Second day for the Japanese players.

Sumire won her game against Kwon Hyojin 4-dan. A fighting game with a seki and a big kill. You can see Sumire's reading skills.

Sada Atsushi, as predicted by Elom0, lost to Choi Jeong.

The last game, played yesterday (same day as Ichiriki), was Kyo Kagen, winning against Han Woojin 5-dan.

In the end, 3 out 4 Japanese players will play in the second round. And I can see that Elom0 said nearly the same before, but in a post from yesterday.

Is time travel finally real?

Maybe prediction is too strong a word, but it overall was inline with my expectations. I expected Ichiriki Ryo and Kyo Kyagen to win, and one of either Nakamure Sumire or Sada Atsushi to lose, however I was biased to Nakamure being the causality, but it seems Choi Jung is out of her slump and Nakamure is more of a mature player than I expected, and her opponent wasn't as strong as I'd expect an Korean open qualifier to be, unless he qualified through some new youth bracelet I don't know about!

All three players of Taiwanese origin made it through too! But it's really, really disappointing that it was at the expense of Gwon Jiwoo.

This is the "prediction" I was talking about. Posted before Sata & Sumire's games.

Maybe I am missing something, but what I read is a statement of what happened, not a prediction or wish.

Oh yeah you're right, I had it set in my mind that Ichiriki, Kyo and Sada would make it through, it just became a fact in my head. Then Nakamure Sumire sensei and Choi Jung Sensei put me in my place for the disrespect. I guess the rule is Never write off Nakamure Sumire or Choi Jung!

You Zhiying's loss was slightly surprising too.

My Octo-finals predictions from my crystal ball . . .

Byung Sangil over Gu Zihao
Tang Weixing over Kim Myeonghoon
Choi Jung over Ichiriki Ryo
Xu Haohong over Kim Jiseok
Nakamure Sumire over Lee Hyungjin
Yang Dingxing over Hsu Chiayuan
Park Jungwhan over Tian Xiao
Shin Jinseo over Fan Tingyu but it's going to be a close match.

Quarter-finals
Byung Sangil over Tang Weixing
Xu Haohong over Choi Jung
Yang Dingxing over Nakamure Sumire
Shin Jinseo over Park Jungwhan but it would be very close and Shin Jinseo would have to come back from behind

Semi-finals
Xu Haohong over Byung Sangil
Shin Jinseo over Yang Dingxing

Final
Shin Jinseo wins over Xu Haohong and finally wins the Samsung Cup and makes himself a legendary player. Well actually he'll also have to beat Xie Ke in the Ing Cup Final held in October 2023.

Now, that's a prediction!

I like it that Sumire will be the last Japanese standing.

And I am sorry that Ichiriki won't make it against Choi. Slump vs. out-of-slump, I guess.

But what I like the most is that not only we already know the results, but how some games will go
I am only missing the speech from the winner, but crystall balls don't have sound and/or subtitles yet.

10/31 noon in korea
Byung Sangil vs Gu Zihao
Tang Weixing vs Kim Myeonghoon
Choi Jung vs Ichiriki Ryo
Xu Haohong vs Kim Jiseok

11/1 noon in korea
Nakamure Sumire vs Lee Hyungjin
Yang Dingxing vs Hsu Chiayuan
Park Jungwhan vs Tian Xiao
Shin Jinseo vs Fan Tingyu

Don't worry, when Google gets into the Crystal Ball business we'll have auto-translate to go with the visions!



Weather forecast (because I'm British)

Gu Zhihao is going to pull ahead, but then Byung Sangil will make some wonderful tesuji's and bring back the game to win by 1.5 points in a simple endgame.

Tang Weixing will breeze past Kim Myeonghoon for most of the game however there will be one spot of trouble for Tang in the late middlegame to early endgame.

There would be threats of potential fighting that are not followed through with in an opening that will remain largely even until the middle game, were a battle will end up with Choi Jung slightly ahead, and she will generally maintain that lead until Ichiriki Ryo resigns, Japanese players are more likely to politely resign.

Xu Haohong is going to struggle in the middle game against Kim Jiseok, but then Kim Jiseok will make moves that are slightly inaccurate and Xu Haohong will pull ahead.

Now I feel as British as ever giving the game whether forecast.

Shin Jinseo and Park Jungwhan play on the same day again . . . But Baduk TV can cover two games at the same time, so it's all good. Baduk TV noted Ueno Asami and Mi Yuting eating like a Champion during their Hoban and Samsung Games. Maybe that's the secret to reaching pro strength?

People in the Japanese comments are wondering if the hopes of Japan rest on Sumires tiny little shoulders. Meanwhile . . . Kim Myeonghoon . . . Why? Of all days, why do you have to play well today? Then again I haven't seen the game, maybe Tang Weixing blundered.

Xu Haohong seems to be on his way to victory?

I don't know if all Japanese hopes are on Sumire's shoulders. But pressure on her is wrong. She is playing thanks to a wild card, and has already got a victory. More than enough.

