The 2014 Samsung Cup semifinals were played from November 5-7, 2014 in Daejeon, Korea.

The semifinal pairing saw China’s top ranked Shi Yue 9p pitted against Korea’s number 2, Kim Jiseok 9p, and China’s number 9, Tang Weixing 9p, take on Korea’s leading player, Park Junghwan 9p.

From left: Park Junghwan 9 dan, Tang Weixing 9 dan, Kim Jiseok 9 dan, and Shi Yue 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup semifinal

According to Dr Bai Taeil’s world rating system, Shi, Park and Kim were ranked 1, 2 and 3 as of October 2014.

Tang, the defending champion, was ranked a few places below at number 11.

Day 1 – Shi vs Kim

Shi played black against Kim in their first game.

There was an interesting fight on the right side, and the result up to White 80 was even.

White 98 was a nice invasion, and Black 103 and 105 were very severe.

White 112 was a brilliant tesuji, and the result up to White 122 was still about even.

However, White took a slight lead with move 134.

White 160 was a skillful way to steal Black’s eye shape, which also supported his stones in the lower left.

White’s cut at 166 consolidated his advantage. Tang tried to reverse the result in the endgame, but Kim didn’t give him any chances.

Shi Yue 9 dan hoping to defeat Kim Jiseok 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup

Day 1 – Tang vs Park

Tang played black against Park in their first game.

Black 25 was a mistake, and White 26 was a good way to respond. The result up to Black 33 was very good for White.

Tang Weixing 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup semifinal

White lost the momentum briefly with moves 52 and 54, which were slack, and Black tried to catch up with Black 53 and 55.

However, White 72 and 74 were nice and thick, which allowed White to maintain his lead.

Black 91 to 95 were practical moves but White 96 was a mistake. White should have extended to G6 instead.

White 102 and 104 were overplays, and White 112 was yet another mistake. It should have been at 115 (G6) instead.

Even though White captured the corner group, Black captured White’s two stones up to Black 141.

The game was completely reversed up to Black 147.

White would eventually have to play many moves to win the capturing race in the bottom left (semedori) so his territory there was smaller it looked.

Day 2 – Shi vs Kim

Kim played black against Shi in their second game.

Kim Jiseok 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup semifinal

White 62 and 64 should have been played in the reverse order with the cut followed by the atari. The game was slightly better for Black up to move 67.

Black 87 was a strong counter (against 86), but White 96 was also a very nice tesuji. The result up to White 110 still slightly favored Black.

When Black attacked White’s left center group, White 140 and 142 formed a good combination, and the game became even up to move 160.

White 178 was a mistake. He should have played at L12.

White 186 was the losing move. Black cut the center stone in sente and built a huge territory in the center up to Black 191.

Day 2 – Tang vs Park

Park played black against Tang in their second game.

White 36 was an overplay and Black attacked effectively with move 37.

Park didn’t really give Tang any chances after he took this early lead.

White 62 should have been the push at 63 (N11). The game became very good for Black up to move 73.

White saved his group up to White 96, but Black was still ahead with Black 97.

Black 125 was a nice tesuji, and White 132 was necessary to maintain the balance of territory.

Tang Weixing 9 dan defeats Park Junghwan 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup semifinal

However, Black’s attack was very severe and accurate from Black 133, and White didn’t have any opportunities to live.

Day 3 – Tang vs Park

Park played black against Tang in their third game.

The big trade up to white 26 was interesting but Black 27 was a mistake which left bad aji.

Black should have reinforced the bottom instead of playing at Black 47 (C14).

White 58 and 60 were an effective combination and Black 71 was a bit slack.

White 80 was what Tang had been aiming for since the opening, and it was very hard for Black to capture.

When White’s group at the bottom was resurrected, the game became very good for White.

White 124 was a mistake and Black 141 and 143 worked well together to reduce White’s territory on the left.

The result up to Black 159 was successful for Black, but White was still slightly ahead.

