Life In 19x19

8th game;
Gu Li defeated Kono Rin by resign.


Remaining players;
Korea:Park Junghwan, Lee Sedol, Choi Cheolhan, Min Sangyeon, Baek Chanhee
China:Ke Jie, Lian Xiao, Wu Guangya, Fan Yunruo, Gu Li
Japan:Iyama Yuuta, Murakawa Daisuke,Ida Atzshi, Ichiriki Ryo, Kono Rin
bold - Remaining players.


2nd round: 11/27/2015~12/1/2015
3rd round: 3/1/2016~3/5/2016

The Gu Li vs Kono Rin game was commented by Myungwan Kim here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FVELH2L2fI

Tonight's game, Gu vs Park J., will also be commented live: https://youtube.com/c/usgoweb/live

Very good quality video. It's interesting to see that Myungwan Kim momentarily played Gu Li's winning sequence but very quickly ruled that out as not working. He is not playing competitively after all so he read it incorrectly.

9th game;
Gu Li defeated Park Junghwan by 2.5.


Remaining players;
Korea:Lee Sedol, Choi Cheolhan, Min Sangyeon, Baek Chanhee, Park Junghwan
China:Ke Jie, Lian Xiao, Wu Guangya, Fan Yunruo, Gu Li
Japan:Iyama Yuuta, Murakawa Daisuke,Ida Atzshi, Ichiriki Ryo, Kono Rin
bold - Remaining players.

End of 2nd stage.

3rd round: 3/1/2016~3/5/2016

Exciting game, and thanks to Myungwan Kim/Andrew Jackson/AGA for the excellent commentary, of which I finally managed to watch some.

The most likely thing at this point is for Lee or Iyama to face Lian Xiao with Ke Jie in reserve--no big deal!

But it might not turn out that way--Gu Li still could sweep the next three players

Surprise, China wins. ~

SaiLens wrote:Surprise, China wins. ~

I was reading this thread and that was kind of misleading for someone like me who just wanted to catch up on the news. After all, it is not over yet, but China is leading.

Claint wrote:

SaiLens wrote:Surprise, China wins. ~

I was reading this thread and that was kind of misleading for someone like me who just wanted to catch up on the news. After all, it is not over yet, but China is leading.

I'm pleased to hear that you did not let your initial misjudgement of my comment stop you from inquiring further.

China's definitely leading, but it's hardly over yet. There's definitely still some ways for Japan to win if Iyama is as strong as we think.

For instance, if Murakawa beats Gu Li, then Japan and China both have 2 players. If Lee beats Murakawa, then if Lian Xiao beats Lee, that leaves Iyama having to go through only two players... If Murakawa beats Lee, Japan & China still have 2 players each.

It's not impossible to think that Ke Jie could lose a game, and you can make a pretty compelling argument that Iyama is head and shoulders above the rest of the Japanese players. His last international game was a while ago though... i'll be curious to see how he'll fare.

No question China is in the lead, but i'd have trouble calling it a foregone conclusion.

Well, on paper, both Japan and Korea still have a chance.

But... Murakawa has been slumping hard recently, with 11/32 (34%, src: goratings) in 2015 overall and 1-5 (17%) versus non-JP.

Such a shame Kono and Paku failed to make an impact. Gu Li is probably still laughing.

Who is Paku? Park Junghwan? If so, is that your nickname for him, or his?

Edit: This post was confused. As long as Gu beats Murakawa, then you probably end up with either Iyama or Lee facing the two remaining Chinese players.

Crap, I don't know how I thought the winner of the (probable) Iyama-Lee game would play Lian. Instead, the winner of the probable Lee-Lian game plays Iyama.

So the odds are actually pretty good that it's an Iyama/Lee final against Ke Jie (Lian has a 20-25% chance to sweep them, Gu has a slightly more than 10% chance to sweep). Then Lee/Iyama each have a better than 1/3 chance against Ke if we believe goratings.

My predictions (without goratings) with a 3 point confidence scale:

Oh, I recently watched a YT-clip of one of Park's matches (with JP commentators) and they kept pronouncing his name "Paku". It sounds kind of endearing.