Meanwhile, the crystall ball worked fine and Ichiriki lost. It was a really weird game, with him having a solid play in the beggining, then a solid defeat, then a lot of swings, and in the end, losing the game. He is a lot stronger than me, of course, and I am sure that he had to risk, that's why he lost big. But at some point, around move 155, I think he made a blunder.

Sumire and Kyo Kagen tomorrow.

Baduk TV AI had him ahead 5 points Nihon Kiin YouTube Channel AI 3 points, until he played The Empty Triangle of Pain! Instead of Cutting. Losing because of any empty triangle is worse than losing because of a self-atari. Such a shame because tsumego is his strong point.

Kim Myeonghoon and Kim Jiseok completely disproved my Crystal Ball. Should I ask for a refund? We'll see. Lee Hyungjin sensei of PBA Academy up against Nakamure Sumire sensei. Let's see how small a margin Shin Jinseo wins against Ing Cup holder Fan Tingyu. Also, when are they going to play the Ing Cup Finals? Park Jungwhan will go through. And Yang Dingxing has an easy match

Some of the comments under the video the the Baduk TV syream are exaggerating Choi Jung's accomplishment. It's not so much Choi Jung playe well rather Ichiriki Ryo played badly. I was hoping both of them would have used the momentum of their wins to get out of their slumps and play a high-quality game, and that Choi Jung would pull ahead due to her good moves. Instead, we had Ichiriki Ryo make a 14 point blunder and then later on when he managed to get back into the game he blundered away his group.

That being said, the game was so complex that even late into the game, AI had them at 50|50 for much of the early endgame, and I'm not even with either them even if I take 9 stones, so maybe I should shut up!

I agree with you about the ups and downs in the game. But also in the "... not even with them even if..." part. So I prefer to say "I think" rather than "it's a mistake". But hey, this is all friendly chat. No harm done

Today, Kyo Kagen and Nakamura Sumire took the stage. I could follow the games, one more than the other, because today it's holiday in this part of the world. Kyo Kagen went south pretty quickly. He seemed to engage in fights early on, and really had little chance. His body language was screaming "I want to leave here" for most of the game.

Sumire had a Korean opponent, Lee Hyungjin 6-dan. He is ranked 75 this year, I think. I don't know what does it mean. Sumire had a hard time. She probably made a mistake in the beggnining, and her position at the top got damaged. Her chances were around 15%, but fought back and for a long time she was ahead (60-75%). In the endgame, she lost some points, and it looked like a half-pointer. In the end, lost by 1.5, after losing a ko that couldn't win. The only threat she played wasn't really a threat, because she had to answer. Anyway, a great performance, because she had chances until the end and his opponent can't say it was easy. Lost in the second round, but it looks like the crystall ball just needs some minor adjustement.

Side note:
Kagen and Sumire were playing in the same room. Yoo could see both of them in each other's camera. When Sumire left, I noticed that there was a laptop on her table, with her game. The image was not good (too far away) but it looked like the same image I could see. I mean, wbaduk with the photos of the players... I don't think she could see the comments. But I wonder, why another laptop? Just in case the main computer fails?

I only thought so Based on the AI swings and the reaction of the commentators in the Wbaduk stream. Anyway I hope Ichiriki Ryo comes out of this slump before the Kisei Title match. https://youtu.be/iAtcrHbo2r0



I don't know why the Nihon Kiin stream had split their screens opposite to their orientation in the room.



I'm kind of surprised the match was that easy, I expected Hsu to put up a fight. So no Japanese players made it through. Even the fact that they had to put Ichiriki Ryo up who's not even in form instead of Iyama and Shibano . . . It's same scheduling problem. Well that's what happens when you choose out of form players to play, they lose on blunders, it's not even a surprise. I'm sorry if I sound annoyed. We need Iyama ! We need the youngsters to take all of his titles except the Honinbo so that he plays in every international tournament from now on! By 36 years old you start losing your form. He's 33. Yamashita Keigo's opponent list is also full of Japanese flags and he's 36 and 6th in Japan.

A series of mistakes made by Sumire... Japan's last hope that has collapsed Kim Dayoung may not be as strong as he sibling in baduk but I just discovered she has a talent for commentary . . .

Thanks, I will give her a try.

I don't understand Korean. But I don't understand JK either, and I still follow him because the variations he shows and the stress on his voice is useful too.

I can't really understand Korean either but she speaks very clearly so any Korean words you do know you'd be able to pick up. I wish I could speak half as clearly as she could.

On a different note, Choi Jung is currently playing like a god. Shin Jinseo level. On multiple occasions she made a move and actually increased her winrate and point score so even AI can't catch up with her. Against Yang Dingxing, by the way.

Choi Jung won a seed against the player who demolished Hsu Chiayuan.

Just Queen is back.

I remember when Choi Jung became a pro and she said she wanted to emulate Rui Naiwei's Career. Well, in one way she has surpassed her, all that's next is winning the Myoungin and having a positive record against Shin Jinseo. It was a joke Choi Jung made that I really found funny, but if Rui Naiwei did leave Korea because she was scared to face 최정인, honestly there would be no blame on Rui Sensei, haha!

Do you mean to say Choi Jung beat Yang Dingxin?