Tang’s endgame was flawless, and there were no chances for Park to catch up.

When Park resigned, Tang was winning by 2.5 points.

Tang Weixing 9 dan to defend his title at the 2014 Samsung Cup final

Kim’s first international final

Play will resume from December 9-11, with the final of the Samsung Cup being held in Xian, China.

This will be Kim’s first appearance in an international final while Tang will be hoping to defend the title he won last year.

For the record buffs out there, Kim and Tang’s head to head record currently stands at 3-1 in Kim’s favor.

2014 Samsung Cup finalists, Kim Jiseok 9 dan and Tang Weixing 9 dan

The Samsung Cup

The Samsung Cup first started in 1996 and uses a rather convoluted draw. Though, arguably, it is fairer than a straight knockout format.

The 32 players in the main draw are split into 8 groups of 4. Players must win two games in order to proceed from the first stage; two players from each group will advance to the knockout stage.

In some ways it’s similar to the group stage of the FIFA World Cup, except that only two wins are necessary to continue.

The round of 16 and the quarter finals are played as a straight knockout.

The semifinals and the final are played as a best of three matches.

The time limit for games is 2 hours and 5 x 1 minute byo-yomi.

Samsung is a well known Korean conglomerate.

Game records

Shi Yue vs Kim Jiseok – Game 1

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Tang Weixing vs Park Junghwan – Game 1

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Kim Jiseok vs Shi Yue – Game 2

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Park Junghwan vs Tang Weixing – Game 2

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Park Junghwan vs Tang Weixing – Game 3

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Younggil An, with Jingning Xue and David Ormerod

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Here are the weekly Go problems for week 126.

Black plays first in all problems and all solutions are labeled ‘correct’. Have fun!

Easy Go problem

The eye stealing tesuji is useful in life and death problems too.

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Intermediate Go problem

If you focus too much on capturing stones, you’ll often overlook good moves.

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Hard Go problem

Reduce White’s eyespace, then look for a vital point.

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Still want more Go problems?

You can find Go books packed full of life and death problems, tesuji problems and other valuable Go knowledge at the Go Game Shop.

Discuss other possible moves

If you have any questions or want to discuss any of these problems, please leave a comment below at any time. You can use the coordinates on the problem images to discuss a move or sequence of moves.

You can also download the solutions as a PDF or SGF file by clicking the links below each problem.

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The 16th Nongshim Cup got started in Beijing, China, from October 21 to 24, 2014.

What’s in the giant noodle cups? The draw!

The Nongshim Cup

The Nongshim Cup is a team event between China, Japan and Korea.

The sponsor, Nongshim, is a Korean instant noodles company.

The tournament uses a win and continue format, which is common in these team events.

Korea has dominated this event, winning it 11 times. In contrast, Japan has won it only once, while China is slowly catching up with three wins.

Round 1 of the 16th Nongshim Cup is now complete. Round 2 will start on November 28, 2014 in Busan, Korea and round 3 will take place some time in the first half of 2015.

Game 1

Ichiriki Ryo 7p and Byun Sangil 3p kicked off play for the Japanese and Korean teams respectively.

Much to Japanese fans’ delight, Ichiriki defeated Byun to get team Japan off to a good start.

Byun Sangil 3 dan (left) and Ichiriki Ryo 7 dan at the 16th Nongshim Cup

It was a very one sided game.

Black 33 was a mistake, and White took an early lead.

Black 91 was an overplay, and the game was practically over by move 102.

Byun tried to catch up but Ichiriki didn’t give him any chances.

The last Japanese player to win the opening game in this tournament was Hane Naoki 9p in 2007.

Ichiriki won the 1st Globis Cup earlier this year, in May 2014, and he’s considered to be one of Japan’s most promising players.

Yoda Norimoto 9p was also at the tournament to support team Japan.

Some pros say this is Japan’s best Nongshim Cup team in several years.

