Life In 19x19

Sure westerners will be attracted by western players participation and magicwand's remark of wanting stronger players to play finals is reasonable. But being Samsung an insurance company they have a big equation for sure: Open Quallies attract amateurs fans and reduces costs, Female and Senior Players attract female and senior fans, Japanese players are necessary for making tournament international: 2 seeded players is enough, no western market: no seeded western players

Just reviewed 2 of Min Sangyuon's games in KGS+ lecture.
We can also remember that he beat Mok Chinseok, 9p earlier (Samsung preliminary).
KGS+ subscribers cab check reviews at the archive

Best way to see USA/Europe representative in Samsung cup in near future: just boycott all Samsung products. Choose Fujitsu, instead, if possible.
I do this myself: I bought 2 Fujitsu notebooks - for me and my wife. And the quality is much better actually.

I don't have a car yet, but if I buy it one day, for sure I will choose Toyota, just because of Toyota's support of the European Go

breakfast wrote:Best way to see USA/Europe representative in Samsung cup in near future: just boycott all Samsung products. Choose Fujitsu, instead, if possible.
I do this myself: I bought 2 Fujitsu notebooks - for me and my wife. And the quality is much better actually.

I don't have a car yet, but if I buy it one day, for sure I will choose Toyota, just because of Toyota's support of the European Go

Wow, just wow. Bringing money and nationalist views in here is not a good idea. Maybe we should boycott you instead?

breakfast wrote:Best way to see USA/Europe representative in Samsung cup in near future: just boycott all Samsung products. Choose Fujitsu, instead, if possible.
I do this myself: I bought 2 Fujitsu notebooks - for me and my wife. And the quality is much better actually.

I don't have a car yet, but if I buy it one day, for sure I will choose Toyota, just because of Toyota's support of the European Go

The organizers of the Samsung Cup have shown themselves to be ready to make changes to increase the media coverage of their Go tournament (much to Magicwand's chagrin). Perhaps US or European representatives could convince them that creating a place for "minor Go countries" would make sense from a marketing perspective.

breakfast wrote:Best way to see USA/Europe representative in Samsung cup in near future: just boycott all Samsung products.

In 2008, Samsung had annual revenues of US $173.4 billion US dollars.

That included:
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest electronics company by sales,
Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second largest shipbuilder,
Samsung Engineering,
Samsung Life Insurance, 14th largest in the world, and
Samsung Everland, South Korea's first theme park, is now the fifth most popular theme park in the world.

Bump.

The next two rounds will played tomorrow and Thursday.

They are playing right now on wbaduk, look like Lee changho is playing very tight territory game against kong jie.

Here results of the 1st round Samsung Cup:

1. (w)Kong Jie(9d) - (b)Lee Changho(9d) - W+R (This game along with Lee Sedol's game attracted most attention, the game was decided in yose. During the game odds were slightly in Changho's favor 60/40. I believe the decisive move was W98, instead of answering to B's sente move, Kong decided to counter attack and started ko. The result of the fight I think was in his favor.)

2. (b)Park Jiyeon(2d) - (w)Kim Jiseok(7d) - W+R (betting was almost 90/10 in Kim's favor)

3. (b)Gu Li(9d) - (w)Han Sanghoon(5d) - B win by time (I'm not sure what really happened there, but when I watched the game, betting was 50/50 but Gu Li spent 1 hour less of his time than his opponent, Hang was already in byo yomi and it was still middle game). This game was broadcast on wbaduk, different diagrams were shown but still everything in korean.

4. (w)Heo Yeongho(7d) - (b)Wang Tao(3d) - W+R (I believe the game was good for Heo from fuseki as the whole betting periods odds were in his favor 80/20).

5. (w)Lee Sedol(9d) - (b)Yamashita Keigo(9d) - W+R (The result was expected, but I believe B still pulled a good fight against Sedol)

6. (w)Zhou Ruiyang(5d) - (b)Won Sungjin(9d) - B+R

7. (b)Park Yeonghun(9d) - (w)Wang Lei(6d) - W+R (well, most of the game betting in Park' favor).

8. (b)Choi Cheolhan(9d) - (w)Park Junghwan(8d) - W+R (Park managed to kill big Black group).

In the 2nd round we have: 3 players from China and 5 players from Korea but Chinese top players Gu Li and Kong Jie have good chances to win the Cup.

Pairings for 2nd round (my predictions)

1. (cn)Kong Jie(9d) > (kr)Kim Jiseok(7d) - here I'm biased as I'm Kong Jie's fan

2. (cn)Gu Li(9d) > (kr)Heo Yeongho(7d) - well, almost against every player Gu Li is favorite in the game

3. (kr)Lee Sedol(9d) > (kr)Won Sungjin(9d) - (will be interesting game as Won Sungjin is in a good shape now)

4. (cn)Wang Lei(6d) > (kr)Park Junghwan(8d) - hard to say, I don't know these players well.

hmmm.... On wbaduk right now, they show different pairing. Maybe it is messed up, I have no idea who is playing who.

Ok, My guess:
Kong Jie > Kim Jiseok
Won Sungjin > Park Junghwan
Lee Sedol > Gu Li
Wang Lei > Heo Yeongho

Won Sungjin > Kong Jie
Lee Sedol > Wang Lei

Lee Sedol > Won Sungjin

The Lee Sedol vs Gu Li match should be very exciting, also Won Sungjin vs Park Junghwan.

hmmm.... On wbaduk right now, they show different pairing. Maybe it is messed up, I have no idea who is playing who.

Yea, I'm confused too. I checked info from http://igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sc.html. So I believe there standings were wrong. Anyways here results of the 2nd round, very unexpected!

1. Kong Jie lost to Kim Jiseok (most of the game odds were in Kong Jie's favor 80/20! But I believe he messed up in top right corner giving Kim to play 2 moves defending his moyo, later Kong Jie failed to kill that group)
2. Won Sungjin lost to Park Junghwan
3. Lee Sedol lost to Gu Li
4. Wang Lei lost to Heo Yeongho

Gu Li and Heo Yeongho look very strong, I think one of them win the Cup.

2 emeraldemon
LoL dude, the results were totally opposite of your guess.

I knew Park Junghwan was going to win, that kid is strong!!!! He is my best bet to win the cup.

One win for Gu Li over Kim Jiseok, and one for Heo Yeongho over Park Cheong-hwan.