Kisei VS Dynamite

I have TOPIK exam coming up on this Saturday so I shouldn't really be writing this but… The recent two games were too exciting. I couldn't help but write something about it.

Kim Jisuk 8p and Lee Sedol 9p met in the finals of the GS Caltex Cup in Korea. Some people call it the match of the century because both of them are top pros in Korea and are so strong. Lee Sedol is ranked no. 1 and Kim Jisuk is ranked no. 3 in Korea. Kim Jisuk already beat Park Junghwan, the Korea no. 2, to get into the finals. Meanwhile Lee Sedol lost to Park Junghwan 0-2 a few weeks ago in Maxim Cup. Can Kim Jisuk beat Lee Sedol also and gain another breakthrough in his career?

From the result of the 1st two games, it's very likely.

Let's take a look at the first game.

The opening was very interesting and nobody has ever played this before. A difficult fight has started at the bottom left since early game. It's funny how the commentator said that most likely this game will end half-way and not go until yose. This shows that both Kim Jisuk and Lee Sedol are fighters and they don't like calm games.

In the situation shown above, white 40 is the only move. Lee Sedol is showing his talent early in the game.

If white plays loosely like this, black can hane and double hane, white's few stones will die due to lack of liberties.

However, Kim Jisuk also didn't fall down so easily. Black 51 hane was a very good move that white had difficulty answering.

If white blocks, black's pincer will be a very good tesuji.

If white connects, black will atari like this. 57, 59 are all sente. And black gets to connect back with 61. Black destroyed white's territory and separated white at the same time.

If white takes the black stone black will atari at 55 and…

Due to the exchange, now when black cut at 57 white's few stones cannot run away.

In the end the bottom part ended quite peacefully, but another fight broke out on the top. They ended up fighting the ko at A, which concerns black's whole group's life and death. Luckily white didn't have a lot of ko threats, and when black played at 145 white could not answer the ko anymore. However white is not happy with just connecting the ko with A, so he proceeded to destroy black's territory and threaten black's upper right corner by playing at 146, while black also happily takes whites 4 stones at 149. Up to this point, black was thick and had more territory. The game looked better for black. White could only hope to win by making top left big.

Black's top right ended up in a ko, but Kim Jisuk didn't start the ko right away. Instead he ran the top stones by playing at 165. Probably he thought that the stones are too big to die, and because white had some weaknesses as well he had the confidence of making the group alive. White of course cannot let black run away so easily, hence he played at 166 to attempt to kill black's group. This was the last fight in the game and both sides could not retreat.

Despite having said so, Lee Sedol gave up on killing black by playing at 174. After taking the 2 white stones with 175, black is completely alive. Maybe Lee Sedol thought that he could also win by territory this way, or he already saw that it was impossible to kill black. White also played 176 to kill black's top right and played 180 which is very big. But at this point the game was slightly better for black.

White 202 was the last big yose. After this both players played to their best, but black managed to keep the slight lead and won by 1.5 points in the end. This game did end up to be a yose game, unlike what the commentator predicted.

The shape on top was actually interesting. The commentator was wondering why white didn't hane here instead of the kosumi. But he soon realized that it doesn't work because black can play at 205. White can only eat at 206 and black plays 207. Now because white's centre group is not alive, black A and B are miai. Lee Sedol of course would not misread this kind of sequence.

Even though this ended up to be a close game, the local fights were very interesting. In the end Lee Sedol chose to go for yose but still couldn't catch up. Kim Jisuk took the lead by winning the first game.

The second game was even more interesting. 

Another new shape appeared in the bottom left corner. Lee Sedol seems to like to play new moves every time. I wonder if he has done any research or he was just in a "mood" to do so.

The first round of fight begin in the top right corner. Now it was Kim Jisuk's turn to play a new move. White 36 has never been seen before and the commentator was stunned. He said that maybe Kim Jisuk has done research before. 

This commentator was quite funny XD

Lee Sedol of course accepted the fight, and the situation turned out to be very complicated. White 50, 52 and 54 are good moves. Black couldn't bear with just living at the top, so he atari-ed at 53. An unexpected exchange occurred here.

The exchange was slightly bad for black in terms of territory. White also became thick, and black had to make his bottom right corner large. White of course wouldn't let it happen and went in at 58. Another round of fight began.

The fight here was also interesting. White attached at 60, and because the ladder was good for white black could only cut at 61. White 64 is a common tesuji, and for a moment it looked like a they had a peace agreement. But Lee Sedol continued to play strongly at 67, not letting white off easily.

The fight finally ended at 78. In the process, black 71 is a good move. If black doesn't make that exchange, instead of white 74, white can choose to play at A, which is a better shape for white.

The white group is already almost alive after 78, so black played at 79 to make use of the aji he left in early game. This turned out to be the biggest and the most important fight in this game.

