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The game of Go is mentioned in the financial results of the French company Bull, which is an “expert in open, flexible and secure information systems and one of Europe’s leading players in the IT industry”:

“And for the first time ever, a supercomputer has recorded an official victory against a grand master in the game of Go. The game is more complex than chess, with more different possibilities than the number of particles in the known Universe. So this world first - which combined the use of a NovaScale supercomputer and artificial intelligence software developed by INRIA (the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) - represents a real achievement.”

The reference seems to be to the 9×9 match between Catalin Taranu 5p and the computer-Go program Mogo, about which I wrote an article a while ago, when Mogo won one game of the 3.

There will be soon another match between Mogo and a professional player, this time Kim Myungwan 8p of Korea. The match will be played on August 7th on KGS, at 1:00 PM PST in the Computer Go room. The board will be the normal 19×19 this time, and there will be some preliminary games to establish what the proper handicap should be (Catalin previously won against Mogo on 19×19 by giving it 9 stones handicap).

Link to complete Bull financial results article.

Cho U, on the right side in the photo below, won the second game in the Japanese Gosei title against challenger Yamashita Keigo. The score is 1-1 now.

Here is the game record.

Next game will take place in just a few days, on July 31st.

Hane Naoki went all the way in his recovery from 0-3 by winning all 4 remaining games, capturing the Honinbo title from Takao Shinji!

Here is the game record. There was a lot of fighting and sharp moves on both sides.

Hane Naoki won game 6 in Honinbo Title and the score is even: 3-3.

Since he was led 3-0, this is one of those rare, miracle come-backs in 7 games titles. I remember reading in a Go World review that more often than not the one that comes from behind has better chances statistically to win the 7th game and the title.

Takao Shinji, the current Honinbo title owner, seems disappointed in the photo below:

Here is the game record.
Hane looked very inspired in this game: the attachment at 57, and the following sequence (including the sacrifice at 67) show that he deserved to win.

The 7th and last game will be played in just a couple of days, on July 22nd and 23rd.

The Japanese Gosei title started yesterday.

The challenger (and Kisei title holder) Yamashita Keigo (left in the photo below) won the first game against Cho U Gosei.

Here is the game record. Yamashita (Black) mounted a double attack and eventually killed one of Cho’s groups.

Next game will take place on July 27th.

The first sentence of an online newspaper article immediately caught my attention:

Lovers of the game of go know from experience that thinking too long often leads to a bad move.

This quote is not from a Go article, though, but from a political article. Here’s the next sentence:

That’s how most Koreans might have felt watching President Lee Myung-bak’s minor Cabinet reshuffle Monday.

Full article link here, for those of you interested in Korean politics…

Gu Li is the new Fujitsu Cup winner:

He defeated Lee Changho in the final. Gu has an interesting way of concentrating before the game.

The playing room is pretty crowded with reporters - or maybe they allow the reporters in just for a few minutes?

Here is the game record. Interestingly, the otherwise rarely seen 2-space low hasami from hoshi, about which Jie Lie commented in the Lee Changho - Liu Xing game from the semifinals, occurred in this final game as well (move 7).

Gu Li is back in shape less than 2 weeks after losing the China-Korea tengen playoff match 0-2 against Won Sungjin.

The Fujitsu Cup semifinals took place yesterday.

One game matched Lee Changho of Korea against Liu Xing of China. Lee (on the left side in the photo) won by resignation.

The second game matched the two top Chinese players: Gu Li and Chang Hao. Gu (on the left side in the photo) won by resignation.

I love the look on the face of Cho Hunhyun (standing, right) as he watches his ex-student, Lee Changho, after Lee’s win.

Cho Hunhyun chatting with Otake Hideo of Japan, presumably about the two undergoing semifinals (games are being replayed on the two boards in front of them). (Cho Hunhyun was insei and became professional in Japan before coming back to Korea).

The final between Lee Changho and Gu Li will be played tomorrow in Tokyo, Japan.

Hane Naoki recovered after losing the first 3 games in his challenge for the Japanese Honinbo title currently owned by Takao Shinji: he won games 4 and 5, closing the gap to just one game difference.

Photo and game record from 4th game:

Game 5 was particularly spectacular, ending in a huge semeai spawning over most of the board.

Next game will be played on July 16th and 17th. Takao is still one win away from keeping his title, while Hane needs two wins to capture it.