Despite the shutout from Sanju in the seventh round and being two board points less than their nearest rivals, KH Energy lead by one match point to top the table, primarily the result of a consistent performance from Kang Hun 9p and Cho Chikun 9p excepting round seven, and Chang Suyeong 9p stepping up to take his second win at the most critical point in the season. The two teams to defeat Sanju, however, both lie below the qualification line shy of third place by two BP, the field wide open among slots four to six.

Park Seungmun 7p and Kang Manwoo 9p still search for their first victory, leaving Samcheok Sea struggling to acquire a win and, most likely, entry into the postseason.

Deciding Matches

Kang Hun 9p kept a solid record in the season's first half, but started the second shy of success against Chang Doojin 8p, Samcheok Sea cable car's replacement for Heo Janghoi 9p already earning his second win. With a player on two wins out of four games battling Samcheok's best, Samcheok seemed on course to pull of the spectacular, but Chang Suyeong 9p managed a surprise win over Cho Daehyeon 9p. Park Seungmun 7p spent much time on his opening moves, but was still to lose to Cho Chikun 9p by six-and-a-half points.

The main competitors for fourth place played each other early in the second half. Kim Ilhwan 9p couldn't keep his lead, losing a critical game against Seo Nungwuk 9p in a critical match against CyberOrO. Jeong Daesang 9 sealed the fate of the match by 13.5 points over Lee Kisup 8p, An Kwanwuk 9p's win a consolation in keeping Bucheon Fantasia's title hopes alive.

Fixture three saw Kim Soojang 9p suffer a painful defeat against Kim Chongsu, 8p, when set up nearly perfectly to win the match. A blunder saw his position crumble to the ground, white giving black's upper-middle group life to lose by resignation. It seemed Yeongam had the upper hand until the victory from Jimmy Cha 5p against Kim Dongmyeon 9p in 159 moves when he captured the white dragon, cutting the string even. Kim Dongyeop 9p overcame Oh Kyuchul 9p in the fixtures final game to change Eumseong Ginseng's fate and leave them a clear third on the leaderboard.

An Unforgiving Battleground
Held on the sixth, the first match saw Yeongam obtain a perfect score, Samcheok Sea cable car still without wins despite the strange strange step of leaving out their captain, Park Seungmun 7p. Oh Kyuchul 9p's victory began proceedings, giving Yeongam the lead from the first board. Kim Chongsu 9p defeated Cho Daehyeon 9p after a difficult struggle to win the match point for Yeongam, and Kim Dongmyeon 9p came back from behind when he capitalised on his opponent's mistake, keeping Kang Manwoo 9p without any wins and giving Yeongam a perfect score.

Fixture two's feeling was that of a match of elevated tension, two teams with two board points seperating them attempting to keep their postseason hopes alive. Within three minutes of each other, Kim Dongyeop 9p could not overcome the third board player Kim Ilhwan 9p, three minutes later saw Kim Soojang 9p repeat his feat against Kim JongJoon 7p. It was in similar manner to before: by a large gap in score, this time more than 34.

At one-one, there was one board left to determine the victory: the 'professional' Jimmy Cha 5p against An Kwanwuk, 9p. Despite having to overcome a late-game crises, An Kwanwuk 9p kept his composure to win by a point-and-a-half.

Seo Bongsoo 9p got his seventh straight win in the third fixture of the round, this time against Na Jonghoon 8p. Paek Seongho 9p powered through Jeong Daesang 9p even after losing ten black stones in the lower left; he took advantage of his thickness to strengthen his position. CyberOrO lost their chance to swipe second place from under Sangju's fingertips, but Seo Nungwuk 9p scored a consolation board point by 20.5 territory points against Kim Kihun 7p.

The standings show that even though both Sangju and KH Energy have played a game less than the other teams, they are second and first with five and six wins respectively, representing, perhaps, the power of both Cho Chikun 9p and Seo Bongsoo 9p. With 15 board points to KH Energy's 13, Sangju creep behind the leaders backs with an uncomfortable air; the match between them in the second have of the season could yet again prove decisive.

