Go Commentary: Lee Sedol vs Gu Li – Jubango – Game 5

This is game 5 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango, between Lee Sedol 9p and Gu Li 9p.

Lee Sedol MLily Gu Lee Jubango Game 5 review 300x204 picture

Lee Sedol 9 dan during the game review.

The mood of the series changed dramatically when Gu Li defeated Lee Sedol in four consecutive games – including in games 3 and 4 of this match – and the overall score for the Jubango became 2-2.

This game was very important for Lee, because if he lost he’d face a heavy burden.

It would be very difficult for him to overcome the psychological damage of losing five games in a row, while also being behind in this match.

This game was played on May 25, 2014, in Shangri-La, Yunnan. Shangri-La is a famous location in the Chinese highlands, on the Tibetan Plateau.

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.

Let’s have a look at the game 5 of the 10 game match between Lee Sedol 9p and Gu Li 9p.