Former world champion, Seo Bongsu 9 dan, declares the 19th LG Cup officially open.

The main draw of the 19th LG Cup kicked off on June 9, 2014 at the Lakai Sandpine Resort in Korea.

A new wave?

A few years ago, we wrote about China’s ‘Tiger Cub’ generation, who were born in the 90s and, by now, have well and truly made their mark on the Go scene.

If anything, the remarkable results of 2013 could be summarized as ‘the year of the Chinese Tiger Cubs’.

This year, Li Weiqing 1p broke through to the preliminaries, to rub shoulders with the big guns in the main draw.

Like us, this next fact will probably make most readers feel their age; Li was born in the year 2000 and only turned pro last year!

14 year old Li Weixing 1 dan fought his way through to the round of 32. He was born in the year 2000.

Note that this isn’t even the first appearance of a pro born after 2000 at an international tournament. That honor went to Korea’s Shin Jinseo 2p and China’s Li Ke 1p, also both born in 2000, at the 2nd Bailing Cup earlier this year.

During his pre-match interview, Li, who had been paired against former wunderkind, Park Junghwan 9p, didn’t think his chances were particularly good, but looked forward to learning from the stronger Park.

Park certainly wasted no time securing himself a spot in the next round, in 146 moves.

Li Weiqing (right) had a good run. Unfortunately for him, Park Junghwan 9 dan put a stop to it in the round of 32, as Seo Bongsu watched on.

Where’s Gu Li?

Gu Li 9p was a notable absence in this year’s main draw. Unfortunately for Gu’s fans, he was defeated by An Kukhyun 4p in the final round of this year’s preliminary tournament.

Gu has played in 10 consecutive LG Cups since 2004, a record only surpassed by Lee Sedol 9p (15 consecutive appearances with 17 appearances in total), Lee Changho 9p (13 consecutive appearances) and Choi Cheolhan 9p (11 consecutive appearances).

Full results

• Xie Erhao 2p (China) defeated An Kukhyun 4p (Korea)
• Tang Weixing 9p (China) defeated Yuki Satoshi 9p (Japan)
• Byun Sangil 3p (Korea) defeated Liao Xingwen 5p (China)
• An Dongxu 5p (China) defeated Yamashita Keigo 9p (Japan)
• Li Zhe 6p (China) defeated Sun Li 5p (China)
• Ding Shixiong 1p (China) defeated Lin Zhihan 9p (Taiwan)
• Tuo Jiaxi 9p (China) defeated Ida Atsushi 8p (Japan)
• Xie He 9p (China) defeated Cho U 9p (Japan)
• Park Younghun 9p (Korea) defeated Piao Wenyao 9p (China)
• Kang Dongyun 9p (Korea) defeated Li Xuanhao 5p (China)
• Chen Yaoye 9p (China) defeated An Hyoungjun 4p (Korea)
• Kim Jiseok 9p (Korea) defeated Zhou Ruiyang 9p (China
• Fan Tingyu 9p (China) defeated Lee Sedol 9p (Korea)
• Park Junghwan 9p (Korea) defeated Li Weiqing 1p (China)
• Shi Yue 9p (China) defeated Kim Dongho 4p (Korea)
• Choi Cheolhan (Korea) defeated Mi Yuting 9p (China)

Competitors at the 19th LG Cup.

Coming up: The round of 16

The players will have one day to enjoy the facilities Lakai Sandpine Resort, before play resumes on June 11. Stay tuned for updates on the results. The pairings for the next round are:

• Fan Tingyu vs Kang Dongyun
• Tang Weixing vs Park Junghwan
• Xie Erhao vs Ding Shixiong
• An Dongxu vs Park Younghun
• Tuo Jiaxi vs Byun Sangil
• Shi Yue vs Chen Yaoye
• Li Zhe vs Kim Jiseok

The LG Cup

The LG Cup is a major international Go tournament. It started in 1996 and the prize money is currently 300 million Won. The runner up receives 100 million Won.

The main draw of 32 players is part invitational, comprising of 5 Korean players, 5 Chinese players, 4 Japanese players, 1 Taiwanese player and including the previous year’s winner and runner up.

The rest of the main draw is determined through a preliminary tournament. The format is single knockout, with the final played as a best of 3 games.

The tournament is sponsored by LG Electronics, a multinational consumer electronics company whose headquarters are in South Korea.

The time limit is 3 hours and 5 x 40 sec byo-yomi for each player.
each player.

