Best-of-five final between Gu Li and Mi Yuting:

Game 1: 2013-11-30 Gu Li won by 3/4 stones.

http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/38404

Very exciting game - big fights and one big exchange. A game I could not understand much.

W48 is a very interesting move, a Chinese source called it the 'good move of the year'.

This is the interesting part of the game:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 3 O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . 1 X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7 O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 2 X X 5 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 4 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

99% of the time, would be a sente. But white decided to ignore in this game. was so-called Kiai (fighting spirit). was a good move to increase liberties. was necessary to prevent the connection from side. started to exploit the weakness, in order to help the capturing race.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bm11
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O 2 |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . X X X X O 1 |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X X X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

is a very good move. According to Wang Runan 8-dan, who commented this game together with Hei Jiajia for a big audience, the professionals watching the game thought that white was in big trouble by this time - black would capture the write corner. One obvious sequence is the following:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wm14
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c d . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4 5 . e |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O O |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . X X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 a O X O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O X X f |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 X X O 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X X X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O O b . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

If wants to run out, would become a sente move (because of 'a'). Wang Runan commented that the black group "appears to have 3 liberties but in fact has 4". So black would win the capturing race against white's corner. White may continue at 'b', 'c' or 'd', but black can always answer 'e'. Black should not atari at 'f' until white has been reduced to 2 liberties in the corner. So it all looked that black had won the race, until Mi Yuting played the brilliant tesuji W48:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O O |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . X X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X X X 1 |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Wang Runan commented that most pros can find this move if treating this situation as a life & death problem. But the difficult part is that white needs be aware of this move when playing in the first diagram. In the post-game interview, Gu Li also admitted that he did not see this move. How Gu Li managed to turn this game around after the setback here is another story.

do we get to hear this story?

Wow, definitely being the next issue of 围棋天地 to get a full review on that game.

2nd game;
Mi Yuting defeated Gu Li by resign. score 1:1

Next game - 12/4/13

The 2nd final game is at http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/38428

This is again a very interesting game. According to Chinese sources, Gu Li was doing well as white, when he played W128 and W132 to defend his territory. But the aji there was really bad. Starting B133 Mi Yuting played a number of sharp moves and eventually managed to live inside.

3rd game;
Mi Yuting defeated Gu Li by resign. score 2:1

Next game - 12/6/13

4th game;
Mi Yuting defeated Gu Li by resign. score 3:1

Mi Yuting is new international champion!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mi Yuting(芈昱廷)
Birth date 1/08/1996 and became pro 1p in 2007.

Is this a new youngest world champion record? Or 9p (will he be promoted because of this win)?

Yes, he is new 9P. Park Jeonghwan became 9P when he was 17.

It appears Fan Tingyu was the youngest: http://senseis.xmp.net/?ProfessionalRecords

_________________
Occupy Babel!

And actually it appears that Fan Tingyu was not the youngest. It turns out that it's still Lee Changho, but that he's sometimes reported as having won his first international title because it's common to count age starting with 1 in Korean culture (or so I'm told...).

_________________
Occupy Babel!

Lee Changho won his first world title at 16 years 6 months, definitely the youngest ever. But he was still 5-dan by that time. He became 9-dan almost 4 years later by a special promotion.

Fan Tingyu won his first world title at 16 years 7 months, and became 9-dan because of that.

Lee Changho's DOB: 1995-07-25. Won 3rd Tongyang Securities Cup on 1992-01-27 (SGF: http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/32807)

Fan Tingyu's DOB: 1996-08-06. Won 7th Ing Cup on 2013-03-06 (SGF: http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/32424)