Yoda Norimoto 9p supporting Ichiriki Ryo 7p at the 16th Nongshim Cup

Game 2

Ichiriki also played very well against Tuo Jiaxi 9p, who was the first to step up to the plate for team China, but he didn’t maintain his lead and allowed Tuo to catch up and eventually win the game.

Tuo Jiaxi 9 dan (left) takes on Ichiriki Ryo at the 16th Nongshim Cup

Game 3

Next, Tuo faced Kang Dongyun 9p, who was the second player for team Korea.

Tuo’s opening in this game was dull. When Tuo invaded in the top left, Kang attacked severely and chased Tuo’s dragon all the way to the bottom of the board.

Kang eventually defeated Tuo with a series of very sharp tesujis.

Kang Dongyun 9p defeats Tuo Jiaxi 9p at the 16th Nongshim Cup

Game 4

Now we’re going to have a look at the fourth game, between Kang Dongyun 9p and Ida Atsushi 8p, in detail.

Kang Dongyun 9p and Ida Atsushi 8p at the 16th Nongshim Cup

Kang is currently ranked #4 in Korea.

He made it to the quarter finals of the 2014 Samsung Cup in mid October, but his run was cut short when he was defeated by Tang Weixing 9p.

Ida was born in 1994. He and Ichiriki are considered to be two of Japan’s rising stars.

Ida challenged Iyama Yuta 9p for the 69th Honinbo title in 2014, but he lost 4-1.

However, to earn the right to challenge Iyama, Ichiriki defeated Yamashita Keigo 9p in the challenger decision match, which caused quite a stir among Japanese Go fans.

Let’s have a look at the game!

Commented game record

Kang Dongyun vs Ida Atsushi – Game 4

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Other game records

Byun Sangil vs Ichiriki Ryo – Game 1

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Tuo Jiaxi vs Ichiriki Ryo – Game 2

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Kang Dongyun vs Tuo Jiaxi – Game 3

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Get Train Like a Pro and other books for just $10 each.

We recently received a shipment of Go books from Oromedia.

Unfortunately, Oromedia went out of business last year and won’t be publishing or printing any more Go books.

The books that we’ve received from them are the last ones and they’re now out of print.

Click to see the Go books

Save 50% plus

Because we were able to buy these books at a discounted price, we’ve decided to pass the savings on to Go Game Guru readers and sell these books at very cheap prices.

Nearly all of them are priced at $10 or less, which is more than 50% off the prices at other stores (where they usually cost $20 to $30 each).

Don’t miss out

I added all the books to our website over the weekend and they’re already selling quickly.

If you’re a collector, click here now to see which books are still available.

First come, first served

There’s limited stock and there’s no way to restock once titles sell out. To make this fair, orders will be managed strictly on a first come, first served basis.

Our online store will keep track of stock and who ordered first, and once books sell out they’ll disappear from this page.

Once that happens the only way to get them will be if someone cancels their order, or if someone sells them to you second hand (though out of print Go books are often expensive on the second hand market).

So, if you see something you like, please act quickly. Because there won’t be anything we can do to help you once a book sells out (even though we may want to).

Shipping from the US and UK only

We’ve split the remaining stock of Oromedia books in half, between our locations in the US and Europe.

If a particular book runs out of stock in one location, then our store will automatically route all orders for that book to the other location until it’s sold out.

If you have questions about order routing and stock levels, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Full list of Oromedia books

Here’s the list of titles which we received from Oromedia:

• The Speed Baduk Series
• 100 Tips for Amateur Players 2
• A Life of One Hundred Years Seems Like a Game of Baduk
• Creative Life and Death 1
• Creative Life and Death 2
• Inspiration of Pro
• Korean Style of Baduk 1
• The Best Game Records of 2009
• The Master of Haengma
• Think Like a Pro: Haengma
• Think Like a Pro: Pae
• Train Like a Pro 1
• Train Like a Pro 2

Click here to see which books are still in stock

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Shi Yue 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup

The 2014 Samsung Cup resumed this week, with the round of 16 and the quarter finals taking place in Daejeon, Korea.

