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WORLD GO NEWS ROUND-UP February 22-28: Kong Jie’s slump continues; BC Card Cup 2nd round; Cho U take

 Kong Jie’s slump continues. Kong Jie 9P suffered another loss on February 27 when Wang Lei 6P defeated him by resignation after only 103 moves in the quarterfinals of the 11th RICOH Cup. This loss eliminates Kong from the tournament and from defending his RICOH Cup title.
 BC Card Cup 2nd round.  There were no big surprises over the February 26-27 weekend in the second round of play in the 3rd BC Card Cup tournament. Of the 16 players left in the tournament, Korea enjoys a considerable advantage with 11 players going into the third round while China has only 5 players left in competition. This does not at all suggest that China is out of the picture. On the contrary, in the 1st BC Card Cup, China went into the third round with only four players and Gu Li 9P won the title 3-1 against Korea’s Cho Hanseung 9P. China remains strong with veteran Gu Li, Zhou Ruiyang 5P who is currently ranked #1 in Chinese rankings (as of December 31, 2010), and Chen Yaoye 9P. The third round will be begin on March 10th and continue through March 20th.
 Cho U takes Kisei lead. In the fifth round of the 35th Kisei title match, Cho U 9P defeated Iyama Yuta 9P by 2.5 points on February 25, taking a 3-2 lead in the series. With two rounds left to play, Cho is only one game away from winning the Kisei title for a second year in a row. Iyama, however, must win the remaining two games if he hopes to become the next Kisei. The sixth round will be played on March 10,11. 
 Piao Wenyao wins LG Cup. In the second round of the 15th LG Cup final, held February 23, Piao Wenyao 9P (l in photo) defeated defending LG Cup champion Kong Jie 9P (r) by resignation, sweeping the series 2-0. This is Piao’s first international title win and his third title as a professional. Given this win according to the Chinese promotion system, Piao is now a 9 dan. Click here for both game records on GoGameGuru.
 Rui Naiwei 1-0 in Female Kuksu. In the first round of the 16th Female Kuksu title match, Rui Naiwei 9P defeated Kim Yunyoung 3P by resignation on February 22. Rui has won the Female Kuksu eight times and this is Kim’s first Kuksu title match. The second round of the three-game series will be played on March 8th.
 Park Yeonghun vs. Lee Changho in Maxim Cup. In the last semifinal round of the 12th Maxim Cup, held on February 22, Lee Changho 9P defeated Mok Jinseok 9P by resignation. Lee now advances to the Maxim Cup finals to face Park Yeonghun 9P who defeated Choi Cheolhan 9P in their semifinal match on February 21. With this win, Lee is keeping hopes alive that his present title-less state will soon be reversed. In order to do that, however, Lee will need to defeat Park who won the Maxim Cup title in 2008. The Maxim Cup is one title that has eluded Lee. In fact, this will be his first time competing in a Maxim Cup title match.
 Zhou Hexi in Tianyuan finals. In the final round of the 25th Tianyuan challenger decision match, held February 21, Zhou Hexi 4P defeated veteran Yu Bin 9P by 2.5 points. Zhou will now face defending Tianyuan champion Chen Yaoye 9P for the title. - JustPlayGo; edited by Jake Edge