19th LG Cup photos

Game records

Lee Sedol vs Fan Tingyu

[Embedded SGF File]

Xie He vs Cho U

[Embedded SGF File]

Mi Yuting vs Choi Cheolhan

[Embedded SGF File]

Zhou Ruiyang vs Kim Jiseok

[Embedded SGF File]

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Lee Sedol 9p was involved in another quadruple ko on June 5, 2014. This time in a game with Jiang Weijie 9p, in the Chinese A League.

The referee declared the game a draw at move 276 and an immediate rematch took place. Jiang Weijie won the rematch by resignation.

That face: Lee Sedol (left) and Jiang Weijie’s game ended in a quadruple ko.

A different kind of quadruple ko

This quadruple ko was quite different to the one in Lee Sedol’s game with Gu Li 9p in 2012 – which occured in the group stage of the 17th Samsung Cup.

Last time, there were four separate kos between two entangled groups, and there was no way for either player to avoid the situation.

However, this time, there was a double ko on the right side as well as two half point (endgame) kos elsewhere on the board.

Why did Lee Sedol fight the ko?

Black (Lee) was winning by 1.5 points (not counting the kos).

However, if Lee wanted to avoid the ko fight, he’d have to spend another move on the right side to eliminate the ko, which would lose one point.

Furthermore, White would then be able to win both the half point kos, so Jiang would win the game by half a point.

Lee counted and realized that he couldn’t avoid the ko, without losing the game, so he played the quadruple ko and the game was ruled a draw.

If Lee had been winning the game by a margin of 2.5 points or more, he would have been able to avoid the quadruple ko and still win the game.

Lee Sedol 9 dan and Jiang Weijie 9 dan play a rematch after their quadruple ko game.

The Chinese A League

Lee Sedol is the team captain for Guangxi Province in the Chinese A League. He plays in the Chinese Weiqi League as what they call a ‘mercenary’ (what we might call an import in English). Jiang Weijie is also the captain of his team, Shandong Province.

This is the second drawn game in the history of Chinese A League. There was a triple ko between Gu Li 9p and Li Zhe 6p in 2011 and it was also declared a draw.

Lightning strikes twice

This sort of triple or quadruple ko (which voids a game under some rulesets) is extremely rare, but this is already the second such event involving Lee Sedol.

There’s a great deal of complicated, large scale fighting in Lee’s games, and that might increase the likelihood of these sorts of shapes arising.

For further reading, here’s a link to Younggil’s commentary of the last quadruple ko game, between Lee Sedol and Gu Li.

In 2013, there was also an ‘Eternal Life’ game between Ahn Seongjun 5p and Choi Cheolhan 9p, which some readers might be interested in.

Jiang Weijie: Happy to win the rematch against Lee Sedol.

Is a triple ko or quadruple ko unlucky?

Traditionally a triple ko is thought to be unlucky. This is because of a story (and it probably is just a story) involving a triple ko game between Honinbo Sansa and Kashio Rigen (also probably not a real person) in 1582.

Supposedly, a game which ended in a triple ko was played in the presence of the warlord Nobunaga. Shortly afterwards, one of Nobunaga’s allies turned against him, surrounded the monastery where he was staying and Nobunaga lost his life.

There’s historical evidence for the part about Nobunaga and his ally, but not for the story about Honinbo Sansa and the triple ko game.

According to John Fairbairn, a well known Go historian, the story was most likely a construction of later Go players. In The Go Companion he wrote:

“The famous ‘Legend of the Triple Ko at Honnoji Temple’ is almost certainly an invention of the later Go world. There is no historical evidence for it in text where it should appear, such as the Nobunaga Koki, the annals of Nobunaga’s reign. The first reference to the legend was over 100 years later…” – The Go Companion, page 195.

However, the story lives on and there’s even a supposed game record featuring a triple ko floating around on the internet.

Because of this, a triple ko is still regarded as unlucky, at least in Asia.

A quadruple ko is only slightly different, but one thing we can say for sure is that it’s unlucky for Lee Sedol. In both the games he’s played which involved a quadruple ko, the referee intervened and he lost the mandated rematch.

Game record – Quadruple ko

Lee Sedol vs Jiang Weijie

[Embedded SGF File]

Here’s the link to the rematch, which Jiang Weijie won, for anyone who’s interested.