The round of 16

The Round of 16 took place on October 14, 2014. There were eight players from China, seven from Korea and one from Japan (Murakawa Daisuke 7p) who qualified for this round.

Unfortunately for Murakawa Daisuke and his fans, he was bested by Tang Weixing 9p’s sabaki skills, leaving only Chinese and Korean players to proceed to the quarter finals.

Murakawa Daisuke 7 dan faced Tang Weixing 9 dan in the round of 16.

Rui Naiwei 9p played her typical powerful game as Black, against Kim Jiseok 9p, but the game became difficult for her after White lived skillfully inside Black’s moyo and her dream run came to an end.

Round of 16 results

The full results from the round of 16 were as follows:

• Park Junghwan 9p defeated Yan Huan 5p
• Kim Jiseok 9p defeated Rui Naiwei 9p
• Lee Sedol 9p defeated Liao Xingwen 3p
• Kang Dongyun 9p defeated Lian Xiao 4p
• Zhou Ruiyang 9p defeated Cho Hanseung 9p
• Shi Yue 9p defeated Kim Seungjae 6p
• Rong Yi 4p defeated Kang Seungmin 3p, and
• Tang Weixing 9p defeated Murakawa Daisuke 7p.

2014 Samsung Cup quarter finalists (from left): Tang Weixing, Kang Dongyun, Zhou Ruiyang, Park Junghwan, Shi Yue, Lee Sedol, Rong Yi and Kim Jiseok.

2014 Samsung Cup quarter finals

The quarter finals were played on October 16.

Four Chinese players and four Korean players progressed from the round of 16, so the sponsor arranged the draw to create four ‘China vs Korea’ matches.

Whether by luck or skill, it turned out that Korea was represented by it’s top four players (by current domestic rating) – Park Junghwan, Kim Jiseok, Lee Sedol and Kang Dongyun.

China also fielded a strong team, including Shi Yue (#1), Zhou Ruiyang (#2) and Tang Weixing (#7).

Park Junghwan defeated Zhou Ruiyang

Park Junghwan’s style is very strong against Zhou Ruiyang. Their head to head record to date is 7-1 in Park’s favor.

Park chalked up another win to extend the record against Zhou to 8-1.

Park Junghwan 9 dan defeated Zhou Ruiyang 9 dan in the quarter finals.

Shi Yue defeated Lee Sedol

Shi Yue tends to have trouble against Lee Sedol too. Their head to head record is 4-1 in Lee’s favor.

However, Lee struggled to win a crucial ko in a complicated game, and Shi proceeded to the semifinals.

Shi Yue 9 dan and Lee Sedol 9 dan at the 2014 Samsung Cup.

Tang Weixing defeated Kang Dongyun

Tang Weixing and Kang Dongyun played their second game together (previous record 1-0 to Tang).

Kang was leading the game as White up to 126, but he went all out to kill Black’s invasion at 127 and the game fell to shreds after Black escaped.

Kim Jiseok 9 dan proved too strong for Rui Naiwei 9 dan and Rong Yi 4 dan.

Kim Jiseok defeated Rong Yi

Kim Jiseok and Rong Yi played together for the first time and Kim overpowered Rong with his sharp attacking play.

This was Rong Yi’s career best record in an international tournament so far.

Quarter final results

• Park Junghwan 9p defeated Zhou Ruiyang 9p by resignation
• Kim Jiseok 9p defeated Rong Yi 4p by resignation
• Shi Yue 9p defeated Lee Sedol 9p by resignation, and
• Tang Weixing 9p defeated Kang Dongyun 9p by resignation.

Semifinals in November

Tang Weixing – the defending champion in this tournament – will face Park Junghwan in the semifinals, and Shi Yue will meet Kim Jiseok.

The semifinals will also take place in Daejeon, from November 5-7, 2014. Players will have to win a best of three match to proceed to the final.

