Life In 19x19

Tang murdered Park!

Edit: here's the game (FineArt variations from Fox). I thought LZ suggestion of f13 cut on move 72 was interesting, particularly given what happened later in the centre fighting. Even tohugh it allows black's f15 tesuji, white loses a little territory on top and lets black settle there but gets strong on the outside in exchange. If that had happened then Park's group which later died would have been in far less trouble as the m14 cut and trade which but strength in sente to prepare the kill would have been meaningless. I guess Park was happy to fix the bad aji in the top left and get sente, and LZ says he was still ahead, but LZ is very good at invading and sabaki in the shadow of that turtle thickness, whereas I think it may have been more prudent for Park to have played a bit more thickly and respectfully of that thickness to reduce chances for him to die later.

Result of round of 8;

Tang Weixing defeated Park Junghwan by resign.
Yang Dingxin defeated Tao Xinran by 0.5.
Liao Yuanhe defeated Shin Jinseo by resign.
Gu Zihao defeated Shin Minjoon by 1.5.

Uberdude wrote:Tang murdered Park!

Tang was in such a poor form recently in domestic tournaments. But every time in Samsung cup he becomes 13-dan.

Yang Dingxin looking very dapper in that photo.

Pairing for semi final;

Tang Weixing vs Liao Yuanhe
Yang Dingxin vs Gu Zihao

Whoa! Chinese sweep... I didn't see that coming

Result of semi final;

Tang Weixing defeated Liao Yuanhe by resign.
Yang Dingxin defeated Gu Zihao by resign.

Final - 9/4, 9/5, 9/6
Tang Weixing vs Yang Dingxin

According to AhQGo (which pretty much matched Yike commentary) Gu Zihao was leading for a long time but the game turned when he failed to profit enough from harassing Yang's centre straggle.

First game of final is live now.

Tang black
https://home.yikeweiqi.com/#/live/room/22236/1/20426004

Tang won with his classic "counterattack when you make a mistake attacking his weak group" style.

Final 2nd game;

Yang Dingxin defeated Tang Weixing by resign.
Tied 1:1

Here's the game, nice powerful game from Yang. 41 was a cool move, and what LZ wanted too. I had a bit of a scare towards the end when he was trying to kill Tang (who as usual found a way to wriggle out) that he might squander his lead but then he killed a group in a ko in endgame (Tang thought he was behind so one last complication?).

Even though Tang couldn't finish his comeback in this game, his resilient style has just been in full display this tournament, and it's quite fun to see.

Final 3rd game;

Tang Weixing defeated Yang Dingxin by resign.
Tang Weixing is 2019 Samsung cup Champion!!!!!!!!!

That's gotta be annoying loss for Yang, but he apparently didn't learn that you shouldn't try to kill Tang and should just win on points without fighting so much. Tang does bait you into it so well though...

Uberdude wrote:That's gotta be annoying loss for Yang, but he apparently didn't learn that you shouldn't try to kill Tang and should just win on points without fighting so much. Tang does bait you into it so well though...

As if Yang had that choice. Tang' style is shown very well in this game. He plays sort of very 'sticky' weiqi, making his opponent not comfortable. People get provoked in the end, so it is never easy to have a peaceful win against him.

Tang is such a legendary figure in Samsung Cup. For the past seven years: won twice, runner-up twice, semi-finalist twice and quarter-finalist once.