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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.

Round 3 of Ing Cup 2008 was played on May 4th.

After defeating Chang Hao in the previous round, Cho Chikun lost to Lee Changho by 3 points.

Lee Sedol of Korea defeated Kong Jie of China by 11 points.

Choi Cheolhan of Korea defeated Piao Wenyao of China by resignation.

And Liu Xing of China, who seems to be the surprise of the tournament so far, defeated Park Yeonghun by resignation thus becoming the only Chinese player to play in the semifinals.

The semifinals will take place sometime in September and will consist of best-of-three matches. Lee Changho will play against Lee Sedol, and Choi Cheolhan will play against Liu Xing.

Nongshim Cup is a team tournament between China, Korea and Japan: each team member keeps playing until they lose once, at which point they get replaced by the next team member. In the past few days, Chang Hao of China eliminated Takao Shinji of Japan and Lee Changho of Korea, and he’s playing with Park Yeonghun of Korea as I am writing this (I am following the game live on Cyberoro).

Photo of the end of the game between Chang Hao and Takao Shinji: Chang Hao won by 2.5 points.

Yet another photo from the same moment, different angle: Takao smiles even in defeat. I like the little kid in the background: maybe a future Go champion?

Chang Hao defeated Lee Changho next, by 0.5 points.

I also liked the following photo. Since Nongshim, the sponsor of this international tournament, is an instant noodles producer, is this one of the prizes?

After a period when we didn’t hear much about him, Lee Changho seems to be coming back in top form: he won the Korean Siptan (10 dan) title against Mok Jinseok 2-0. (Games here and here.)

Lee also has a 13-0 score in 2008 so far (February 2nd, 2008), according to Go Topics!

Park Yeonghun won the final game by 1.5 points - so Lee Changho lost a big chance to comeback as a leader on the international scene.

The game record is on the Fujitsu page.

Lee Changho lost the Korean Guksu title to challenger and newcomer Yun Junsang (19 years old, 4 dan).

Lenius corrected me: Yun Junsang is not a newcomer to the top professional Go: in 2002 when he was only 1p (and 14-15 years old!) he only lost 2-1 to Cho Hunhyun in a playoff to decide the challenger to Kiseong title (equivalent to the Japanese Kisei).

I wrote my thoughts on the 4th and last game.

It was interesting how kosumi-tsuke appeared in the opening, how White sacrificed a group, and how Black played 3 moves in a row on the second line, in the middle game.