2014 Samsung Cup semifinalists (from left): Tang Weixing and Park Junghwan, Shi Yue and Kim Jiseok.

2014 Samsung Cup photos

Game records

Shi Yue vs Lee Sedol

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Zhou Ruiyang vs Park Junghwan

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Tang Weixing vs Kang Dongyun

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Kim Jiseok vs Rong Yi

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This is the eighth and final game of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango.

Gu Li 9 dan (left, at board) and Lee Sedol 9 dan review the final game of their 10 game match.

This game was played on September 28, 2014, in Chongqing, China – which is Gu Li’s hometown.

The score going into this game was 5-2 in Lee Sedol’s favor which meant that this game was a kadoban for Gu and might be the last of the match.

In game 7, Gu had a nice opening, and Gu managed the game very smoothly until the middle game. However, Gu played a careless move, and Lee reversed the game with a sudden attack.

After Gu lost game 7, the atmosphere of the match changed, and a lot of Chinese journalists and Go fans lost interest in the Jubango. That’s because even if Gu won all three of the remaining games, the best result he could achieve was a tie.

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:

1. Ask questions about the game – if anything is unclear, please let us know so we can explain it better!
2. 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.
3. 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.

Anyway, let’s have a look at game 8 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango.

Commented game record

Gu Li vs Lee Sedol – Game 8

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Teach how to play Go in your town. It’s fun!

So you want to run a Go demonstration for Learn Go Week, but aren’t sure what to do?

You’re not alone. Since proposing Learn Go Week in July, we’ve received more questions about this than anything else.

The good news is that it’s not that hard, and we’ll work with you to make it as easy as possible.

We have customizable posters, brochures, printable Go sets and much more ready for you to use.

1. Choose a good location

Don’t run a Go demo on a deserted island!

If you’re only going to do one thing right and don’t have time to worry about anything else, make it your choice of location.

A good location for your Go demo can partly make up for a total lack of promotion and other preparation (as long as you still have a Go set).

On the other hand, a poorly chosen location can ruin even the most meticulously planned event.

Choose a location with a lot of foot traffic.

Choose somewhere which:

• Is fairly well known (so it’s easier to tell people where it is and for them to remember if you tell them).
• Is easy to get to for people who’ve seen your advertising.
• Has a lot of local foot traffic at the time when you’ll be there.

Examples of good locations are public spaces near popular shopping areas, popular parks and tourist attractions (check whether you need permission to use the space).

Read more about choosing a location

2. Promote your event

Use this customizable poster to promote your event AND your Go club.

If more people know about your event, more people will come. It’s that simple.

And the more ways you promote your event, the more people will know about it.

You can promote your Go demo on shoestring budget in each (or all) of the following ways:

• Posters – stick them up anywhere and everywhere!
• Local media – reporters are looking for interesting stories all the time.
• Social media – get your friends involved too.
• Word of mouth – once you start promoting your event, people will tell their friends.
• Register your Learn Go Week event – let us help you promote your event.

This brings us to one of the main reasons for Learn Go Week. Three Go players running a local teaching event isn’t that remarkable, but the same three local Go players who are now part of a global phenomenon involving thousands of players is a completely different story.

That’s another reason why you should register your Learn Go Week event, to help create a tangible list of events which you and other Go players can show to the media to credibly claim that x people are involved.

If you’ve been involved with your Go club for years, I’m not asking you to do anything different to what you usually do (unless you want to). I’m just asking you to do what you always do to promote your club, and to do it on the same day as everyone else.

3. Be prepared

This isn’t boy scouts, but the principle is the same. The more prepared you are the more smoothly things will run.

We have all kinds of material for you to print and give to people

Have a look at our event checklist to get ideas about what you’ll need on the day. You can find all the Learn Go Week checklists here.

4. Teach and enjoy yourself

Keep it simple! Don’t lecture people or they’ll fall asleep.

Now that you’ve got people’s attention, teach them! That’s why you’re doing this, right?