More important, though, might be the battles for postseason placement between the middle tier teams, the four wins, straight, required to garuantee such status being a big ask for any of them at the moment. A tied situation seems most likely.

Strategy and Tragedy

CyberOrO took heir chance to step up to task in an imotant round in fixture one, defeating Eumseong Ginseng. The first win arused from Seo Nungwuk 9p's board: not faring well in the early game, he forced Kim Soojang 9p's resignation by chasing a white dragon across the upper left to the lower right and into black's jaws. CyberOrO finished their victory with Park Yeongchan 5p's 13.5 point difference over Kim Dongyeop 9p.

Jimmy Cha 5p claimed a sixth win of the season to stop a possible shutout, his victory increasing the high number of Eumseong Ginseng's board points to 14, a cushion against their loss in that any wins would guarantee a good position.

or fixtur two, Kim Chongsu 9p was Yeongam's most likely bearer of victory against KH Energy owing to his equally performing opponent, but Kang Hun 9p found a critical strike to stop the Yeongam player in his tracks; after 290 moves, Yeongam suffered a three-and-a-half loss at what seemed to be their best chance for a board point, KH Energy coming into fixture two as clear favourites from the significant strength gap between the other boards. But when Kim Dongmyeon 9p captured the black stones of Chang Suyeong 9p to win by resignation and Oh Kyuchul 9p grasped the upper hand against Cho Chikun 9p, Yeongam looked on course to score the double upset of the season considering Oh Kyuchul 9p's opponent, a decisive victory that might have pushed the defending champions into second place until—black blundered a 20 point lead away leaving the board in tatters, the team without a win an Oh Kyuchul 9p in all tears but those physical.

Kim Kihun 7p equalised his record against Kim Ilhwan 9p to three victories a piece, setting Sanju up for another match point as the two boards remained seemed to be in Sangju favour. But when an upset opportunity occurred in fixture three, An Kwanwuk 9p was on hand to take it by defeating Seo Bongsoo 9p, the streak winner stumbling after seven victories after making some mistes in his round 10 game.

At one each and with fans in the Bucheon Fantasia review room giving their support, Lee Kisup 8p won against Paek Seongho 9p to preserve Bucheon's championship hopes while sending Sangju their loss number three of the season.

Countdown

In round 11, Bucheon Fantasia shocked the title favourites with a perfect score. 68 year-old Lee Kisup 8p, the oldest player in the league, obtained the winning result against Chang Myunghan 6p after which An Kwanwuk 9p got his fourth straight win by beating Chang Suyeong 9p.

The second fixture took place in the Gyeongju Indoor Gymnasium where Seo Bongsoo's exciting go slipped Sangju ahead to beat Yeongam two to one. This result left Sangju at six wins and three losses to league leaders KH Energy's seven and two, a threat for first the defending champions would have to step up to next round.

The third fixture saw Eumseong Ginseng shutout Samcheok Sea cable car— Kim Dongyeop 9p beat Park Seungmun 7p by one point-and-a-half. Then Cho Daehyeon 9p fell on the bitter side of the clock to give Kim Soojang 9p the game and Eumseong Ginseng the match, Samcheok still fighting to find their first win of the tournament.

Wins and Losses

The first fixture of round 12 saw the fourth and six placed teams vie for a place in the postseason with Cyberoro at 5 wins 4 losses and Yeongam at 4 and 6. Both teams must do better than 50%.

Each team captain got a comfortable win to set the last game as the crucial point in a most crucial match— Jeong Daesang 9p took control of the game early on, but Hwang Weonjun 9p saved what remained of Yeongam's hopes in a reversal win by resignation. There chance to qualify was still slim— Bucheon Fantasia would have had to lose against Samcheok Sea cable car, the latter having yet to win a match.

