In the first game, Iyama 9p was ahead earlier on, but faltered towards the end.

Iyama 9p was present 15 minutes before the start of the second game.


courtesy of http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/news_view.asp?news_no=2471
Two minutes to the start, Xie 5p arrives.

courtesy of http://www.baduk.or.kr/news/news_view.asp?news_no=2471

And before one could tell, a complicated fighting match was underway (I was in no state to follow this kind of match at the time I was up and was becoming dizzier with each move)

At the very least Iyama sensei's sensei, who trained Iyama 9p on countless training games online, was present for the match.


(Murakawa Daisuke 8p?) with Ishii Kunio 9p, courtesy of http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match_news/m ... t/222.html

They say the half point is in God's hands, and if anyone has been on losing side of half-point games on the international stage, it would be Iyama 9p, with at least one due to a slip from a lack of familiarity with play by chinese rules.

And it seems that either by being in Japan or having his teacher to watch, fortune has changed sides for Iyama 9p in what could only have been an unimaginably difficult match (you will never complain about go your go games again after seeing what an actually difficult game match looks like...) and he managed to win by half a point.

http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/71598

courtesy of http://www.go4go.net

We may never know if Xie Erhao received a reward for his wonderful performance at his first major international tournament six years ago, but I think we might be seeing him more often anyways, win or lose the third game is currently underway.

P.S. Even though Iyama 9p is in a position for a reverse swoop, I do think Xie is still slightly more likely to win...

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

We're so lucky to be alive to witness a level (AZ's) significantly beyond top human understanding ( and it's only a beginning ).

it's worse than that; i've heard that there are mad scientists planning to build machines that can run faster than me, fly higher than me, swim deeper than me, pull heavier ploughs than me, do sums better than me, see things i can't see (like radio waves), and never have to go to the dentist,...

after black 19, i expected white to push through, which he did... at move 74!
are these people human??!

what's for breakfast?

_________________
i shrink, therefore i swarm

so sad right now, why Iyama Yuta never win at international level.
Hope he can win at World Go Championship

I've just realized I sound like I'm referring to go itself.

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

i hadn't realised you hadn't realised - that could be where i've been Go Ing rong

_________________
i shrink, therefore i swarm

Still a huge achievement for Iyama and Japan.

I'm disappointed for Iyama, but not surprised. Well done to Xie Erhao, he came all the way through the preliminaries and beat, in order (current goratings #):

== Preliminary tournament ==
Wang Zhihong 1d (#819)
Ueno Asami 1d (#522)
Lian Xiao 8d (#10)
Shen Peiran 2d (#271)
Weon Seongjin 9d (#46)

== Main tournament ==
Hong Seongji 9d (#63)
Kim Jiseok 9d (#5)
Choi Cheolhan 9d (#25)
Jiang Weijie 9d (#24)
Iyama Yuta 9d (#5*)

Iyama beat:
== Main tournament ==
Lee Yeongkyu 9d (#23)
Zhou Ruiyang 9d (#17)
Yang Dingxin 5d (#20)
Ke Jie 9d (#2)

* I'll save by78 and CannyOnion the effort of saying Iyama is overranked, let's move on