1st round - 3/26/2014
2nd round - 3/28/2014

Players;
Korea - Lee Sedol(last year's runner up), 5 seeded:Park Junghwan, Kim Jiseok, Choi Cheilhan(Top 3 from Korean ranking), Mok Jinseok, Kim Jeonghyun(selected through tournament.)
China - Chen Yaoye(last year's winner), Jiang Weijie, Zhou Ruiyang, Shi Yue, Gu Li, Tuo Jiaxi, Tang Weixing, Mi Yuting, Fan Tingyu, Lian Xiao
Japan - Iyama Yuta, Yamashita Keigo, Cho U, Kono Rin, Murakawa Daisuke
Taiwan - Wang Yuanjun
America - Jang Mingjiu
Europe - Fan Hui

1st round; 16 players compete for 8 places in 2nd round.
8 players seeded in 2nd round - Park Junghwan, Kim Jiseok, Lee Sedol, Choi Cheolhan, Jiang Weijie, Zhou Ruiyang, Shi Yue, Chen Yaoye

According to the Nihon Kiin website the Japan participants are:
Iyama Yuta
Yamashita Keigo
Cho U
Kono Rin
Murakawa Daisuke

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

1st round;
Tuo Jiaxi defeated Jang Mingjiu by resign.
Cho U defeated Fan Hui by resign.
Mi Yuting defeated Mok Jinseok by resign.
Gu Li defeated Kim Jeonghyun by resign.
Tang Weixing defeated Yamashita Keigo by resign.
Kono Rin defeated Fan Tingyu by resign.
Murakawa Daisuke defeated Lian Xiao by resign.
Iyama Yuuta defeated Wang Yuanjun by 0.5.

2nd round pairing;

Lee Sedol vs Gu Li
Park Junghwan vs Tang Weixing
Choi Cheolhan vs Mi Yuting
Kim Jiseok vs Tuo Jiaxi
Kono Rin vs Chen Yaoye
Murakawa Daisuke vs Shi Yue
Iyama Yuuta vs Zhou Ruiyang
Cho U vs Jiang Weijie

So there's a wise-guy doing pairings.

_________________
Occupy Babel!

Yes! Though as the Chunlan operates on the principle of avoiding same-country clashes in the early rounds, it's not quite as far fetched as it might seem.

Result of 2nd round;

Zhou Ruiyang defeated Iyama Yuuta by resign.
Mi Yuting defeated Choi Cheolhan by resign.
Chen Yaoye defeated Kono Rin by resign.
Kim Jiseok defeated Tuo Jiaxi by resign.
Shi Yue defeated Murakawa Daisuke by resign.
Cho U defeated Jiang Weijie by resign.
Gu Li defeated Lee Sedol by resign.
Park Junghwan defeated Tang Weixing by resign.

As a fan of Japanese Go, it's a pain to see only Cho U winning this round... again. Wonder what's happening with "Go Go Japan" or some institution they raised to be more competitive in international matches.

And Iyama lost badly as well. :/

They're still 5-4 (though you might not count a win against Fan Hui as all that valuable). That's actually a good showing for Japanese players, relative to past performance.

_________________
Occupy Babel!

I'm also a Japanese Go fan, and yes, the 2nd round's result is a bit disappointing, although I understand that these Chinese opponents this round are very strong. Except Jiang Weijie is not really in good form recently, the remaining three are among world champions last year or the year before.

I did expect Murakawa continues his breakthrough in international scene by making his revenge to Shi Yue who beat him twice recently, as he did beat Lian Xiao to avenge the Japan-China Agon Cup's match. But it seems that he still have a way to go.

Kono Rin do exactly the same thing as what he did in the last LG Cup, beat Fan Tingyu before failing to Chen Yaoye

As for Iyama (yeah, my favorite), it seems he lost easily his match against top Chinese players. In Japan I almost never seen anyone could beat him straight forward well before 200 moves in the last 2 years! It seems to me that the game is already bad for him after 50 first moves...

Round of 8 and 4 will be played in this coming winter and the final will be held in early spring 2015.

Pairing for 3rd round;

Park Junghwan vs Chen Yaoye
Kim Jiseok vs Mi Yuting
Cho U vs Gu Li
Shi Yue vs Zhou Ruiyang

3rd round and semi finals will be held in the 4th quarter of 2014. Finals will be in spring 2015. Chunlan cup is ran once every two years, therefore the big gap.

Thanks for info.

Murakawa is indeed someone to look over in the next few months/years! I enjoyed his game against Lee S. Also, Iyama may have "adjusted" his game since he has a particularly strong Chinese opponent? It's more "fighty" than usual - I've only seen games by him like that when he plays Yamashita K., which is a fighter on his own.

Round of 8(12/25);

Zhou Ruiyang defeated Shi Yue by resign.


Chen Yaoye defeated Park Junghwan by resign.


Kim Jiseok defeated Mi Yuting by resign.


Gu Li defeated Cho U by 1.5.

Round of 4 - 12/27

Pairing;
Kim Jiseok vs Gu Li
Chen Yaoye vs Zhou Ruiyang

Note in the photos (here is a wider one) that Cho U did not play his new opening against Gu Li. Where's the fun in that?

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

I was also quite disappointed in that. Very standard opening from Cho U.

He didn't want to try out new things with someone as strong as Gu Li

I think it had more to do with playing in the quarter-finals of a world championship than it did with playing against Gu Li.

Round of 4;


Gu Li defeated Kim Jiseok by resign. (Only 118 moves)


Zhou Ruiyang defeated Chen Yaoye by resign.

Final;
Gu Li vs Zhou Ruiyang