Because the bottom black is quite thick white didn't really have chance to retaliate. Black 83, 85 are all sente and here comes the strong blow: 87, 89 cut!! 

I was just expecting black to live by playing hane as above. White also has weakness so white has to connect at 92 and black can go back at 93. Locally black destroyed white's territory and seems to be happy with the result. But I forgot that Black is Lee Sedol…

Actually I thought that maybe Black will cut… But I was still very stunned at the move. Even the commentator said 헉, which is what Koreans say when they are astonished. I don't know how to describe the cut other than using the word kisei. Yes, it's all about kisei. I don't think Lee Sedol read out everything in such a short period of time. But he felt that at that situation, even if the left black group dies, he had to cut.

If it was me I would never dare to play that kind of move because I could see clearly that the left group will die if I cut…

Lee Sedol's kisei is amazing...

The fight here was super difficult. White 94 is a common tesuji to reduce black's liberties. Black 97 is also a must because this is obviously going to be a capturing race so black had to occupy white's liberties. White 98 is also a must. If white just plays simply at 99 he would lose by one liberty. After Black 103 it seemed like a ko was going to appear, but White 104 made a mistake here.

After white 104, if black just plays normally like this, it would become a tiring ko for black because black has to win the ko two times in order to kill the white group. 

Instead of the actual game, white 104 should have just connected here, and the state of the ko on the bottom left would still be the same.

Kim Jisuk seems to have overlooked Black's good move here. Black started by playing at 105 and 107, which seemed strange because Black is playing the ko threats even before the ko has started! But Black had its reasons. And after the exchange, BANG! 109 came the ultimate blow.

The fact that he exchanged the centre moves first was to actually prevent white from eating the two stones by ladder!! If white plays atari at 112 like this, black can go back at 115 and white is not able to eat the two stones at 116 due to the exchange in the centre. What an amazing reading by Lee Sedol in such a short period of time!!

In the end white had no choice to follow what Black wants, and the ko in the corner miraculously became a direct ko! This means black only needs to win the ko once in order to kill white. White seemed quite upset about this result, but surprisingly the game was still complicated. White 116 is a good move and creates many ko threats for white in the centre.

The ko fight was very difficult and especially when under byoyomi it is very difficult to find the correct ko threats. When white played atari at 132, black didn't want to give white more ko threats hence played at 133. However this was Black's losing move.

Black should still come out at 133 instead of taking the stone. White takes the ko, and now Black has two ko threats in the centre A and B, plus one local ko threat at C. White only has 2 ko threats left at D and E, so most likely this will still end up in an exchange like the actual game. But this way black's top left group will be completely alive and much thicker.

The commentator also suggested that maybe black should look for the ko threat in the centre first instead of A which is what black played in the actual game. This way black didn't make bad exchanges at bottom and can hope to get an exchange later by eating the bottom right white stones through the ko.

The actual game ended up in an exchange where white ate all the black stones on the bottom left but black at the top right white stones. Black lost in terms of territory again. And most importantly, white's 136 is very painful and black has no choice but to connect at 137. After white plays at 140, black's bottom is also not alive so black had to play another move at 141. Game was good for white at this point.

But when White could have chosen to play peacefully, he chose to enter black's territory by playing at 144. This was a live or lose move, and it fits what the commentator in the first game said: they didn't want the game to end by yose. Black 145 of course cannot tolerate white living in Black's territory. Now the game was simple. White needs to live to win, and Black needs to kill to win. Nothing else.

Either Kim Jisuk had the confidence of making the group live, or he just wanted to deal a fatal blow to Lee Sedol. He wanted to defeat his opponent both physically and mentally. Even the commentator was thinking about giving Kim Jisuk a nickname called Dynamite, because his moves are so explosive. 

And from the actual game, it seemed that killing this group was not easy.

White 164 = A

Even though Black tried his best, it was still difficult to capture White because Black had so many weaknesses on his own. White 160 is a good tesuji. In the end White escaped successfully to the centre white destroying Black's right territory in the process. Black 169 was either a timesuji, or Lee Sedol had already given up. White ignored and played two more moves in the centre, while Black captured top right by playing at 171. But this was not an exchange anymore because Black lost too much in the centre.

Lee Sedol played a few more moves after this and then resigned. 

The games were really exciting. Lee Sedol seemed to have played more good moves than Kim Jisuk, but in the end he still couldn't withstand Kim Jisuk's "explosive" abilities and went down. If this was boxing, it would be as though Lee Sedol landed many heavy blows on Kim Jisuk but he managed to avoid the critical parts and in the KOed Lee Sedol by giving the final blow.

Seeing Lee Sedol's expression when reviewing the game, I'm sure he is quite upset. The game was so complicated it was very difficult to find the best result.

The first two games ended in a 2-0 for Kim Jisuk. If Kim Jisuk takes the next game, he will win the championship. Will Lee Sedol fight back? A while ago in the Myeongin Championship finals, Lee Sedol lost to Baek HongSeok 0-2 but in the won the last 3 games and claimed the title 3-2, so I'm sure Lee Sedol still hasn't given up yet. Who will get the championship is still hard to say.

