19th Nongshim Cup

[pookpooi]

There is no sudden change in the plan, Dang Yifei is confirmed to be Shin Minjun's opponent tomorrow. If Shin win he'll tied with Fan Tingyu record last year. But I think he's already reached the point to be promote to 7p or 8p.

[Uberdude]

Dang Yifei won by resign so ends Shin Minjun's win steak at 6 games.

[macelee]

Shin's aggressive play appeared to have worked again when he played several really small end-game moves, such as B163/B171. That combination was about 10 points with 2 moves. For comparison, W174 is at least 11 points (plus removing some bad aji).

[pookpooi]

There is no sudden change in the plan, Ichiriki Ryo is confirmed to be Dang Yifei's opponent tomorrow. Ke Jie is not needed in the second stage.
Shin Minjun has the second most wins of Nongshim Cup.

[Uberdude]

Shin's aggressive play appeared to have worked again when he played several really small end-game moves, such as B163/B171. That combination was about 10 points with 2 moves. For comparison, W174 is at least 11 points (plus removing some bad aji).

Was 163 better as extend on side (eg c12) to settle by making a decent territory rather than capturing the 4 stones which was needed for life rather than just endgame? Maybe he dreamed 163 was sente and didn't like white playing there as also made white some eyes. It's hard to judge the value of blacks centre thickness, but I liked White's centre crosscut to capture that top right tail around move 60, particularly the timing of outside atari, and black settling top left seemed decent but not super amazing as white got the corner back.

[macelee]

Shin's aggressive play appeared to have worked again when he played several really small end-game moves, such as B163/B171. That combination was about 10 points with 2 moves. For comparison, W174 is at least 11 points (plus removing some bad aji).

Was 163 better as extend on side (eg c12) to settle by making a decent territory rather than capturing the 4 stones which was needed for life rather than just endgame? Maybe he dreamed 163 was sente and didn't like white playing there as also made white some eyes. It's hard to judge the value of blacks centre thickness, but I liked White's centre crosscut to capture that top right tail around move 60, particularly the timing of outside atari, and black settling top left seemed decent but not super amazing as white got the corner back.

Yeah C12 is huge, followed by sente at B13 (so black could well get C12 in sente). If he is sure that his group is not in danger, he could play P6. White would have to play K4. With the sente at O3, the value of Q2 is greatly increased.

[macelee]

Just read some comments from Chinese sources. Some seem to agree with the comments I made above. Also mentioned that B167 should block from the side.

W198 is the winning move, black cannot use force there:

$$Bc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . X X . . X . O O X O O . O O . |
$$ | . . O O O X O . . X . O X X . O X O . |
$$ | . . O X X . X X X O O . X O O O X X . |
$$ | . O X X . X . X X X O . X O X O X O . |
$$ | . X O O . . . O X X O O O X X X X X O |
$$ | . O . . . O . O O O X O . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . O . . . O . X X X X O X . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . O X . X X X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . O X , . X . 0 8 , . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . O X . X O . 1 O 3 X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . O X X X O . 9 X 2 6 7 . |
$$ | . X X . X O O O X . O . O O . . . X . |
$$ | X O X X . X X O X . . O . X . O 4 5 . |
$$ | . O X X X . X O X . . . O X O . X . . |
$$ | O . O X X . . X X , X X X O . O X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . X X O O O O O . . O X . . |
$$ | O . O X X X O O X O . . . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . O . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . X X . . X . O O X O O . O O . |
$$ | . . O O O X O . . X . O X X . O X O . |
$$ | . . O X X . X X X O O . X O O O X X . |
$$ | . O X X . X . X X X O . X O X O X O . |
$$ | . X O O . . . O X X O O O X X X X X O |
$$ | . O . . . O . O O O X O . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . O . . . O . X X X X O X . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . O X . X X X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . O X , . X . 0 8 , . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . O X . X O . 1 O 3 X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . O X X X O . 9 X 2 6 7 . |
$$ | . X X . X O O O X . O . O O . . . X . |
$$ | X O X X . X X O X . . O . X . O 4 5 . |
$$ | . O X X X . X O X . . . O X O . X . . |
$$ | O . O X X . . X X , X X X O . O X . . |
$$ | . . O . X . X X O O O O O . . O X . . |
$$ | O . O X X X O O X O . . . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . O . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

[kimidori]

So We will have all the three countries in the final stage, great news!

[Uberdude]

Dang won. Ichiriki made too many weak groups and couldn't save them all.

[pookpooi]

Ichiriki Ryo has a good chance (up to 70% FineArt) until his main time began to run out.
There is no sudden change in the plan, tomorrow Dang Yifei's opponent will be Kim Myounghoon.

[kimidori]

From the John Power's report, Ichikiri also mentioned that Iyama outplayed him in byo-yomi. Perhaps he needs to improve it to be able to compete in a higher level.

[Uberdude]

Ichiriki's play does seem to deteriorate under time pressure more than other pros. And I seem to recall when I joined one of the Tengen/Oza broadcasts he had used about 2h30m to Iyama's 1h15m of 3 hours, though I'm not sure how trustworthy that info is.

[xiayun]

Would love to see the top 4 ranked players battle it out in the final stage. Could get there if Dang beats Kim Myounghoon and loses to Iyama Yuta, and then have Iyama beat Kim Jiseok. Who knows, maybe KJ will surpass Mi Yuting at Goratings by the time the final stage comes around to set up an all-out battle between the top 5 players.

[Uberdude]

Looks like Dang will win again. There was lots of fighting between groups with little territory and at one point I thought it looked good for Kim but in the end his attacks yielded nothing or even lost points (duff ko threat lower side?).

Update: indeed Kim just resigned.

[pookpooi]

That move 193 though

Anyway, third stage February 26 - March 2, 2018 at Shanghai. VS. my favorite player Iyama Yuta if Japan really win this there'll be no doubt of his international performance for a decade.