Gu Li 9 dan (left) and Lee Sedol 9 dan at game 4 of their jubango.
Gu Li 9p won game 4 of the MLily Gu vs Lee Jubango, drawing even with Lee Sedol 9p at two all for the match so far.
Game 4 was held on Jeungdo (Jeung Island) in Shinan County, near Lee Sedol’s hometown, and was the first and only game scheduled in Korea.
Before the game, the players paid their respects to the hundreds who died when a ferry tragically capsized on April 16.
The ferry incident occurred near the venue for this match.
Gu Li extends his streak to 4 in a row
Go fans who like to follow the Lee Sedol – Gu Li rivalry will already know that this is Gu’s fourth consecutive victory against Lee in the last two months.
“Do you see the light?” Gu Li (left) seems to have all the answers lately, chalking up four consecutive wins against Lee Sedol.
Lee will be wanting to dismiss these consecutive losses from his mind and focus all his energy on winning the next game, to stop Gu from making off like a runaway train.
However, anyone who’s played Go competively will know that this is easier said than done.
After losing his early advantage, Lee Sedol will be keen to put an end to Gu’s winning streak in the next game.
Game 5 will be held in Yunnan Province, China, and is shaping up to be a crucial turning point in the match.
An Younggil’s preliminary comments
Go Game Guru’s An Younggil 8p is in Korea at the moment, and reviewed the game live with other pros. Here are their preliminary comments, which Younggil kindly sent through for GGG readers:
(Note: you can download the game record or scroll down to view the game online and follow along with these comments)
Gu Li started the game with the Micro Chinese Opening.
Gu Li (right) plays his first move against Lee Sedol.
White’s approach from the side, at 8, has been getting more popular recently.
White 10 was unusual. Approaching at 14 is more common in this position, but Lee chose this move instead.
It looks like both players had researched this pattern before the game. The result up to 27 is playable for both.
Black 37 and 39 were good tesuji, and the game was still even up to Black 49.
Black 57 and 59 formed a nice combination, but White 58 and 60 were good responses.
White 66 was very sharp, and the result up to here was favorable for White.
White 72 and 74 were practical moves, and Lee might have thought that the game was good for White at this point.
White 76 was somewhat questionable, and the game became more or less even again here. White should have played at 87 instead.
White 82 was also a mistake. White should still have played at 87. Lee must felt that the game was still alright for him, but Black 83 was sharp, and Black 85 and 87 were very big. Those moves helped Black’s top group and also aimed to cut at M17.
White 88 doesn’t look good either. Black was happy to reinforce the corner territory with Black 89.
Black 113 was a brilliant move, and the game became slightly favorable for Black. The game was still very close, but Black was slightly better after Black 121.
Black 167 was the finishing blow, and the game was practically over here. If white connects at 173, Black will cut at 172, and he’ll be able to gain some more endgame points by squeezing.
Up to Black 179, Black was winning the game by around 2.5 points, so Lee Sedol resigned.
Gu Li (right) defeated Lee Sedol by resignation in 179 moves.
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.
Game record
Gu Li vs Lee Sedol – Game 4
[Embedded SGF File]
David Ormerod, with Younggil An and Jingning Xue
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Weiqi To Go 