American Go E-Journal » World

In the third round of the 15th GS Caltex Cup, Park Yeonghun 9P defeated Kim Junghyun 2P by resignation Wednesday, June 23, eliminating Junghyun from tournament play. Only a few weeks earlier, on June 11th, Kim Junghyun had eliminated Lee Changho by defeating him in the second round. Park Yeonghun now advances to the Caltex Cup Semifinals to face either Heo Yeongho 7P or Lee Younggu 8P.
- JustPlayGo

Cho U 9P defeated Sakai Hideyuki 7P by resignation in the first round of the 35th Gosei on Thursday, June 24. Cho U is the defending titleholder, and has won the Gosei four consecutive years, 2006-2009. The Gosei is Sakai Hideyuki’s first major title match. The second round will be played on July 9th.
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Zhou Ruiyang 5P defeated Kong Jie 9P by 5 points in the second round of the 7th Changqi Cup on Thursday, June 24. Zhou Ruiyang will now face Piao Wenyao in the third round on June 26th. The Changqi Cup is a relatively new tournament sponsored by the Ing foundation, which had its beginnings in Beijing in 2004. The tournament name ‘Changqi’ is the first name of the late Taiwanese millionaire (Ying Changqi) who sponsored the Ing Cup world championship. The tournament is open to all Chinese professionals.
- JustPlayGo, based on reports on go4go

With his fourth-round win in the Honinbo on Friday, Yamashita Keigo 9P has taken a 3-1 lead over Hane Naoki 9P. This would be the first Honinbo title for Yamashita; Hane has held the title for the past two years. The fifth round will be played on June 28-29.
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Lee Changho 9P announced his engagement to Cyberoro reporter Yi Doyun on Tuesday. Miss Yi Doyun is a strong baduk player as well, and the couple said they plan to have between one and three children.
- JustPlayGo

While top professionals do lose big games now and again, it seems a bit unusual for so many to be struggling at the same time. In the past few weeks, Korean pro Lee Sedol 9P has lost a few important games he was expected to win, and Lee Changho 9P has been in a painful slump. Now, it looks possible that things could get rocky for a few Chinese players as well.

Kong Jie 9P, Chang Hao 9P, and Nie Weiping 9P were all eliminated in the first round of the 3rd Quzhou-Lanke Cup, which ended this Wednesday. Nie Weiping’s loss to Shi Yue 4P was not too surprising, as Shi Yue is one of China’s better mid-level pros and may move to the top level in the future. Chang Hao lost to Li Zhe 6P, a mid-level pro, who has played very competitively against Kong Jie, Gu Li 9P, Chang Ho, Lee Sedol, and other top players.

The big surprise in the first round came when Jiang Weijie 5P defeated Kong Jie. Jiang Weijie turned pro in 2005 and is a solid player, but has yet to win a major tournament. Gu Li, the defending Quzhuo-Lanke Cup champion, was the only top Chinese pro to make it out of the first round, defeating Zhong Weijing 5P by resignation.
- JustPlayGo

Yamashita Keigo 9P took a 2-1 lead in the 65th Honinbo Wednesday when he defeated defending title-holder Hane Naoki 9P by resignation. The fourth round will be played on June 17-18.
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Lee Changho 9p’s troubles continue to plague him. Playing in the second round of the 15th GS Caltex Cup on Saturday, Kim Junghyun 2P defeated Lee Changho 9P by resignation. Kim Junghyun is relatively new to the professional scene, turning pro in 2009 and gaining the rank of 2 dan on April 8th, 2010.
- JustPlayGo