This is new name for Zhugang(珠鋼) cup.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9558&p=155758#p155758

Korea;
- seed team - Park Junghwan, Kim Jieseok and Lee Donghoon
- wild card team - Lee Sedol, Park Younghoon and Choi Cheolhan
China;
- seed team - Ke Jie, Shi Yue and Zhou Ruiyang
- wild card team - Chang Hao, Gu Li and Nei Weiping
Japan;
- seed team - Yu Zhenggi, Yoda Norimoto and Tsuya Oguo(???????)
- wild card team - Cho Chikun(Chihoon), O Rissei and Kobayashi Goichi
Taiwan;
- seed team - Lin Zhihan, Lin Lixiang and Lin Junyan

7 pro teams from Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan and 11 amateur teams will play.
Last time, only the final had allowed 3 team members to discuss. But this tournament will allow discussion from Semi-Final.

It starts 12/16/15 and ends 12/22/15.

Hey trout, just wanted to let you know I appreciate you keeping us updated on Baduk tournaments. Good work!

Let's all use the name 金龙城杯(The Golden Dragon City Cup World Go Team Championship) as the sponsor officially uses. Or maybe a short version Golden Dragon City Cup. In the press release the organiser promised to use this game for at least three editions.

Today, there will be matches between Korea and China.

Korea seeded vs China seeded
Park Jeonghwan vs Ke Jie
Kim Jieseok vs Shi Yue
Lee Donghoon vs Zhou Ruiyang

Korea Wild card vs China Wild card
Lee Sedol vs Nei Weiping
Park Younghoon vs Chang Hao
Choi Cheolhan vs Gu Li

Many today's games are online at http://www.go4go.net/go/games/tournament/162

If you only have limited time, check the two games of Nie Weiping: Nie played exceptionally well. His opponents aren't weak - Chen Shiyuan just won a major title in Taiwan and Zheng Hong used to beat Nie many times in the past.

For those of you who doesn't know a lot about Nie Weiping: he was the leading Chinese player in 1980's and early 1990's. He almost single-handedly helped China defeat Japan in the early years of Japan-China Super Go tournament, winning 11 consecutive games.

Nie is 63 years old now, has just recovered from cancer treatment, and hasn't played competitively for many years. It is wonderful to see him playing so well. Nie is very strong at opening, good at making strategic plans, good at sacrificing stones, good at playing tenuki. His game is easy to understand.

Before today, I consider Nie as the weakest link of his team (with Gu Li and Chang Hao). But if his team can manage to make to the semifinal, they may have very good chance to win. Consider Gu Li's fighting ability complemented by Nie's strategic planning ...

Korea seeded vs China seeded
Ke Jie defeated Park Jeonghwan by resign.
Shi Yue defeated Kim Jieseok by resign.
Zhou Ruiyang defeated Lee Donghoon by resign.

Korea Wild card vs China Wild card
Lee Sedol defeated Nei Weiping by resign.
Park Younghoon defeated Chang Hao by 0.5.
Gu Li defeated Choi Cheolhan bt resugn.

No the premier matchup, but Ali Jabarin vs Jonas W was interesting.

Jonas also used a centre opening against Yoda Norimoto 9p but Yoda answered with his own centre moves and Jonas lost topologically.

Mateusz Surma, 1p from Poland, also beat Zheng Hong 9p. Well done Mateusz!

Semi-final pairing(discussion match),

China seeded team(ranked 1st 5-0) vs Korea wild card team(ranked 4th 3-2)
Korea Seeded team(ranked 2nd 4-1) vs Japan seeded team(ranked 3rd 4-1)

A bit dramatic situation:

* The Japanese seeded team was really lucky. They played Germany, Korean seeded, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Russia - only one tough opponent. So Japan seeded won 4 rounds, leaving China wildcard and Korean wildcard (both faced two strong teams) to compete one semifinal position.

* Korean seeded team showed their professionalism by beating the Korean wildcard team.

* China wildcard did their best in round 5 beating Japan wildcard 3-0 to tie the big score.

* The decisive game was surprising the one between Ali Jabarin and his opponent from Singapore. Ali overslept and went there too late, gifting Singapore one game by default so Singapore won 2-1 against Israel. Singapore happened to be the 1st-round opponent of Korean wildcard team, giving them extra 2 SOS point to secure their semifinal position.

Oh dear, that doesn't sound very professional. I hope that doesn't sour relationships for the new Euro pros. Though I do also recall the story of the Japanese pro who fell asleep resting in the lunch break.

Semi-final pairing(discussion match),

China seeded team(ranked 1st 5-0) defeated vs Korea wild card team(ranked 4th 3-2) by resign.
Korea Seeded team(ranked 2nd 4-1) defeated Japan seeded team(ranked 3rd 4-1) by resign.

The special format used in the semifinals - 4.5 hours each side - means that players have plenty of time to play the endgame very accurately. That is normally not possible in other games. When I watch the live broadcast, I saw noticeable slowing down at the following situation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O O |
$$ | . O X O . . . . . . . . . . O O X O X |
$$ | . O X O . O . . X O . O . O . X X X X |
$$ | . . O X O . O . O O . . . . . X . X . |
$$ | . . O X . X O X . . . . . O O . e . . |
$$ | . X X X . O X . . . d . . X O . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . X . X X . X . X O . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O X . . X O . O . . |
$$ | . . . X . O . O . O 1 . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . O X X c . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . b X . . . . O . X . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . X O X . O . . O X . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . O O . X . . . X . . . . . . X O O . |
$$ | . . O . . . O . X . . . . . . X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . X O . . . . O X . . . X . X |
$$ | . . . O . O X . O X . O X . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . O . O O . X O X X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . a . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

You might want to spend some time to evaluate the big endgme moves left: 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e' before seeing how the player actually played.

Final;

Title match,
China seeded team(ranked 1st 5-0) vs Korea Seeded team(ranked 2nd 4-1)

Korea seeded team.


China seeded team.

3rd, 4th,
Korea wild card team(ranked 4th 3-2) vs Japan seeded team(ranked 3rd 4-1)

As can be seen on the photo above, Ke Jie led the play. That means when the Chinese team decided what to do Ke Jie turned to his side to play on a second board by the referee and whatever he played would be pass to their opponents.

According to a pregame interview, Ke Jie is in charge of the whole game, proposing what to play and his teammates then help him validate every move. According to a new report today, Ke Jie was very confident with his moves. Shi Yue was more cautious, often proposing what would be the strongest answer. Several times he had to be convinced. Zhou Ruiyang was quite neutral and preferred to test everything on the board.

As I expected they spent a lot of time in yose, counting after every move.

Are they allowed to put stones on their discussion board? Or can they only describe the moves in words or maybe point at the board?

P.S. I can only see the third place playoff not final in wbaduk. What's up?

3rd, 4th,

Korea wild card team(ranked 4th 3-2) defeated Japan seeded team(ranked 3rd 4-1) by resign.

3rd Korea wild card team(ranked 4th 3-2)
4th Japan seeded team(ranked 3rd 4-1)

Yes they are allowed to put stones and try out the variations. That's why they're putting some stones outside, to grab them and clean them fastly.

This one seems to show better.

So maybe final and 3rd place playoff are on different days with the final tomorrow.