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It’s not every day that our favorite game appears on the homepage of the world’s most popular search engine, but today is Honinbo Shusaku’s 185th birthday!

Google celebrated the occasion, in their usual style, by changing their logo to a drawing of Shusaku with Go stones spelling out the word ‘Google’. Here’s what it looked like:

A ‘Google Doodle‘ celebrating Honinbo Shusaku’s 185th Birthday.

Honinbo Shusaku

Shusaku was among the greatest Go players of the 19th century (born June 6, 1829). He’s most famous for his record of 19 consecutive wins in the annual castle games.

In a time of no komi games, Shusaku was practically invincible when playing as Black. There’s an amusing and often repeated anecdote that once, when a friend asked him about the result of a game, he simply replied, “I had Black.”

Shusaku’s Go style was relatively calm, compared to other players of the time, and he was highly skilled in knowing how much he had to do to win. If he was winning, he wrapped up the game with simple and clear moves. It’s only in games where he was behind, or where his opponent overplayed, that he suddenly revealed his power.

Unfortunately, Shusaku died of cholera at the early age of 33, so his career was cut very short. He was heir to the house of Honinbo – the strongest of the Go houses (academies) at the time – but never assumed its leadership.

Many Go players, including me, have replayed the collected games of Shusaku multiple times. More than 150 years later, there’s still a great deal for most players to learn from Shusaku’s games.

That’s one of the great things about Go – each game is a work of art, which distills the knowledge and experience of both players into something more or less permanent. Beautiful games can be passed from one generation to the next on a single piece of paper (or these days, in a file). See one example below.

Outside of Asia, commentaries of Shusaku’s games have mostly been available through John Power’s excellent compilation Invincible : The Games of Shusaku.

The ghost of Shusaku also made an appearance as the fictional charater ‘Sai’ in the popular anime and manga Hikaru no Go.

Happy birthday Shusaku!

After a write up like that, it wouldn’t do to forget to say happy birthday. So please join me in saying, happy birthday 185th Shusaku!

If you’d like to do something to celebrate, perhaps you can replay the Ear-reddening Game by yourself or with your Go playing friends. I’ve posted it below.

The Ear-reddening Game

The game below is called the Ear-reddening Game and is probably the most famous of Shusaku’s games. Shusaku played it when he was 17 years old, against (quasi-Meijin) Inoue Gennan Inseki. Shusaku was still known as Kuwahara Shusaku at the time (it was customary for Japanese people to change their names when they achieved certain titles or were recognized as masters of certain skills).

Gennan Inseki was one of the strongest players (probably one of the top two) of the previous generation and had a sharp, flexible Go style (just my opinion). I really enjoy his games and they’re a treasure trove of tesuji and subtle tactical details.

In this game, Shusaku was tricked when playing a new variation of the Taisha Joseki in the lower right corner. Black 25 should have been at Black 29 – something that’s in many books these days but wasn’t yet well known at the time. Shusaku was behind up behind up to Black 61.

Black 127 in this game is a famous move which gives the game its name. It’s said that a doctor, who was watching the game at the time, said that he thought Gennan would lose after this move was played. Asked why he thought so, he said:

“I don’t know much about Go, but when Shusaku played 127, Gennan’s ears flushed red. This is a sign that he had been upset. This move must have taken him by surprise.” – Invincible, page 106.

Black 127 occupies a key point for influence, lightly assisting Black’s four weak stones at the bottom, erasing White’s right side influence to some extent, aiming to invade on the left side and developing Black’s moyo at the top.

It’s a move which has been discussed endlessly, will probably keep being discussed for a long time, and may be discussed more in the comments below. So let’s leave it at that for now and have a look at the game:

Shusaku vs Gennan Inseki – 1846

[Embedded SGF File]

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Here are the weekly Go problems for week 118.

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

Easy Go problem

This problem looks suspiciously similar to last week’s easy problem. The key to solving it is to figure out where it differs.

[Embedded SGF File]

Intermediate Go problem

This situation has probably appeared in some of your games. It’s another joseki gone wrong. Do you know how Black should play?

Someone showed me this when I was a beginner and, until I was about 5 kyu, I used to win about 20% of my games because I knew how to play here. Maybe you can too!

[Embedded SGF File]

Hard Go problem

It looks like all roads lead to ko, but always remember that your opponent’s key point is your own.

[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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Here are the weekly Go problems for week 117.

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

Easy Go problem

This sort of situation comes up fairly often in the corner. Black can make two eyes with one move.

