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After one day break second second round of 21st Fujitsu Cup started. To 8 winners from first round join 8 seed player. In first game Iyama Yuta 7p met Lee Sedol 9p. Lee Sedol took black stones and play very peaceful opening.First fight started with black 25 was also ver natural, but before that it is very important to take small look at white 22.

Instead of White 22 if he play 1 on Dia.1, Black will play at 2 taking advantage of ladder breaker. With black 2 in Dia.1 Black opening looks faster than white. That is main reason why Iyama Yuta don’t capture single stone in ladder a leave there a lot of bad aji.

After black invasion in bottom side white was forced to something in black moyo in right side. Iyama decide to play at 42 but black counterattack with 47 was severe. Iyama Yuta made some sabki but complicated fights in center couldn’t be avoided. In this fights you can see some interesting tesuji like white 88 or black 109. After 109 situation was really hard for white and after 197 moves Lee Sedol won by resignation.

Next game between Lee Younggu 7p and Gu Li 9p was also very interesting. Gu Li took white stones and play very solid in whole game. Way which he play in middle game (54,64) was really outstanding. From move to move black positions look worse and worse. In the end Gu Li kill black dragon and forced Lee to resign.

In next game you could see that Yoda Norimoto 9p from Japan in his stylish kimono was facing Kang Dongyun 7p. In this game Yoda Norimoto again play his weird joseki in upper right corner and won by resignation after 278 moves. I have only one question: black 245 is so big?

Next two games was won by Chinese players. Chang Hao 9p beat Kono Rin 9p by solid margin - after 193 Kono Rin resign. Liu Xing 7p beat O Rissei 9p very lucky by smallest margin - half a point after 336 moves.

For me the most important game was between Lee Changho 9p and Kong Jie 7p. In this game Lee Changho show his deep planning. In fuseki he play very simple, in chuban he doesn’t fight at all. Of course in endgame he play very good by build some points in center. After 203 moves Kong Jie resign. Maybe Lee Changho backs to his old solid style after lost in fight against Kang Dongyun in Kb League.

Game between Cho Hanseung 9p and Yamashita Keigo 9p was also very enjoyable. Cho Hanseung take white stones in this game.

Recently Cho Hanseung is testing uchikomi at 6 in Dia.2 which give him solid shape up to 12. With strong shape in right side white can more freely. Letter white can also attack black corner very severe.

Cho Hanseung use aji in san san with 1 in Dia.3 Up to black 10 sequence is more or less forced, but then white has choice. Cho decide to build thickness in center. Instead of 11 white can A-C to make live in the corner. Purpose of white 11-15 was to make preparation to invasion in right side with white 60.

Game was very even until Cho Hanseung play very beautiful yose tesuji at 1 in Dia.4 Several moves latter game ended with result 6,5 points to Cho Hanseung 9p.

The last game of second round was played between Takao Shinji 9p and Park Yeonghun 9p. Park Yeonghun took black stones and play very standard opening. When both players enter middle game stage Takao Shinji play weird move (for me) with white 56. I was sure he will capture single stone. Takao Shinij must miss tesuji at black 63, because situation after 75 doesn’t looks good for white.

Chuban was very interesting but Yose!! Park Yeonghun show awesome endgame skill. The key moves are: 143,153, 187. After 236 moves Park Yeonghun won by 3,5 points.

21st Fujitsu Cup Round II

• Park Yeonghun 9p vs Takao Shinji 9p B+3,5
• Lee Changho 9p vs Kong Jie 7p B+R
• Lee Sedol 9p vs Iyama Yuta 7p B+R
• Gu Li 9p vs Lee Younggu 7p W+R
• Yoda Norimoto 9p vs Kang Dongyun 7p W+R
• Yamashita Keigo 9p vs Cho Hanseung 9p W+6,5
• Chang Hao 9p vs Kono Rin 9p B+R
• Liu Xing 7p vs O Rissei 9p W+0,5

21st Fujitsu Cup Round III (2008-06-07)

• Park Yeonghun 9p vs Chang Hao 9p
• Lee Sedol 9p vs Gu Li 9p
• Lee Changho 9p vs Yoda Norimoto 9p
• Cho Hanseung 9p vs Liu Xing 7p

From morning i had big problems with my computer and in the end i was forced to format disc and reinstall windows xp, but now everything work much faster Backing to the round 1 of 21st Fujitsu Cup, Japan team obtain big success. Takao Shinji 9p beat Mok Jiseok 9p by 1,5 points.

Mok Jinseok start the game very interesting. Playing at 5-5 to low approach to star point is very rare. Recently professionals much often play in opening for solid territory not for influence, so it was very enjoyable to see this kind of opening.

Mok Jinseok also start complicated fight on right side, which lead to ko fight. Takao Shinji won this ko, but give up some stones in center, but there was some bad aji and Mok Jinseok was forced to add stone at A in Dia.1 , because black 1-7 is serious threat. Even if white play 4 at A black will capture 3 white stones in sente and his center group would be 100% alive.

