it will be hard for lee to win but very possible.

i remember i played two stone against strong player and lose good game at the end every time.
three stone it appears impossible for them to beat me but somehow they find a way to beat me time to time. three stone i have advantage but very hard to finish them clean.

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"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

I don't share this optimism. I think Taranu is clearly the strongest of the three pros and three stones is simply too much.

That being said, I absolutely can't wait to see it.



As an aside, who wants to see pro games on smaller boards? And why hasn't this been done in ages?

Clearly not the strongest to me. Ilya Shikshin and Catalin are about the same strength, and if I had to pick one I'd say Ilya stronger, and Andy Liu is stronger than Ilya. Maybe Catalin at his peak strength 10 years ago is stronger, but he's rusty now from not playing professionally anymore.

Plus there was Lee's comments on his game with Catalin where he essentially said he had already won by around move 45.

Uberdude and Phoenix, what are you basing the relative judgments on?

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Occupy Babel!

I believe that with 9x9 tournament in Japan, the pros started to play the same game each time and so it wasn't the best viewing. (I may be wrong, of course.)

Ilya's and Catalin's record in European tournaments and against each other (e.g. the final in Bordeaux EGC which Ilya won with his trademark fighting, Catalin is probably better at opening), Ilya's and Andy's KGS records, Lee's comments on the games and how long black maintained the advantage, Ilya losing to Kim Youngsam fairly convincingly but Andy beating him or only losing by 0.5 (I forget and no AGAGD to check)...

http://test.agagd.usgo.org/ <-- your lucky day.

Thanks for the explanation.

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Occupy Babel!

I`ll have to admit I wasn't basing my judgement on anything tangible.

Uberdude is much better informed than I am.

Hmm, I can't find Kim Youngsam in there. I think it was a Canadian tournament, maybe Toronto?

Andy Liu and Kim Youngsam played at the last Canadian Open in Gatineau (Ottawa). Whoever won that game would win the tournament. Andy won by 0.5 points, after an opening where he was far behind (20-30 points I think according to Guo Juan). It was quite a game

Thanks for clarifying. Do you have the game record?

Looks like we won't be seeing a Lee Sedol 3-stone game after all. Bummer.

http://www.go9dan.com/Home/Promotion/4

Wait what? Out of money? Were they paying to play?

Professional matches are always sponsored by someone. I guess Go9Dan could use a little bit better PR language.

Cheers,
Vesa

Like Vesa said, it's a PR issue on their end. But the fact it's in quotations seems to indicate it's not a money issue. The event is sponsored, but if the budget accounted for a ten-game match, there's no reason funding should be a problem at this point.

I think it's a sideways reference to options trading. Being 'out of the money' means that the actual cash value of the stock your option represents isn't covered. It's a risky maneuver with high payback potential.

More often than not, it's a term that's misunderstood as meaning that one is in the red and they should cut their losses. This misinterpreted meaning would make sense in this case. Nevertheless, it's strange language to use.

Or it could mean that the Western pros could not finish "in the money". But that seemed clear a while back.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Isn't there a virtual currency used on go9dan, with some sort of betting system? could it be a reference to that?

I'm not familiar with the fine distictions in "money-talk" but for me it sounds like the western pros decided to not play further matches because it presents them - as fellow pros - in a very bad light. Taking a 3-stone-handicap while being in the same profession surely raises a lot of doubt whether they are not amateurs after all.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

I would not view them in a bad light if they needed to take 3 stones from Lee Sedol. I know Andy and Catalin are very strong, it just makes me appreciate Lee's strength even more.