17-23 March Lee Changho 9p and Hong Kipyo 4p played in the 53rd Kuksu final. Before 17 March Lee Changho was leading in the final 1-0 but needs to win two extra games. Hong Kipyo show resistance and won 2nd game and made tie 1-1…

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In the opening Lee Changho by taking black stones play very nice and thick opening, but unfortunately instead of utilizing potential of his moyo he goes for territory. In first place this looks reasonable, because Lee Changho is very strong in the endgame.

Unexpectedly Hong Kipyi found winning tesuji in late middle game phase. Black situation become very bad. Lee Changho resigned after 172 moves

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In next game Lee Changho took white and play his standard baduk. He secure some teritorry in the opening and then use his yose to win the game. In second half black position wasn’t good but when Lee Changho release in late endgame final blow, Hong Kipyo couldn’t answer and resigned immediately.

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In last game of the final Lee Changho play black stones and play mini chinese opening, which is well known. Lee Changho show improvement to this opening with black 15. This show that professional don’t stop searching for better moves even in well known and played ad nauseam opening. This is good example for us amateur to not copy opening blindly and tried every time something new maybe even crazy :)

In opening Hong Kipyo play very weird opening and give Lee Changho solid lead before middle game. He tried to mess up situation with invasion in bottom right corner, but Lee Changho answer very strongly. Situation was even worse in second half of middle game stage. Hong Kipyo was forced to play many dame points when Lee Changho was capturing more and more stones. After only 145 moves Hong Kipyo resigned.

Lee Changho won 53rd Kuksu title. This is the oldest Korean tournament and most important in Korea. Kuksu is not only a title for tournament, but also synonym of Baduk King in Korea. The strongest masters in Korea like Cho Hunhyun are very often referred as Kuksu for example Cho Kuksu.

This is very important title for Lee Changho and good start for the new year. Actually he holds 3 titles: Myeongin (Korean Meijin), KBS and Kuksu and return as #1 baduk master in Korea pro scene.

Related posts:

1. Lee Changho Again in the Kuksu Final

6 March, Lee Changho 9p and Hong Kipyo 4p played in 1st game of 53rd Kuksu final. For Hong Kipyo this is first time and important test of strength and stamina. On other side for Lee Changho this final is also important. Kuksu is one of the most important titles in the Korea.

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Little history

Lee Changho play in Kuksu final first time in the 1989 against his teacher Cho Hunhyun. His first approach was unsuccessfull. He lost 3-1. Next year he won 3-2 against his teacher and from started his domination in the Kuksu.

He was title holder for 5 year in a row from 1993 to 1998, but in new century he face new wave of strong players. Everything started Choi Cheolhan 9p in 2003 when he capture title with the score of 3-2. Choi Cheolhan aggresive style forced Lee Changho to change his strategy.

Next year he tried to recapture title, but fail with the worse possible score 0-3. Of course changing style is not easy task, but in 2005 he succesful won the Kuksu with 3-2 score. When one thoughts that Lee Changho found the key to fight with young Masters, new unknown player enter Kuksu final. Yun Jungsang beat Lee Changho with outstounding record 3-1 for the fresh guy.

Everyone was sure that next few Kuksu edition will be mainly betweeb Yun Junsang and Lee Changho, but in 2007 Lee Changho was eliminated from the tournament in the 1st round by Seo Gunwoo 4p!!! This was big shock. Lee Changho was in the big slump. He don’t even enter Kuksu next year. Recently Lee Changho is in much better shape. Maybe he will even back as National Champion (Kuksu).

53rd Kuksu

Tournament was mainly filled by young players. Smifinal was played between Hong Kipyo 4p vs An Hyungjun 2p and Lee Changho 9p vs Joo Hyeongwuk 5p. As you see the only well known player is Lee Changho. We can see that 53rd Kuksu is again show between experience and youth.

First match

Lee Changho in last years change his style to more aggressive, but he still play very conservative in the opening. He play very thick in the first part, but this was solid foundation to play some outstanding moves in the middle part of the game.
White wedge in the bottom right corner was the winning move of the game.

Lee Changho won the game by resignation after 234 moves. He show that in the game was some gap between his baduk and Hong Kipyo. Will Hong Kipyo regain strength and come back to fight for the title in next games? Everything possible especially that Kuksu was always favorite ground for young masters.

Related posts:

1. Lee Changho won 1st game in ING final
2. Lee Sedol defended Kuksu title
3. Rui Naiwei won 13th Female Kuksu