In endgame Takao Shinji play interesting invasion with black 183. After this move situation was very close and in the end fortunately for Japan team Takao Shinji won by 1,5 points.

In this round there was one more successful Japanese player: Iyama Yuta 7p who beat Zhou Junxun 9p from Taiwan. This game was little unusual because Iyama Yuta who was playing with black stones gets two shimari. Of course this kind of opening is only calm prelude to complicated middle game fights. This game also looks for me like miracle, because you could see many fights but black had everywhere his stones and even if he lost some points locally in global situation he always seems to be leading by few points. Very interesting game.

Unfortunately for Japan it was last win in this round. In last 2 games Japan Masters lost they games. First was game between Yamada Takuji 7p and Cho Hanseung 9p. Yamada who took black stones play Chinese opening. End of opening is perfect example how to reduce black formation in Chinese opening.

The biggest surprise made me invasion in san san with white 1 in Dia.2. This kind of invasion looks for me very risky. After black 8 from Dia.2 white position isn’t easy, but in this game Cho Hanseung show really deep reading and not only alive everywhere, but also kill black in upper right corner. Really awesome game.

In the end Cho Hanseung found great tesuji at 1 in Dia.3. Black resign when he discover white 7. Next if black play at A black B make miai points for live at C and D.

Last Japanese player Cho Sonjin 9p, who kick out Cho U 9p in Japanese preliminary to this tournament, lost to Kang Dongyun 7p. Recently Kang Dongyun showing great result and today he again show good form by beating Cho Sonjin 9p by 9,5 points.

There was one more game in this round and it end with very rare result. Hu Yaoyu 8p lost to Lee Younggu 7p by Time! It’s really uncommon for professionals to lost their game because of time. Even pro are only humans.

21st Fujitsu Cup Round I

• Kono Rin 9p vs Jiang Mingju 7p W+R
• O Rissei 9p vs Edualdo Lopez 6d W+R
• Kong Jie 7p vs Alexandre Dinerstein 3p W+16,5
• Mok Jinseok 9p vs Takao Shinji 9p W+1,5
• Iyama Yuta 7p vs Zhou Junxun 9p W+1,5
• Cho Hanseung 9p vs Yamada Takuji 7p W+R
• Cho Sonjin 9p vs Kang Dongyun 7p B+9,5
• Lee Younggu 7p vs Hu Yaouyu 8p W+T

In last game in SGF is mistake. Instead of Zhou Heyang 9p it was Hu Yaouyu who was playing against Lee Younggu.

21st Fujitsu Cup Round II

• Park Yeonghun 9p vs Takao Shinji 9p
• Lee Changho 9p vs Kong Jie 7p
• Lee Sedol 9p vs Iyama Yuta 7p
• Gu Li 9p vs Lee Younggu 7p
• Yoda Norimoto 9p vs Kang Dongyun 7p
• Yamashita Keigo 9p vs Cho Hanseung 9p
• Chang Hao 9p vs Kono Rin 9p
• Liu Xing 7p vs O Rissei 9p

Second round will have place in 14 April.

Fujitsu Cup is only tournament when we can see this Japanese Masters fighting in international competition. Also pairing was very helpful for Japanese Masters because they play with 2 of 3 out of Asia players and many won easy games and advance to second round.

First, Kono Rin 9p play against Jiang Mingjiu 7p. Jiang Mingju took black stones and play old-fashion joseki in bottom right corner (5-10 on Fig. 1). Recently it hard to find this joseki (only with special strategy like Chinese Fuseki) because of bad aji of A on Fig. 1. Kono Rin use it with white 14 making leaving black shape in corner little over-concentrated. Also in opening Jiang Mingjiu play another rare move (sansan) and with exchange of black 45 for white 46 it was very hard to use it.

In middle game Kono Rin made big fight in center starting with nice probbing move (white 50). In this fight black play questionable move (63 at Dia.1) allowing white to reinforce his weak group in upper side and attack black group on bottom side very severe. Latter black play another very funny (???) move with black 127 I don’t understand meaning of this move. In the end black resign after 238 moves.

In next game O Rissei 9p beat Edualdo Lopez 6d by resignation after 124 moves. Recently i reading O Rissei great book “Catching Scent of Vitory”. I like his book a lot but this game looks very chaotic for me. Especially fuseki looks like white wants to show black that he is much stronger and want to end this game as fast as possible.

Third game which I want write about is between European representative Alexandre Dinerstein 3p and Kong Jie 7p from China. Alexandre Dinerstein took black stones and play very interesting opening. He even start big fight in upper left corner but result which was small furikawri looks bad for him. Unfortunately Alexandre Dinerstein lost by 16,5 points after 286 moves.

21st Fujitsu Cup Round I

• Kono Rin 9p vs Jiang Mingju 7p W+R
• O Rissei 9p vs Edualdo Lopez 6d W+R
• Kong Jie 7p vs Alexandre Dinerstein 3p W+16,5