Remember, you love Go so it should be easy to talk about it with enthusiasm.

When teaching beginners, keep things simple to start with and get people playing and having fun as soon possible.

Read more about teaching

5. Follow up with people

After a satisfying day of teaching people to play Go, it’s tempting to think that your job is done.

However, if you have a Go club (or want to start one) you’ll be selling yourself short if you don’t follow through afterwards.

This requires a little preparation too, but it’s as simple as asking people to write down their email address on the day (if they seem interested).

Once you have some new contacts, email them to invite them to other local Go events and meetings. If you don’t have any events, invent one!

Further reading

All of these tips come from our Guerrilla Go Marketing Toolkit. Check out the toolkit for many more suggestions and resources.

What are your tips?

What we’ve discussed here only scratches the surface of what’s possible when promoting Go.

I know a lot of you also have a lot of experience promoting Go and have been doing this for years. I’d love to hear your ideas about the best ways to run a Go demonstration.

What are your top tips for readers who are new to all this?

To share your ideas, click here and leave a comment below.

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Lee Sedol 9p extended his lead against Gu Li 9p to 4:2, when he won game 6 of their 10 game match on July 27, 2014.

From left: Lee Sedol 9 dan, Ni Zhanggen (sponsor) and Gu Li 9 dan.

The sixth game of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango was held in Liuan, Anhui Province, China.

Another early lead for Gu Li

Once again, Gu Li’s skill in the opening gained him an early lead and the game favored Black after 27 moves.

Black was still in the lead up to move 41, with a large territory in the top right, but then…

Lee Sedols seizes an opportunity

…When Black played a double hane at the bottom, and then extended with 45, Lee Sedol didn’t miss a beat. He cut White’s group in two and started a fight in the bottom right corner.

Black fought back resolutely, but White promptly sacrificed two stones – gaining sente moves in the center and turning to attack Black on the left side.

In the fighting that followed Lee was able to catch up again.

Lee Sedol at game 6 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango.

A brilliant empty triangle

White’s empty triangle at 112 was hard to see, but it was a brilliant move which made miai of L9 and G4 for White. This instigated a large trade.

When the dust settled at 122, White had captured Black’s right side group and made two of his own groups strong in the process.

A sure thing turns to chaos

It looked like White was well on the road to victory when he played 134.

However, just when we were were thinking it was over already, the game became unexpectedly complicated, with White 146 and 148.

Spectators were left on the edge of their seats for another 30 moves – where any move could decide the game.

It was no longer a sure thing, but Lee Sedol pulled through and grasped his fourth win for the match. Black resigned after 178 moves.

Gu Li is under pressure after another disappointing game.

Gu Li needs to find another couplet

The players have alternated between two games each in the match so far.

Lee Sedol won games 1 and 2, but Gu Li came back in games 3 and 4, and so on. It’s as if they were exchanging rhyming couplets!

Gu Li better hope this pattern continues, because if he loses game 7 he’ll have to face three successive kadobans (match deciding games) and will be up against the wall.

Game 7 will take the players back up to the heavens, this time in Lhasa (August 31). Since altitude sickness was a factor in game 5, we might see the players doing some altitude training in the next month.

Lee Sedol is in a good position as the match passes the halfway point.

We’ll be back with a commentary soon, but in the meantime here are An Younggil 8p’s preliminary comments:

An Younggil’s preliminary analysis

Gu Li started the game with a nice opening up to Black 27. White 20 and 24 looked questionable in this sequence.

White 36 was an unexpected ladder breaker, but the result up to Black 41 was still good for Black.

Black 43 and 45 were too much, and White countered with White 46 and 48. White caught up by sacrificing two cutting stones at the bottom.

White 62 and 64 demonstrated Lee’s unique attacking style. They were practical moves, well suited to the situation. The continuation up to White 72 was successful for White and the game became even again.

Black 85 and 87 were sharp, but White’s responses were accurate up to White 96. The game was still playable for both players.