[Embedded SGF File]

Intermediate Go problem

White seems to have a lot of eyespace, but her shape is short of liberties.

[Embedded SGF File]

Hard Go problem

This problem looks almost the same as the previous one, but has different strengths and weaknesses. Be careful about relying too heavily on memorized sequences, as they can lead to blunders when the situation is a bit different.

[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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In 2013 Go Game Guru reported on Lee Sedol 9p’s plans to retire (from competitive play) and move to the US.

At the time, we quoted Lee as saying, “I’ll definitely retire and move overseas within three years.”

Go players, especially in the US, were excited at the time. However, one year later, it seems that Lee’s plans are less definite than we originally thought.

Lee Sedol 9 dan (right) and Gu Li 9 dan are playing a jubango in 2014. This has helped to rekindle Lee Sedol’s interest in Go.

Rumors and expectations

It’s been clear to us, as well as the Korean Go community, that Lee’s plans to retire have been on the back burner for some time.

Since we were the ones who originally reported this news (outside of Asia) though, and many Go players still seem to be anticipating Lee’s retirement, I feel that we should clarify the situation as we now understand it.

That is, Lee Sedol was seriously thinking about retiring and moving to the US, but his plans are not so clear anymore.

There are also some rumors that I want to address below.

What our source said

We spoke to a source who is very close to Lee and is well known to us at Go Game Guru.

Our source would prefer not to get involved in the politics or rumors surrounding this story, so they asked that we please keep their identity confidential.

Beyond speaking to Lee himself (which we haven’t done because he’s way too busy to be bothered about this) our source is one of the most reliable and trustworthy people you could talk to on this topic. Younggil and I will both vouch for that.

They said that Lee was seriously considering retiring, but that he’s since changed his mind.

He first spoke of retiring in 2009, when he took his leave of absence. At the time, because of some issues with the Korean Baduk Association, Lee often talked about retiring and not coming back.

The issues were mostly resolved and Lee returned to the tournament scene in 2010.

In 2013, Lee was involved in projects like Go9Dan.com and was missing his daughter, who was studying in Canada. He started to seriously talk about retiring again at that time.

Unfortunately, Go9Dan didn’t work out as planned, which affected Lee’s other plans. On a more positive note, the long mooted jubango between Lee Sedol and Gu Li finally became a reality and our source believes this has rekindled Lee’s passion for Go.

Because of this, Lee has stopped talking about retiring and doesn’t appear to have any plans to do so in the near future.

The rumors are not true

There have been rumors circulating that the original article written by Um Minyong, which we referred to in our earlier article, was entirely fabricated.

Some people have contacted us with these rumors and asked us to issue a correction.

However, our source is clear in stating that those rumors are false and that the criticism of Um Minyong is unjustified.

At the time, Lee may have slightly overstated the certainty of his plans to retire and the newspaper published Mr Um’s article in a somewhat sensational manner, but it was not fabricated.

What Lee Sedol says

Lee Sedol hasn’t spoken publicly about his retirement plans for some time, and, as I said above, we didn’t talk to him about this article because he’s too busy.

About a month after the original news was published, Lee said in another interview that there was a 50/50 chance that his plans to retire and move to the US would come to fruition. He explained at the time that there were many things to organize before that could happen and that it was complicated.

Since then, he hasn’t (to the best of our knowledge) said anything else substantive about whether he’ll retire or not. He hasn’t ruled retiring in or out. He’s simply stopped talking about it as the jubango with Gu Li and other things have demanded his attention.

People are allowed to change their minds

It sometimes seems to me that we no longer give people the latitude to say something and later change their minds these days.

There seems to be a view, especially with respect to politicians and other public figures, that saying one thing earlier and then saying something else later automatically means the original statement was a lie.

Sometimes people do lie, or make mistakes, but sometimes the situation changes. When things change, changing your opinion can be the intelligent and sensible thing to do. In Go, you need to change your strategy as cicumstances shift, and life is exactly the same.

If there’s no imminent plan for retirement, then that’s mostly good news for Go fans, because we’ll be able to enjoy more of Lee’s spectacular games in the meantime. In the long run, Lee will surely do whatever he thinks is best for his family. And North American Go players can keep their fingers crossed.

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I’m sorry about recent delays and the lack of updates on our website. People have been emailing us to ask if everything is ok, and offering all sorts of advice.