In fixture three, Cho Chikun 9p started KH of well with a tremendous win avenging Jimmy Cha 4p's victory against him in the 1990 Fujitsu Cup. In the end, however, KH Energy could only come close to keeping for sure their first place in the league. Kim Soojang 9p won by half-a-point against Kang Hun 9p before Kim Dongyeop 9p won by one-and-a-half over Chang Suyeong 9p.

Sangju would steal first place in their match with the struggling Samcheok Sea cable car. Seo Bongsoo 9p clocked up a seven game winning streak in his reversal win against Cho Daehyeon 9p, ensuring the most game wins place with two games to spare. Park Seungmun 7p, however, obtained his first win to gain a board point for Samcheok.

so Far so Near

Just when things were looking good for Sangju, Eumseong Ginseng performed a second upset in a row scoring three board points against the league leaders. Ginsengs sum of board points would ensure their entry into the postseason.

KH Energy's two losses in a row left them in a surprising position; they had to worry about entering the postseason, and in their way was a team who also needed this win: CyberOrO.

Cyberoro seemed to have the upper hand after Seo Nungwuk 9p beat Kang Hun 9p in just 136 moves. Their advantage would not last. Chang Suyeong 9p reversed his game against Park Yeongchan 5p and with a win form Cho Chikun 9p kept KH energy in the postseason.

Bucheon Fantasia defeated Samcheok Sea cable car to enter into the postseason and dash Yeongam and Cyberoro hopes. But, Park Seungmun 7p scored his second win— the last two matches may have been missed opportunities for Samcheok. After this match, An Kwanwuk 9p and Kim Ilhwan 9p shared their team's record of seven wins and four losses.

On the Line

CyberOrO's two losses in the last round eliminated them from the postseason contenders. In any case, they won their last match against Samcheok Sea cable car three-zero after some controversy in the game between Seo Nungwuk 9p and Park Seungmun 7p. Samcheok Sea cable car could not win once in the league.

Bucheon Fantasia went to the playoffs by defeating Yeongam 2-1, and after 126 games over 16 weeks, the main league came to an end in a dramatic finish between two teams and two players fighting for first. Seo Bongsoo 9p did not play Cho Chikun 9p directly, but there was every chance they would in the final and there wins would be key in the match KH Energy and Sangju.

Seo Bongsoo 9p's result proved especially so. Kang Hun 9p defeated him after 271 moves to put Paek Seongho 9p's win to waste, decide the match and win first place for KH Energy.

On the eighth of October, Eumseong Ginseng and Sangju faced off in the preliminary playoffs for the 2018 SKBL Championship.

Sangju took the unusual step of playing their strongest player on third board, and as two wins are needed there was a chance Seo Bongsoo 9p might not play.

Eumseong took the lead on both boards by the their middlegames. Kim Soojang 9p defeated Kim Kihun 7p with few problems, but when it seemed Eumseong Ginseng where on their way to the playoffs, Jimmy Cha 5p let his lead slip from his fingers in the endgame where Paek Seongho 9p put on a reversal, bringing Sangju back into the match by half a point.

Seo Bongsoo 9p beat Kim Dongyeop 9p by five-and-a-half points to send Sangju into the playoffs.

Two days later Sangju faced off against second-ranked team Bucheon Fantasia. The second board saw Kim Ilhwan 9p tip Bucheon ahead with a win over Kim Kihun 7p, but on first board Seo Bongsoo 9p showed his effective go against An Kwanwuk 9p in a comeback victory.

This would, like last round, leave a third deciding board point. Lee Kisup 8p took black for Bucheon Fantasia. Paek Seongho 9p opened up on two three-threes as white; black took a central position white undermined on the right and top. By move 242, Paek Seongho 9p had won by resignation to tke Sangju to the finals.

Sorry about the long wait.

I became a bit exhausted and didn't want to be completely haphazard.