Cup tournament, many spectators were shocked when Lee Chang Hao 9p of Korea lost to another Korean Amateur 6d in the second round. A few years ago, who would believe that an amateur player can beat Lee Chang Hao? The game was also very short, with Lee 9p taking black, [...]

Happy Thanksgiving. This is one of the semi-final matches of the 14th LG cup in Korea. Lee Changho 9p(Kr) defeated Park Wenyao 5p(CN) to advance into the final. In the other semi-final match, Kong Jie 9p(CN) defeated Park Yong Hun 9p(Kr). The final will be hosted in January 2010. This is a slow game. Both [...]

In the semi-final, Kong Jie 9p defeated Gu Li 9p with a 2-0 score, and Qiu Jun 8p defeated Lee ChangHo 9p with a 2-1. Kong and Qiu will be competing in the Final match, and whoever wins will become a new world Champion. This is the first game of the semi-final between Gu Li [...]

This game is the first round of the 57th Japanese OZA title. Cho U 9p, who just lost his Meijin and Agon titles, successfully defeated Yamada Kimio 9p with only 106 moves. The game started slow but Yamada 9p’s misreading led to black’s sudden collapse. Next game comment will be at the end of this [...]

This is the final match of the 34th Japanese Meijin title tournament. White player is Iyama Yuta 8p, one of the young Japanese pros. Black player is Cho U 9p, who currently holds 4 of the titles in Japan (after losing Meijin). In this Meijin tournament, Yuta lost the first match by 0.5 point. However, [...]

First update for October. The next update will be around mid Oct or earlier if possible. This game is between two young Chinese pros for the Chinese Agon Cup. I think it is a very interesting game. There was a very short opening then both players proceeded to the fighting without hesitation. This style is [...]

As we know, Lee Sedol 9p of Korea is currently taking a 1.5 year leave from professional Go tournaments. During his hiatus, he will play very few games. It is surely a loss for the Go world since Lee 9p is one of the strongest pros out there. This is the game he played in [...]

This is one of the semi-final game of the 21th World Fujitsu in Tokyo. Although his performance is not as impressive as a few years ago, Lee 9p is still arguably one of the strongest pros in the world. Liu Xing 7p from China also performed well in Chinese domestic tournaments this year. Hard to [...]

Happy July 4th Everyone! The World Fujitsu Semi-final was played in the Nihon-Kiin today. Here are the results. Lee Chang Ho 9p (W+R) – Liu Xin 7pGu Li 9p (W+R) – Chang Hao 9p The Final match will be between Lee Chang Ho 9p (Korea) and Gu Li 9p (China) on the 7th. Both players [...]