Nothing is wrong, it’s simply a result of some bad luck. I was sick earlier in the year and then I injured my leg quite badly.

For a while, I couldn’t work at my desk and had to work on a laptop with my leg elevated, so it was harder to keep up than usual.

Unfortunately, Go Game Guru is still a fairly small operation and things don’t run as well as usual when one of us is out of action. Hopefully we’ll overcome this one day in the future.

Everything is now back to normal and is being addressed as follows:

1. We’ll catch up with Baduk TV English posts and back date them, so there will be just as many new subtitled videos published as if nothing had happened. Four new videos have been published already this week.

2. We’ll get back to our regular posting schedule from now on.

3. No orders for Go equipment or books were affected because of this and our Go shop will keep functioning normally, as it has been.

Thanks to everyone who emailed us expressing concern. We’ll concentrate now on posting things and getting everything back up to date.

David

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Lee Sedol 9p literally soared to new heights to defeat Gu Li 9p in game 5 of their jubango today.

Gu Li 9 dan (left) and Lee Sedol 9 dan in the mountains of Shangri-La – the venue for game 5 of their jubango.

The 5th game of their 10 game match took place on May 25, 2014, in Shangri-La, Yunnan, China.

Lee Sedol won by resignation, reclaiming his lead in the match with an overall score of 3-2 in Lee’s favor.

Gu Li takes an early lead

In what seems to be a ‘joseki’ in games between these too, Gu Li’s superlative sense of play in the opening saw him take an early lead.

Up to White 38, commentators agreed that Gu (playing White) had the advantage.

Sensing his disadvantage, Lee wasted no time in complicating the game, going all out with Black 45 and 47 – a rarely seen pattern of play.

Lee Sedol fights tooth and nail

Lee Sedol fought back doggedly, complicating the game through a series of hard negotiations.

All sorts of subtle trades were offered. All sorts of silent threats were made.

However, Gu responded masterfully – seeing through Lee’s snares, maintaining his balance, and preserving his advantage.

Gu was able to end the negotiations in sente, and began the macro endgame with White 106.

Lee Sedol fought hard in a difficult game and, through a combination of skill, luck and raw willpower, was eventually able to turn things around.

Lee resisted hard with Black 117, refusing to give an inch and daring White to fight a ko – an offer which Gu happily accepted.

It seemed like the game was almost over (and I was getting ready to write this article). Lee was fighting a difficult ko, but he managed to launch himself off the ropes and land several blows against Gu in the complicated fighting that followed.

Gasping for breath

It seems that Gu may have succumbed to altitude sickness. From White 140 onwards he made several questionable moves.

Lee Sedol gets some ‘fresh air’. The game was held more than 3000 m above sea level, where the air is very thin. In this photo, Lee’s breathing from an oxygen tank.

The venue for the match was apparently well over 3000 m (10,000 ft) above sea level. Usually when tourists visit Shangri-La, they stop in Lijiang for several days to acclimatize.

In fact, both players were struggling with the climate, but it seems like it may have affected Gu Li more.

While Shangri-La boasts a world heritage listed national park, I’m not sure why the sponsor chose to hold games in these elevated locations.

Game 7 will be held in Lhasa, which (according to the Chinese media) is even further above sea level than Shangri-La.

Joanne Missingham 6 dan (right, MLily spokesperson) and her sister wearing the traditional outfits for this region.

Random Go trivia: China’s legendary Nie Weiping 9p had oxygen tanks and breathing appartus on standby at many of his major matches.

In his biography, it was explained that Nie needed to use the breathing apparatus because he concentrated so hard during his games, but Nie was also a prolific smoker, so make up your own mind.

More trivia: Shangri-La, in Yunnan Province, used to be called Zhongdian (or Jiantang in Tibetan), but was renamed to Shangri-La in 2001 to attract tourists!

It was named after the fictional Tibetan land in James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon. The novel has also been turned into a movie.

An Younggil’s preliminary analysis

For those of you who enjoy more detailed analysis, and less trivia, here are Younggil’s preliminary comments on the game:

Black started the game with the Chinese Opening.

Black 17 was unusual (the attachment at S16 is more common) and the result up to White 28 was playable for White.

Black 33 seemed questionable. Jumping at E14 would have been better.

Black 37 was very solid, but the result up to White 38 was better for White.

Invading at Black 39 was good, and Black 45 and 47 were a nice combination.

White’s responses at 48 and 52 were good, and the result up to White 62 was still favorable for White.

