Even the European Go world reacts to the war in Ukraine, as the EGF now suspends Russia’s EGF membership. Meaning that Russian players can now only play as neutral players. With current travel restrictions it already was effectively impossible for Russians to play in Europe. Some individual countries might even go further and ban Russian and Belarusian players altogether.
Park Junghwan, who had after winning the first and second game in this best of five, had the best chances to win the title, did so in a clean sweep, and the inaugural KBS Championships that started in February 2021 (well over a year ago), came to an end. Although the score doesn’t fully confer the exciting middle game that happened in the third game.
The game like the previous ones was played with 90 minutes and 5×40 seconds of byo-yomi, Park Junghwan started strong, not unlike yesterday, but the trend that he laid out in the opening was halted in the middle game, as Park Junghwan “mismanaged” his middle-bottom group. However, Lee Donghoon didn’t capitalize on his opponents’ mistake, and soon after Park Junghwan was well on his way again, to in the end win the game by the smallest possible margin (0.5 points). Most interestingly is, that Lee Donghoon, who is known for his endgame calculations miscalculated, and thought he was winning his first game in this finals until the end. Park Junghwan later commented that he played well in the opening, taking a small lead, but that he suffered a loss while trying to break through with his middle bottom stones. But that by attacking his opponent he regained his lead, but that in the endgame he suffered too many losses, and that it was solely because of his lead before the endgame that he came out on top, and that he isn’t particularly good at it [endgame], but that when he manages his stamina well, he is able to compete on equal footing, with the strongest.
Park Junghwan wins 50 million won (37 thousand euros), and Lee Donghoon for being the runner-up ads 20 million (15 thousand euros) to his bank account.
After Park Junghwan won the first game in this best of five match he only needed two more. Starting this game he had the best odds, as Lee Donghoon only bested Park Junghwan two times before. against nine wins for Park (including the first game of this title).
The opening was a rather calm one, but from early on Park Junghwan, playing white, was slightly ahead, and from there constantly expanded his lead, until move 156, after which Lee Donghoon realized he fell behind and resigned. Park now only needing one more win, to win his first domestic title in over two years.
Time management might have played a significant factor here, as Lee Donghoon entered byo-yomi when Park Junghwan still had 35 minutes and 16 seconds on his clock.
The next games are to be played over the coming days (March 8-10), depending on whether Park Junghwan wins the championship in a clean sweep, or Lee Donghoon manages to win a game (or two, or three).
The first game of the Kisei kadoban [When a player needs only one more game to win the title] was played last Thursday and Friday (March 3-4), as Iyama lost the previous two games the score was now 1-3 in favor of Ichiriki Ryo.
This time, the game was played in Hotal Kagetsuen, located in Hakone, Kanagawa. Which lies 800m above sea level, and on a good day one might even be able to see Mount Fuji. The hotel has a history of hosting important Go (and Shogi) matches. This venue will also be where the next game will be played, in the coming week.
After the exchanges of 115 to 123 (of which the AI didn’t like a single move), Iyama took the lead and never gave it away. After an exciting fight that would involve the entire lower half of the board, Ichiriki resigned after move 213, being behind by almost 50 points.
Iyama is now only 2-3 behind and still has a chance to win the Kisei for the 10th consecutive time.
The 60th Judan is being played between two friends and Taiwanese players, namely, Kyo Kagen 9p (Hsu Chiayuan) and Yo Seiki 8p (Yu Zhengqi). Of these two players, Kyo Kagen currently holds the title. Yo Seiki is aiming to win his first of the seven big Japanese titles.
The game was played on March 1, at the Osaka University of Commerce. With 3 hours and 1-minute byo-yomi. This first part of the game was played relatively fast, as the first 90 moves were played before the lunch break. (2,5 hours in).
White 52 was an aggressive way of playing. Black counterattacked with 63 and 65 in the left corner. After move 105, Kyo Kagen became thicker in the center and started gaining momentum. Black was 115 is a calm answer after white 114 (which was a mistake) tried to put pressure on blacks upper group. In the end, Kyo Kagen, playing with black won the game by 0.5 points, having led most of the game.
In the post-game commentary, Kyo Kagen said he got lucky early on and was lucky to win. Yo Seiki told the interviewers he has some time before the second game and will prepare [again] for the second game.
As I mentioned before, it’s also the second time the finals of the Judan are to be played by two Taiwanese players. The first time was in 2004 when Cho U (Zhang Xu) challenged O Rissei (Wang Licheng) for the 42nd Judan (O Rissei won).
After Shin Jinseo won the “rematch” from Mi Yuting his winning streak against Chinese players continued, which now stood at 22 consecutive victories. His next opponent was from Japan, Yo Seiki 8p.
It was a sad sight to behold, Yo Seiki fell behind early in the opening, and Shin Jinseo never faltered during the game. After he was roughly 30 points behind Yo Seiki resigned after move 152.
Now probably the most anticipated match of the entire 23rd Nongshim Cup was probably this match. The number one player from South Korea (and the world), against the number one player from China (and ranked number three of the world). This game however was also very one-sided, with Shin Jinseo winning the game by resignation after 228 moves. Afterward, Ke Jie 9p gave perhaps the biggest compliment he is able to make, that he felt that Shin Jinseo played stronger than AlphaGo. Shin’s AI accordance rate for this game was a staggering 65.8%, with the final 15 moves being 71%. While in the meantime Ke Jie never got above 50%.
