11
Nov
3 and 5 November in Jeju, Korean held a two round of the 13th LG Cup. In 3 November Lee Sedol 9p beat Kono Rin 9p; Park Yeonghun 9p beat Chang Hao 9p; Gu Li 9p beat Kim Hyeongwoo 3p and Lee Changho 9p beat Yamashita Keigo 9p. Globally 13th LG Cup could be the biggest succeed for Japan team but even ending with two player at 3rd round of international tournament is not bad for Japan. 3 Korean player and 1 Chinesee enter semifinals. Korea team before 5 November was sure that will take at least one seat in finals.
29
Aug
29 August, 3 Chinese and 1 Japanese Baduk Masters play in semifinals of World Oza Cup. In first game Cho U 9p – #1 from Japan play against #1 from China – Gu Li 9p. In second game Piao Wenyao 5p play against Xie He 7p. In first game were even, but in second game I was sure that Piao Wenyao will win the game. Why? In first Piao Wenyao is in great form. In first rounds he beat two Korean Baduk Masters: Lee Changho and Mok Jinseok. Piao Wenyao play not only interesting baduk, but also is very strong at fighting. Of course from other hand Xie He beat Lee Sedol, but Lee Sedol have some problems with Xie He style. For example Lee Changho in few last game with Xie He had easy games, so in my opinion Piao chance are greater.
12
Jan
Today Gu Li 9p beat Kong Jie 7p in final of NEC Cup. Gu Li 9p was white. In fuseki Kong play rare variation by cutting one stone and give up a corner to Gu. Fuseki seems to be favorable to Kong but Gu start immediately big fight. Kong must miss white 26 because be forced to play at 27 is very painful. The most interesting thing of this game is how Gu defend his weak groups. When white group on the upper side was on severe attack Gu Li cut off black group and start very complicated fight.