Did it live up to your expectations?

[Drew]

Now that it's all over I'm curious to here how others feel about the entire event. Before it began there was a lot of enthusiasm, but I can also recall reading commentary along the lines that these two are somewhat past their primes and there won't be too much to enjoy.

All in all, what did you think?

[leichtloeslich]

I thought the pre-match hype was a tad silly, yes.
However, given that I rooted for Gu Li, the match did turn out to be a disappointment even without me having high hopes of it becoming the match of the millenium.

[Solomon]

Meh.

[xed_over]

It was fun... we made an event out of it, and projected the games on the wall at the Seattle Go Center and staying up through 2am to watch and discuss the game.

[gowan]

The matched was overly hyped, I didn't see it as intrinsic enthusiasm in the go community. I felt the interest in the match was because of the money prize, not because of some meaning for go; the match happened because a company put up the money.

[Shawn Ligocki]

The matched was overly hyped, I didn't see it as intrinsic enthusiasm in the go community. I felt the interest in the match was because of the money prize, not because of some meaning for go; the match happened because a company put up the money.

I disagree. Everyone at my local go club was talking about this match and none of us care about the money at stake.

Here are a couple reasons I think it resonated so well with my friends and me: (1) It was much simpler to follow than a huge tournament with dozens of participants, (2) Because it took place over such a long time, you could really spend time analyzing every game, understanding what was going on, (3) It had an epic feel of definitively deciding which of two players was the best.

I'm looking forward to more Jubangos in the future.

[Shawn Ligocki]

Here are a couple reasons I think it resonated so well with my friends and me: (1) It was much simpler to follow than a huge tournament with dozens of participants, (2) Because it took place over such a long time, you could really spend time analyzing every game, understanding what was going on, (3) It had an epic feel of definitively deciding which of two players was the best.

Side-note: The mathematician in me is a bit unhappy about (3), it gives the false impression that a 6-2 defeat clearly proves that Lee Sedol is better than Gu Li. In fact, if we assume that both players are exactly equally likely to win each game, then there is still a 28.9% chance of one of them winning 6-2 (14.5% chance for Gu Li + 14.5% chance for Lee Sedol). See also my other post. So this hasn't really proven anything from a statistical point of view.

But this is really a digression. I still think it's great to have epic competitions like this even if they "over-promise" the value of the results.

[skydyr]

The matched was overly hyped, I didn't see it as intrinsic enthusiasm in the go community. I felt the interest in the match was because of the money prize, not because of some meaning for go; the match happened because a company put up the money.

I disagree. Everyone at my local go club was talking about this match and none of us care about the money at stake.

Here are a couple reasons I think it resonated so well with my friends and me: (1) It was much simpler to follow than a huge tournament with dozens of participants, (2) Because it took place over such a long time, you could really spend time analyzing every game, understanding what was going on, (3) It had an epic feel of definitively deciding which of two players was the best.

I'm looking forward to more Jubangos in the future.

I rather enjoyed this as well, and honestly, part of the reason may be the publicity. It's much easier to follow a match when you know who the players are and can easily find information in English on how to view the game live, let alone having the benefit of good commentary in English. We definitely would have groups of people get together to discuss the games as they were happening, at least until we were all falling asleep, and I regret the few that I missed. In line with the talk at the 2014 US Go Congress, there's something to be said for a match like this that builds its own storyline and drama to involve the audience, so that it's not just a game, but an event. I'd look forward to seeing more of these in the future as well.

I feel that some of the Japanese big title matches have the same potential for excitement. However, they're not advertised as much and it's harder for me to find when they're happening, so they don't seem to generate the same sort of buzz.

[EdLee]

So this hasn't really proven anything from a statistical point of view.

Correct. 60-20 would be more meaningful, and 600-200 even more so.
Alas, few people have the patience, time, or budget.

But there is another way: you need someone who is at least their level,
higher is even better, to review the 8 games. Such a person's evaluation
of their moves can be illuminating.

[Joaz Banbeck]

Individually, they were eight pro games, none of which bored me, and none of which delivered blinding flashes of insight to me; and all of which contained a bunch of stuff that I didn't understand. In other words they were eight pro games just like other pro games.

Collectively, it was about what I expected. In the pre-jubango poll, I voted Lee winning 7-3. The only suspense came when Gu won #4 to tie it at 2 each.

So, overall, about as expected.

[jeromie]

I enjoyed the match more than I expected, mainly because of the excellent commentary at GoGameGuru. This was the first multi-game professional match that I followed throughout, and I really enjoyed being able to look forward to quality commentary on each match. I'd probably enjoy more professional events if they were treated similarly.

I tried following the games live a couple of times, but found that I much preferred playing through the game at my own pace once it was done.

[logan]

Yes, it was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be.

I was aware of the hype before it started, and even after it has finished. Some people are still lavishing on hype, mainly because they have a business investment or have developed a warped perspective on it from being too close for too long. Most of the hype was from a misrepresentation of historical accuracy and misuse of historical context -- it lead people to overly attach importance to the jubango. But hype is part of enjoying it. Part of allowing oneself to become excited about it: as long as one remains conscious of the ground one has built upon.

[paK0]

I greatly enjoyed it, to be fair though I didn't know what to expect, since I've never followed a multi-game pro match before. Makes me wish for more english commentary of some title matches.

[Drew]

Thanks to all who answered and voted. For me, the remaining question is how will GoGameGuru's book turn out? I do very much hope they pull out all the stops and produce a work that transcends the 8 matches it is based upon... but I'm not holding my breath!