Gu made a good choice in sacrificing with White 66 and the game became simple and easy.

White 76 was very big, but there was bad aji at the bottom and Black was able to move out with Black 77 and 79. The game became complicated.

White 84 and Black 85 were unexpected, but nice, moves. The trade up to Black 105 was (locally) even, but White still maintained a slight lead.

White 106, 110, 112, and 114 were nice endgame moves. The game was still better for Gu.

With Black 117, Lee played an astonishing move. It seemed to be an overplay.

White 118 and 122 were an excellent combination and Black was in trouble.

Black 127 was a subtle and tricky ko threat. Gu made a mistake here. He should have answered the ko threat with White 128.

There was another big trade up to Black 133 and the game was still playable for White. However, the game became more complicated. It wasn’t a good sign for Gu, because he was already in the lead.

White 140 looked questionable. White should have played at N12.

Black 141 was a brilliant move. There was some bad aji at the top, and Black was able to enlarge the center while eyeing the bad aji.

White 146 was another questionable move. Gu should have ataried at M14.

Black was happy to move out up to Black 153 and it seemed that the game had been reversed at this point.

White 158 seemed to be another mistake, and the game was practically over when Black took two stones with Black 163.

Even though White was able to capture Black’s stones at the top, with White 172, the game already favored Black.

Gu resisted with White 182 and 184, but didn’t succeed because of he was short of of ko threats.

It was an incredible game between Lee and Gu, and it was the most spectactular game of the match so far.

Gu Li (left) and Lee Sedol begin game 5 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango.

Now let’s cut across to the FIFA World Cup

As many readers will be aware, the FIFA World Cup kicks off in Brazil on June 12 and continues for one month.

Both Lee and Gu could do with a rest and it turns out that they also want to watch the football like the rest of us. Gu Li actually plays in a social football team and has played in a team with other Go players from time to time.

Because of that, the Jubango will now take a month break and game 6 won’t be played until July 27.

This is a good thing! We were having great trouble keeping track of what was going on when game 1 of this match was scheduled at the same time as the Australian Open final back in January.

Lee Sedol will be able to enjoy his lead for two months, while he watches the World Cup.

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.

Go Game Guru is writing a book about this match and posting news and commentary about each game as it happens.

More photos

Game record

Lee Sedol vs Gu Li – Game 5

[Embedded SGF File]

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A quick reminder for everyone who’s following the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango – a 10 game match between Gu Li 9p and Lee Sedol 9p.

Game 5 of the match will take place this weekend. We’ve delayed the newsletter this week for readers who didn’t catch the news in time last month.

The Jubango is currently tied at 2-2 and you can get all the latest news and commentaries here.

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.

Watch game 5 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango this weekend – May 25, 2014.

Timezones and daylight saving

If the region you live in isn’t included in the list above, you can calculate it by adding or subtracting your time zone difference to 4:00 am GMT. Or you can use this website to calculate it for you.

By the way, a number of the regions in this list have started or ended daylight saving since the earlier games, so don’t assume that the starting time will be the same as it was for earlier games. Some readers were caught out by that with previous games.

Have I mentioned that I hate daylight saving time? This video does a good job of explaining the problems it causes.

The halfway point in the match

2014 is flying by and we’re already up to game 5!

This is very likely the midpoint of the match and the players will take a break in July, so this is the last Jubango game we’ll see for two months.

The sponsor (Ni Zhanggen from MLily) made a vague comment in a TV interview that the match could be extended to 13 games (if it’s tied 5-5 after the first 10). However, nothing to do with that has been decided yet (as far as I know), so please regard it as a rumor for the time being.

Who do you think will take the lead?

As I said above, the match is currently tied and whoever wins this weekend will take the lead.

Lee Sedol got off to a good start with two wins, but Gu Li has won the last two games and is currently on a four game winning streak against Lee Sedol (something that’s never happened before between these two players).

Who do you think will win this weekend, and who are you rooting for? Can Lee Sedol put a stop to Gu’s winning streak, or is Gu’s form looking too good?

Click here to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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Here are the weekly Go problems for week 116.

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

Easy Go problem

White’s shape is short of liberties. You just need to find the right move order.

[Embedded SGF File]

Intermediate Go problem

We looked at a similar shape last time, but don’t assume that both situations are the same.

[Embedded SGF File]

Hard Go problem

You can do a lot with thickness if you know how!

[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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