Lee Sedol wins 8th Chunlan Cup!

              Xie He (L) Lee Sedol (R)                                                                       Photo Source:cyberoro.com

Lee Sedol 9P of Korea won the 8th Chunlan Cup by winning the best of three series, 2-1 to Xie He 7P of China. It is his first Chunlan Cup title, second title win of this year, and 15th world championship win of his career. Last year the winner of the Chunlan Cup was Chang Hao 9p who defeated in finals Lee Changho 9p 2-0.

The Chunlan Cup World Go Championship is sponsored by the Chunlan Group of China. 24 participants are invited, from China (9), Japan (6), Korea (5), Taiwan (2), America (1) and Europe (1). Each player is given 3 hours and 1 minute’s overtime counting for 5 times for the time. The compensation points are 7.5 and the champion and runner-up prize are $150,000 and $50,000 million respectively.

In the first game Lee Sedol tried some new variants in the opening (move 9) as he is always feels very confident in complicated situations. The turning point in the game was Lee Sedol's deep invasion into White's territory (move 133) which was not easy to answer. A few moves later Lee Sedol finds loophole in White's position, managing to divide White groups and eventually kill one.

In the second game Lee Sedol tries new move in joseki (White 18) according to my joseki base normal move should be P17. Then starts a very complicated fight which results in territory vs influence game. Later on the game was very balanced but eventually Xie He turns the situation in his favor. I like Xie He style - very calm, thick and flawless.

In the final decisive game Lee Sedol elects to play the same opening as that in the game 2 up to move 27. Xie He decided to deviate from the variation in the game 2 and plays new move (Black 29) which leads to a complicated fight. Pay attention to White invasion (Move 54), I have never seen it before! If Lee Sedol has a chance to attack, he will not miss it (White 100). How many tesujis does Lee Sedol use during the game? A beautuful endgame tesuji (move 206) is worth studying! Eventually Lee Sedol wins the game and the Chunlan Cup 2-1 in the best of 3 series.