All I can say is, I am definitely looking forward to the next game on 22nd April.

I'm so glad that I learnt Go. If not I would not have been able to enjoy such an exciting match. :)

Lee Sedol and Kim Jisuk reviewing their game after the 2nd game:

First game:

Kim Jisuk (B) VS Lee Sedol (W)
Black won by 1.5

(;EV[µ⁄18ΩÏ∫´π˙GSº”µ¬ ø±≠戻¸ŒÂ∑¨∆µ⁄“ªæ÷]DT[2013-04-16]PC[]SZ[19]KM[6.5]US[∆ •µ¿≥°]SO[http://weiqi.tom.com]C[http://weiqi.tom.com ∆ •µ¿≥°-->æ´≤  ±æ÷ 18:00Ω¯––,√ø∑Ω10∑÷÷”,3¥Œ40√Î∂¡√Î.π⁄æ¸7000ÕÚ,—«æ¸1500ÕÚ∫´‘™] RE[B+1.5]PB[Ω÷æŒ˝]BR[∞À∂Œ]PW[¿Ó ¿ Ø]WR[æ≈∂Œ] ;B[pd];W[dd];B[qp];W[op];B[oq];W[nq];B[pq];W[eq];B[cq];W[np];B[do];W[qo];B[ro];W[pp] ;B[qq];W[qn];B[rn];W[ql];B[hp];W[fp];B[go];W[fo];B[fn];W[cp];B[co];W[gn];B[hn];W[gm] ;B[en];W[hr];B[hm];W[gl];B[ir];W[hl];B[dq];W[hq];B[iq];W[ip];B[ho];W[im];B[jp];W[io] ;B[in];W[jo];B[jn];W[ko];B[kn];W[ln];B[jl];W[fr];B[nr];W[kp];B[lr];W[lm];B[jj];W[hj] ;B[gq];W[gr];B[jq];W[dr];B[cr];W[ih];B[ll];W[ml];B[kl];W[kq];B[kr];W[is];B[jr];W[mq] ;B[mr];W[es];B[mk];W[nl];B[dj];W[kh];B[nk];W[ok];B[oj];W[ch];B[jc];W[nc];B[pf];W[hc] ;B[md];W[pc];B[qc];W[od];B[pb];W[ob];B[oc];W[nd];B[mf];W[pc];B[gp];W[fq];B[oc];W[kd] ;B[pm];W[qm];B[jg];W[jh];B[pk];W[ol];B[ni];W[pj];B[qk];W[pl];B[rk];W[pi];B[ri];W[og] ;B[lq];W[lp];B[nf];W[nh];B[mh];W[mi];B[li];W[mg];B[mj];W[ng];B[of];W[lh];B[il];W[pc] ;B[jd];W[ke];B[lf];W[kc];B[lg];W[mi];B[hd];W[kj];B[mh];W[ki];B[lk];W[mi];B[lo];W[mo] ;B[mh];W[bp];B[dp];W[mi];B[hk];W[pe];B[qd];W[qe];B[gk];W[oe];B[mh];W[jf];B[pg];W[gc] ;B[oc];W[nb];B[re];W[rf];B[sd];W[qf];B[eh];W[rb];B[rc];W[qb];B[hf];W[gg];B[fe];W[eg] ;B[fc];W[dc];B[de];W[ei];B[fb];W[ce];B[gd];W[pa];B[fh];W[fi];B[ej];W[bj];B[cs];W[mi] ;B[oh];W[mh];B[ph];W[ds];B[di];W[dh];B[gi];W[fg];B[fj];W[ee];B[bi];W[ci];B[bk];W[cj] ;B[ck];W[ak];B[al];W[aj];B[bl];W[eb];B[rg];W[sf];B[kb];W[lb];B[jb];W[ij];B[je];W[kf] ;B[kg];W[if];B[ig];W[hh];B[ie];W[mc];B[le];W[lc];B[rm];W[fa];B[ga];W[ea];B[hb];W[ik] ;B[jk];W[gj];B[fk];W[rl];B[sl];W[qg];B[rh];W[ec];B[hg];W[gh];B[ef];W[df];B[ff];W[fd] ;B[ed];W[oi];B[nj];W[fd];B[gb];W[gf];B[ed];W[sm];B[sn];W[fd];B[ge];W[hi];B[fi];W[km] ;B[jm];W[ed];B[js];W[hs];B[lj];W[ji];B[qi];W[ka];B[ja];W[la];B[sg];W[ld];B[me];W[kk] ;B[qj]C[ŒÂ∑¨∆µ⁄∂˛æ÷17»’18 ±Ω¯––])

Second game:

Lee Sedol (B) VS Kim Jisuk (W)
White won by resign

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