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Kim Seongjae 1p

Everyone heard about Han Sanghoon 2p but not many people heard about Kim Seongjae 1p - another rising star. Kim so far don’t show good result in international tournaments but in national his record is very good. His performance: GS Caltex League, 2 place in preliminary to Electron-Land Cup (lost to Han Sanghoon 2p) and today he advance to final of BC Card Cup by beating Park Junghwan 2p.

Dia. 1 - Brutal force

In game Kim Seongjae 1p takes black stones and play Mini-Chinese Opening. Park immediately play hasami and big fight started. When i saw White 24 I was shocked. Professional playing this kind of brutal move?

Dia. 2 - placement tesuji

In game Kim Seongjae very skilful handle situation with placement tesuji - black 29. Black not only takes some white teritory in corner but also connect his 3 stones with black 35.

Dia. 3 - White collapse

If White with 30 tried to block with other side he will end in disaster after sequence in Dia. 3. In this variation white shape is ugly. capturing one stone with 13 instead of 7 will help little but again white position will be fatal. Next white play another weird move for me (white 36) but after moment everything was clear, he wanted to play 38 in sente and get chance to play white 40.

Dia. 4 - great kosumi (79)

After few moves Black invade in bottom left corner with black 59 but the most interesting was how Kim Seongjae handle white cut at 68. Black 79 is another double purpose move, if white tried to block with 81 black will make a life in corner in sente.

Dia. 5 - live in corner

Black 2 from Dia. 5 is great tesuji to get few free moves, next black 10 is important to make living shape. White must prevent connection on first line with 11, so black can easily make live with 12.

Dia. 6 - live in centre

The game started to slowly enter yose, but before this Kim Seongjae play very brave move - black 143 - and easily make live for his group in centre. Kim Seongjae take few points lead and after 237 moves forced Park Junghwan 2p to resign.

Kim Seongjae 1p in final will play with Kim Kiyoung 3p who beat Hong Sungji 6p in semifinal. Final for BC Card Cup is best-of-3 and first game will be at 10 March.

Park Junghwan 2p vs Kim Seongjae 1p B+R