American Go E-Journal » World

European Youth Go Championship: The 18th European Youth Go Championship, organized by the Hungarian Go Association in Budapest, Hungary, will take place 3/7-10… London Open: The London Open, played from 12/28-31 in London, United Kingdom, was won by Lukas Kraemer 5d (left), second was Matthew Cocke 5d and third was Volkmar Liebscher 3d… Austrian Championship 2012 Playoff: The Austrian Championship 2012 Playoff, played from 12/16-30 in Vienna, Austria, was won by Schayan Hamrah 4d (right), second was Viktor Lin 5d… Hungary New Year’s Tournament: Dominik Boviz 3d won Group A; second was Renato Tolgyesi 1k and third was Mate Matolcsi 6k; Barnabas Kollner 9k won Group B; second was Viktor Toth 14k and third was Judit Bovizne Detre 17k; Szilvia Toth 18k won Group C; second was Aniko Tothne Temesvari 18k and third was Nikoletta toth 18k…SM-finaali: The SM-finaali played 12/29 in Oulu, Finland, was won by Antti Tormanen 6d (left), second was Juri Kuronen 5d… Sociable Go Tournament: The Sociable Go Tournament, played on 12/29 in Bratislava, Slovakia, was won by Viktor Lin 5d (right), second was Miroslav Smid 1k and third was Jakub Berka 4k… Velika Gorica Tournament: The 462nd Velika Gorica weekend go tournament, played on 12/29 in Velika Gorica, Croatia, was won by Mladen Smud 1k, second was Robert Jovicic 2k and third was Drazen Odobasic 17k….Peter Gaspari Memorial: The Peter Gaspari Memorial, played on 12/22 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was won by Marjan Drobez 2d, second was Dalibor Cotar 5k and third was Miran Gorenec 1k… GO7 Rapid: The GO7 Rapid 2012, played on 12/22 in Vienna, Austria, was won by Monika Cernikova 6k, second was Lothar Spiegal 4d and third was Ivan Oravec 5k…
Adapted from EuroGoTV, which includes winner reports, crosstabs, game records and photos. Edited by Taylor Litteral

Lee Sedol 9P, hot off his Samsung Cup win earlier this month, pulled off a stunning reversal to beat Baek Hongseok 9P for the Myeongin title.

The Myeongin, the Korean equivalent of the Japanese Meijin title, is a best-of-5 match. After losing the first two games to Baek on December 17 and 18, Lee came back to sweep the remaining three games and capture the 41st title of his career.

Many consider Baek to be Lee’s natural enemy, because Baek’s powerful fighting style usually works well against Lee’s, as shown by their 6-4 record in Baek’s favor before the tournament.

This is the second time Baek has placed second in the Myeongin, losing last year to Park Yonghun 9P. Baek will be off the go scene for nearly two years, due to compulsory military service beginning on January 7th, 201. His departure comes at the end of a strong year following wins in the BC Card Cup and the Asian TV Cup.
- Adapted from GoGameGuru’s report; edited by Ben Williams

After Fan Ting Yu 3P’s decisive win over Park Jung-hwan 9P in the first game of the Ing Cup final, Game Two is set for Sunday evening, 8:30p EST (5:30 PST). The AGA’s Myung-wan Kim 9p will give another live commentary in English on the game, broadcast on Tygem’s World Server, which has ample capacity for everyone who wants to watch. In Game One, Fan was ahead going into the endgame, Kim said. “White did make some mistakes in the endgame, but still black could not overcome the margin, so he overplayed and the result was a disaster for black.” Game Three, along with four and five if necessary, will be played in January. photo: Myung-wan Kim at the 2012 Cotsen Open; photo by Chris Garlock

The first two games of the Ing Cup Final between Park Jung-hwan 9P and Fan Ting-yu 3P will be featured in the next installment of Myung-wan Kim 9P’s AGA/Tygem live commentary tonight, Friday, December 21, at 8:30p EST, and then Sunday, 12/23, at the same time. Many pros give a slight edge in the match to the 19-year-old Park (left), currently number two in Korea, but expect the match-up with the Chinese 16-year-old Fan (right) to be very difficult for both players. Park, once called “the future emperor,” has started to be called “the current emperor,” says Kim, adding that “Park has completed the perfect Korean style. He has assembled every good part of a strong Korean go player’s game. Lee Sedol’s fighting spirit, Lee Chang-ho’s endgame, Cho Hun-hyun’s haengma.” Fan, meanwhile, has been called the future of China by many experts including the legendary Nie Weiping 9P. Fan started playing at age four, and in his short career — including 2,000 games as a Tygem 9d in the last five years — has put together an impressive record against professionals of all levels and a very stable game style. “He doesn’t readily collapse in any situation,” Kim said. Fan worships Lee Chang-ho. Click here for GoGameGuru’s report on the two young contenders earlier this year: Prodigies prevail at the 7th Ing Cup.

The live commentary will be set up in Tygem’s World server, which is not expected to have the problems observers experienced during the recent Samsung final. Each player gets three hours and 30 minutes to play, along with up to three overtime periods of 35 minutes each costing a two-point penalty. In theory, along with the lunch hour, a game could last 11 hours. A second phase of the best-of-five final in Singapore will take place in January and will decide who gets the $400,000 first prize and the $100,000 runner-up prize.