I don't get why Ilya is invited to the amateur category. For sure the competition level might suit him more, but he's no longer an amateur!

Maybe it's really called "not pros of Asian go federations" category (or should be). Seeing how Bai etc are professional amateurs (as in playing go and winning amateur events prize money is their job, and they are strong enough to pass the pro test but just chose not to as top dog of amateur circuit is a nicer life than bottom dog of the pro circuit) I think it's reasonable.

Following along with Lizzie, the 2 Japanese players have made a good start. Shibano played a new variation in this modern bot joseki:

Results:
- Ke Jie beat Byun Sangil by resign. According to the bot on Fox (FineArt?) and Leela Zero he made a few direction mistakes in early middlegame fighting which Byun capitalised on, but he won in the end.
- Gu Zihao beay Iyama Yuta by resign. Iyama seemed to be doing well but maybe he was too greedy when Gu was making sabaki inside his moyo and it ended up a ko so Gu got nice compensation.
- Chen Yaoye beat Shibano Toramaru by resign. I guess Shibano studied the first joseki, but Chen pulled ahead in later fighting. I recommend studying this with LZ, interesting lessons in efficiency in close-quarter fighting on left side.
- Shin Jinseo beat Dang Yifei by resign

It seems it was rescheduled to August 3rd according to the Nihon Kiin website.

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

When was the last time a Japanese big seven title match was rescheduled?

_________________
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.

Pairing for Semi-Final(Possibly 1/19),

Shin Jinseo vs Gu Zihao
Chen Yaoye vs Ke Jie

Isn't white corner dead? Did LZ misjudge the double ko or is it still better than actual game variation (infinite ko threat)?

I don't know. When it was first floated, I remembered John saying that the newspaper sponsors were rather protective of their tournaments. I'm pleasantly surprised it was rescheduled.

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Occupy Babel!

Elf review from baduk1 of Iyama vs Gu, Elf indeed says b10 was too greedy and should c6 compromise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVJPlUT9y-A

Looks like the Chinese are dominant again, with Shin Jinseo the only Korean representative.

I thought Shibano Toramaru had a promising performance.

The semi-finals were today, Ke and Shin won.

In the Shin vs. Gu game, I found the upper right hand corner extremely interesting. None of the moves seem particularly mysterious, but it seems like there's a very subtle balance between corner and side territory. Off-topic, but I would like to apologize to everyone who had to read this sentence. It was truly awful, wasn't it?

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Occupy Babel!

Yes, fighting around that corner was the turning point of the game. Gu had been leading for a while but Shin took a decisive lead when he managed to keep the corner and wore was still weak on the outside. LZ says he needed to work harder to make a double threat out of the bad aji Shin left with not cleanly making the centre cut.

So Shin Jinseo gets into another international final and a chance to prove himself on the big stage. He lost to Chen Yaoye in the Tainfu, Ke Jie is a tougher test.

Final is live now. Same opening as Ke-Chen game but Shin started tough fighting already and Ke accepted.

Update: Ke Jie won by resign. Shin was leading for most of the game but made a slight inaccuracy in late middle-game and Ke Jie didn't miss his chance. I don't know if the final is still best of n>1 with the shrinking of this tournament.

It’s the best of three, and Ke Jie will be holding white next.

Ke Jie just won by resignation to win the 4th Bailing cup.
Shin Jinseo started with a diagonal fuseki surprisingly, but unfortunately made a mistake in the early fighting and Ke Jie kept the lead for the rest of the game. Shin's drought continues!

Finishing 2d is not THAT bad

Ke Jie 's 7th international title (21 years 168 days old), beating Lee Changho's record (22 years 288 days).

Yoda Norimoto beat Ma Xiaochun to win the veteran's group.

Wang Chen bean Bai Baoxiang to win the amateur's group.

Read my mind .

Still hope he wins one day.

_________________
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.