The final match was against Ichiriki Ryo 9p, who is also currently playing the Kisei against Iyama Yuta 9p. Ichiriki came prepared, and did fairly well in the opening, however in the middle game he was outplayed by Shin Jinseo, and Ichiriki Ryo resigned after 228 moves, being behind by roughly six points.
In the end, we saw another 4 game winning streak, the first one was from Iyama Yuta is the second stage of the tournament. Shin’s winning streak however took home the bacon. Which is 500 million won for the team, which is then distributed by a formula.
When combined Shin Jinseo takes home 160.82 million won, which is roughly 120 thousand euros.
The other teams don’t receive money for their participation, as this is a winner takes all tournament.
Finally, if that wasn’t enough, due to the game against Mi Yuting having to be replayed, all the games got moved up one day. Shin Jinseo already had a match planned for Saturday (Korean League game against Park Minkyu 7p), and instead of that match being moved, he played it immediately after winning the 23rd Nongshim Cup, and won that game as well!
Today (February 23rd) a second attempt was made to finish a game between Shin Jinseo 9p and Mi Yuting 9p, after an unsuccessful first attempt yesterday, where Mi Yutings Tygem Client (Korean Go server) malfunctioned. Yesterday the game was initially favorable for Mi Yuting, but after the game got complicated Shin Jinseo caught up, and the move that was never played (by Mi Yuting) actually would have led to a slightly favorable position for Shin Jinseo. We can only guess how it felt to have to redo the match, but this time it was Shin Jinseo who came out on top while playing with white (they did switch colors).
The game was fairly even until black played 127-129, and Shin started building a significant lead, and never gave away the control of the game. Mi Yuting resigned after move 214, which had cut off 8 of his stones.
His next opponent is Yo Seiki 8p (also known as Yu Zhengqi, as he is originally from Taiwan).
The third stage of the 23rd Nongshim Cup started Yesterday (February 22nd), and the games of this third stage are to be played the entire week. Iyama Yuta 9p, who singlehandedly defeated the majority of the Korean and Chinese teams unfortunately lost against Mi Yuting 9p on the first day of this third stage of the Nongshim Cup.
The game was even up until move 95, after which the game became increasingly favorable for Mi Yuting who played with white. A couple of mistakes followed, but none that gave Iyama a chance to get back in the game. and Iyama resigned after move 200.
Iyama seems to be on a bit of a losing streak, losing both the 3rd and 4th game of the Kisei as well. Commentators of the 4th Kisei game thought that he might not be feeling right, judging by the way he played at the end of that particular game.
The Nongshim Cup is a win and continue tournament, where the winner of the previous game continues, and plays against a team member of the country (China/Japan/South Korea) who didn’t play in the previous game. So currently Iyama Yuta (Japan) lost against Mi Yuting (China), so Mi Yuting’s next opponent has to come from South Korea, in this case, South Korea’s Golden Boy, Shin Jinseo, as he is the only player left from South Korea.
The game was favorable for white (Mi Yuting), with Shin Jinseo being behind as much as 19 points at one point. Shin Jinseo however fought back and narrowed the gap to 2.5 points. Then Mi Yuting click on the board and nothing happened (see the embedded Youtube video), and the time ran out. Initially, the judges ruled 2-1 that Mi Yuting lost on time, but after reexamination of the video, it was ruled a technical failure, and the result was annulled. The move that Mi Yuting would have played, if not for a technical failure would actually have evened the game. The new game is planned for tomorrow, and all other games will be delayed one day.
The first game of the KBA Championships was played last Sunday (20th of February). Park Junghwan 9p, ranked second in South Korea, played against Lee Donghoon 9p who is ranked number four. The game was favorable for Park Junghwan who played as black, but with move 135 (Diagram 1) he made a mistake that evened the game, giving Lee Donghoon a great opportunity. Lee Donghoon however didn’t cash in, as he made a fatal error only a couple of moves later with move 140 (Diagram 2; for the suggested AI variation, see Figure 1 for what he perhaps should have played), after which he soon resigned. The next game will be played this Saturday.
Iyama Yuta 9p, 2-1 behind after he lost the previous game in byo-yomi, was in damage control mode last Friday and Saturday (18th and 19th of February) in his Kisei title defense, while trying to do what no one has done before: holding on to the Kisei title for 10 consecutive years. Ichiriki Ryo 9p however proved to be the stronger player, and Iyama now trails 3-1.
During the middle game, a series of questionable moves were made (moves 154-157 according to AI), but Iyama ended up leading. A couple of mistakes were made, but then Iyama made a crucial mistake with move 194, which evened the game, Iyama still had the smallest lead, however. In the endgame, he made a small mistake with move 230, and lost by a half-point. Iyama now faces yet another kadoban, but he is still in the race, as he managed to win the two kadobans he was in last year as well (both against Ichiriki Ryo). But those times he only needed to win 2 more games, while now he needs three victories.
