Go Commentary: Gu Li vs Lee Sedol – Jubango – Game 4

This is game 4 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango, between Lee Sedol 9p and Gu Li 9p.

A turning point in the match

Gu Li 9 dan (pictured) is on a roll against Lee Sedol 9 dan in the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango.

The mood of the series changed when Gu Li defeated Lee Sedol in three consecutive games, including in game 3 of this match, but the overall score for the Jubango was still 2-1 in Lee’s favor.

However, since Gu was in an upswing, it was important for Lee to win this game and put an early stop to Gu’s run.

This game was held on Jeung Island, in Shinan County – near Lee Sedol’s hometown – and it was the first and only game scheduled in Korea.

Reviewing the game with other pros

At the time when this game was played, I was in Korea for my sister’s wedding. I really wanted to go to the venue, to watch and review the game live with other pros.

However, it was quite far away from Seoul (which was unexpected) and I didn’t have enough time to go there. That was unfortunate, but I was still able to review the game on the day, with other pros in a dojo in Seoul.

It was nice to be able to discuss this game, and the Jubango, with other pros. I rarely have such opportunities since leaving Korea. The commentary which follows is a combination of my own and that of other pros who reviewed the game with me.

We’re writing a book about this match

This commentary, and others, will form the basis for our Go book about Lee Sedol and Gu Li’s jubango.

The actual book will contain a more extensive commentary of this game, but you can regard what you see below as a draft (learn more).

Please help us to make our first Go book as good as possible. There are several ways you can help us to improve the commentary below:

Ask questions about the game – if anything is unclear, please let us know so we can explain it better!
Point out any mistakes, even minor typos – our first draft is below, because this is going to be a book, even small mistakes need to be fixed.
Tell your friends and ask them to help too.

The rules of the game

The time limit for these games is 3 hours and 55 minutes, with 1 minute x 5 times byo-yomi. It’s traditional to subtract 5 minutes from the 4 hour total, because of the 5 x 1 minute periods.

There’s no lunch break scheduled for these games, but food is provided and the players are free to get up and eat whenever they want, throughout the game.