White 98 and 100 were nice haengma, but White 104 and 106 were overplays.

Black 109 was careless, and the game suddenly became difficult for Black.

White 112 was a brilliant move, and Black was in trouble.

The trade up to White 122 was very good for White, and White took a solid lead. I couldn’t find any other options for Black after Black 109.

Black 123 to 129 were a nice way to resist, but White didn’t give Black any chances to catch up with 134 and 138.

White 146 and 148 were big mistakes and they made the game very complicated. White didn’t need to play aggressively like this, because he was already well ahead if he just played it safe.

Black 153 was an incredible move and the game descended into total chaos. However, Black 157 wasted a good opportunity. Black should have played at 162.

White 162 seemed to be a mistake, and Black 167 was the last losing move. He should have played at 169 first, and it still would have been difficult for White to wrap up the game.

White 168 and 172 were the finishing blows and Black resigned.

Lee Sedol (left) and Gu Li – Game 6, MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango. Wang Runan 8 dan (center) oversees the match.

The MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango

Two of the world’s top Go players, Lee Sedol and Gu Li, will play a jubango throughout 2014, to decide which of them is the stronger player.

A jubango is a 10 game match between two players. The term originates from the Japanese language and has been imported into English language Go parlance. The first player to win six games wins the match.

The official name for this event is the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango. MLily is a mattress and bedding company that also sponsors the MLily Cup.

Game record

Gu Li vs Lee Sedol – Game 6

[Embedded SGF File]

David Ormerod, with Younggil An and Jingning Xue

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The World Cup is over (congrats Germany!) and the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango resumes this weekend!

If you’re following the 10 game match between Gu Li 9p and Lee Sedol 9p, don’t miss game 6.

Don’t miss game 6 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango!

Lee Sedol currently leads the match 3-2 after breaking his losing streak against Gu Li in game 5.

The players have just taken a very long two month break from the match, so they’ve both had plenty of time to reflect on the games so far. What happens next is anyone’s guess.

If you’d like to review the games from the match so far, you can find them all on our Lee Sedol vs Gu Li Jubango page.

Join us for live coverage of the game

Live coverage with commentary of the match will start on Baduk TV three hours after the first move is played.

The commentators will replay and analyze the game from the beginning and Go Game Guru’s An Younggil 8p will translate and discuss the game (in chat) with Baduk TV Live viewers.

The coverage starts at 1:00 pm Korea time on Sunday, May 25, 2014.

Which is:

• 4:00 am, Sunday morning, UTC (GMT)
• Midnight, Sunday morning, US Eastern Daylight Time
• 9:00 pm, Saturday night, US Pacific Daylight Time
• 5:00 am, Sunday morning, British Summer Time
• 6:00 am, Sunday morning, Central European Summer Time, and
• 2:00 pm, Sunday afternoon, Australian Eastern Standard Time.

You can join us for the game for as little as $2.70 with a Baduk TV Day Pass.

If you plan to watch the game from the very start, remember to subtract three hours from the times given above. Baduk TV starts the coverage three hours later because the games go for so long.

We look forward to watching the game with you this weekend.

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Here are the weekly Go problems for week 122.

Black plays first in all problems and all solutions are labeled ‘correct’. Have fun!

Easy Go problem

You shouldn’t always be satisfied with small gains.

[Embedded SGF File]

Intermediate Go problem

What’s the best endgame move for Black?

[Embedded SGF File]

Hard Go problem

Both sides are short of liberties. You need to get to the vital point quickly.

[Embedded SGF File]

Still want more Go problems?

You can find Go books packed full of life and death problems, tesuji problems and other valuable Go knowledge at the Go Game Shop.

Discuss other possible moves

If you have any questions or want to discuss any of these problems, please leave a comment below at any time. You can use the coordinates on the problem images to discuss a move or sequence of moves.

You can also download the solutions as a PDF or SGF file by clicking the links below each problem.

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