Kwon Juri 1p wins, Buan beats Pohang to move to 7th

3:0
With Rui Naiwei 9p on hand, Chungnam (SG Golf) shut out Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction), putting the former in a difficult position to finish fifth in the leaderboard by the end of the season.

Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction) 9th
Kim Minjeong 1p's second win was Buan (Gomso Salt)'s third, it over Park Taehee 2p and Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) respectively. This meant that Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction) are pushed into last place having only two wins. This is due to them having a bye in the last round from the odd number of teams, and with Buan (Gomso Salt) not playing next round Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction) will be precisely joint 8th if they can win against Inje (Skydown) 2:1 and a board point ahead winning by 3:0.

A tale of two Seouls
Attaining at least median performance is what is required for a team to survive into the postseason. Seoul (Baduk Elegance) do just that with six wins and six losses, Seoul (Baduk Elegance) sitting pretty precariously at 50% after losing to Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) after Kwon Juri 1p, after eight straight losses, finally found victory in her match against Lee Youngjoo 2p to tipping the balance enough to take the fixture as the unstoppable Kim Cheayoung 3p defeated Kang Jisoo 1p.

Yeosu (Turtle Ship) perfection
After winning over Inje 3:0, Yeosu (Turtle Ship) are four wins and five board points ahead of Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical), and with not many rounds left it seems that Yeosu (Turtle Ship) will remain firmly in first until the end of the regular league.

First and second, first part
25th of April, on the fourth floor of the KBA, Kim Cheayoung 3p playing for Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) took her 12th straight win of the season and 25th consecutive victory in the league since last year against Lee Minjin 8p of Yeosu (Turtle Ship). On a parallel board, Choi Jeong 9p defeats Kang Dajeong 2p nudging Chungnam (SG Golf) closer to victory against Pohang (POSCO Chemtech), her 11th season win. Both Kim Cheayoung 3p and Choi Jeong 9p were scheduled to play in the Wu Qingyuan (Go Seigen) Cup, so the matches of the top two female players in Korea, first and second on the individual table respectively, were brought forward.

Yeosu (Turtle Ship) guaranteed at least joint number of wins
Kim Dayoung 3p and Lee Sula 4p, joint third with Oh Yujin 5p, scored their 10th league win in their matches against Jang Hyeryeong 1p and Kwon Juri 1p, meaning that they are guaranteed joint first on the basis of the number of wins; any further divisions would be based on board points.

Oh Yujin 5p of Seogwipo (Chilisimni) playing in the Wu Qingyuan Cup
Seoul (Baduk Elegance) shutout Seogwipo (Chilisimni) with Oh Yujin 5p absent at the Go Seigen (Wu Qingyuan) Cup in China. Lee Youngjoo 2p defeated Kim Kyeongeun 1p, thereby the only player scoring a 50% win ratio at five wins and five losses.

Park Jiyeon 5p prevailed over Kim Soojin 5p in a game with an interesting flawed failed ladder technique; if Kim Soojin 5p responded correctly, the result may have been different.

Down but not last
Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction) pulled great strength form within to win a fixture and escape sure last.

Pan Yang 3p performed again with her second seasson win in her game against Lee Yujin 1p, but Park Shiun 9p defeated Kim Eunseon 5p, somewhat escaping something of a slump as far as the context of the league goes, gaining a valuable board point for both teams.

Single game Sunday
Cho Hyeyeon 9p doesn't play on Sundays with strict conviction, and normally this would be easily solved with a fly in of the candidate player as in round nine, but Wang Chenxing 5p was unable to assist with certainty as she was in China for the Go Seigen Cup; director Lee Youngshin 5p could hope for her early finish, but wishing a loss on the same player you want to win wouldn't be most encouraging. Lee Youngshin 5p signed in Cho Hyeyeon 9p, but a rescheduling of the match couldn't be arranged as in round 12.

Since Choi Jeong 9p defeated Kang Dajeong 2p on the 25th, the fixture'd been won by Chungnam, them taking the required eight wins for qualification in the postseason and a shot at outdoing Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) for second, with only one match occurring to determine a board point. Protocol is for the two faster matches to follow one another; Song Hyeryung 2p sat for 15 minutes, cameras on, for the default before Kim Sinyoung 2p and Park Taehee 2p played their match.

First and second, second part

Quality time
With Oh Yujin 5p in China, the first-board game of the Seoul (Baduk Elegance)-Buan (Gomso Salt) fixture would be postponed to the seventh of may. However, it turned out that it would not be necessary to determine the result of the match; member of the Korean National Team Kim Minjeong 1p slipped at a critical moment in the middle game to give Park Jiyeon 5p a comfortable win. Kang Jisoo 1p and Heo Seohyun 1p are both new to the league, but their records before this round were quite different at five wins eight losses and one win nine losses respectively, the former defeating the latter to acquire her sixth win of the season. The word 'elegance', 의품격, in Seoul (Baduk Elegance) 서울 바둑의품격 can also be translated as 'quality' or 'dignity'. At this time, Seoul (Baduk Elegance) have obtained the required eight wins to guarantee average performance and therefore fifth place and entry into the postseason, whereas Buan (Gomso Salt)'s young team seem to have taken a while to break into a rhythm.

In addition to Oh Yujin 5p, Kim Miri 3p was also participating as a representative for Korea in the same three-country team tournament in China, and the second board match was postponed to the 16th of may. With Cho Hyeyeon 9p to cheer, Pohang and Inje crossed swords evenly as Park Taehee 2p parked a reversal against Park Shiun 9p in a relatively cautious game to pick up her sixth win of the season, the importance of the match in terms of entering the postseason playing no small part, and Lee Yujin 1p overcame Kang Dajeong 2p by 4.5 points.

Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) stands at 5th place with six wins six losses and Inje (Skydown) at seventh with four wins eight losses.

A Streak of success— the Queen versus the Empress
On the 23rd to 26th of July, Choi Jeong 9p and Kim Cheayoung 4p will play for the 1st Go Seigen Cup Title, the latter's legendary 25 win winning streak coming to an abrupt end at the capable hands of the Queen of the female Korean Go scene. Choi Jeong 9p, however, increases her own at eight wins in a row against Kim Cheayoung 4p. Kim 4p avoided early fighting from the onset in appreciation of Choi 9p's natural fighting ability, but possibly prevented her own power to come through. Both born in 1996, Choi Jeong 9p has proved somewhat of a 'natural enemy' of sorts for Kim Cheayoung 4p, so this skirmish before the final between the first and second of Korea could be somewhat of a test for her to finally overcome Choi Jeong 9p. They now stand at 12 wins each, but with an extra loss for Choi Jeong 9p as Kim Cheayoung 4p's played a game less so far.



Oh Jeonga 3p stated her intention to take her team to the postseason, it's looking increasingly unlikely after their loss to Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction). Despite a dazzling performance from her so far, they still would have to not only win all three of their remaining fixtures, but have fifth place Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) lose all of their remaining games to advance.

On the seventh of May, Lee Youngjoo 2p lost to Oh Yujin 5p's on an excellent season for the five dan, with her in contention for the top spot in the individual table. The following day, a game from round sixteen was run early as Choi Jeong 9p took her thirteenth win defeating Lee Minjin 8p.

(Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) takes no prisoners
In the battle to advance past the regular to the postseason

The Chungnam tale

Seogwipo (Chilisimni) shutout Inje (Skydown) in the first half of the regular league, so Inje (Skydown) hoped not only to increase their chances of entering the postseason as Seogwipo (Chilisimni) did, but a tad of revenge. This would not be allowed, and any hopes for Inje (Skydown) were put in jeopardy at the hands of Seogwipo (Chilisimni), both teams, despite defeating Chungnam (SG Golf) twice and once respectively, now at five wins and nine losses and relying on a poor performance from Pohang (POSCO Chemtech).

Chungnam (SG Golf) and Yeosu (Turtle Ship) traded blows to finish the third fixture, it going to the former yet again, however in this case, as Yeosu's first place is guaranteed, more of a case of Chungnam (SG Golf) trying to take second place of off Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) and Yeosu (Turtle Ship) taking it in their stride to take a break and test their strength.

Cho Hyeyeon 9p saves the day
Aiming for the few remaining victories required to whisk them away to postseason, Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) still needs to make every point count as Seogwipo's struggle is still making strides towards postseason advancement. Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction) are in an extremely difficult situation to check into the postseason, with four wins and nine losses, now needing to beat Pohang and every other remaining team to play, have Pohang lose the remaining games and acquire four more board point than Pohang across the remaining games.

Wang Chenxing 5p won her game against what may have been a whistful Moon Dowon in a near reversal, while Park Taehee 2p came up short against but still tiring Kim Eunseon 5p, by 1.5 points, to take the result of the match to depend on the end of the third game; Cho Hyeyeon 9p versus Kim Hyeoimin 8p, the former's fame in an excellent endgame and and eleven-win-one-loss regular league result last season showing up yet again in no better time to take the win for Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) with half a point to spare.

Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) searched for second place after Chungnam (SG Golf) stole it away against Buan (Gomso Salt) escaping last in an ascent after the start of the second half of the regular league.

Kwon Juri 2p put Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) hopes up winning against Kim Minjeong 1p, but had it countered by Heo Seohyun 1p's win against Jang Hyeryeong 1p which meant the result of this match awaited the return of Oh Yujin 5p from China.
At this point, the closeness of the scores caused a complex case whereby nearly each team apart from first and last place were uncertain of entry into the postseason. Perhaps fittingly, on the 15th, a final integration round initiated in which Heo Seohyun 1p showed her power in producing an impressive win again Rui Naiwei 9p, and winning the fixture for Buan (Gomso Salt) over Chungnam (SG Golf) allowing second place to go to Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) as they defeated Seogwipo (Chilisimni), sealing shut the Oh Yujin 5p's teams hopes for advancement.

Inevitably, another teams hopes appeared to have been dusted off, both of Seoul (Baduk Elegance) and Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction) foreign professionals participating, to the profit of the former.

Yeosu (Turtle Ship) also proved high performance yet again against Pohang (POSCO Chemtech), putting Pohang's attention, and that of the teams depending on them, to the round 15 match between Kim Miri 3p and, considered somewhat of a champion and one of five female nine-dans, Cho Hyeyeon 9p, playing 1,000 games in a 21 year career, occuring on the next day. Cho Hyeyeon 9p won by resignation.

Every count points somewhere

Changes
While Pohang (POSCO Chemtech)'s 5th place placement of the final round's independent of their performance in the final fixture except for a 3:0 finish which might put them into fourth place, for Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) it meant the difference between, fourth, third, and second depending on whether Lu Minquan 4p leads a win in the postponed board of their round 16 fixture. With both teams having 16 fixtures under their belts, Seoul (Baduk Elegance)'s clocked up nine wins and 23 board points in comparison to Pohang (POSCO Chemtech)'s eight wins and and an equal number of board points. If Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) won, they would maintain their lead over Seoul (Baduk Elegance); Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) winning would mean they could switch places with Seoul (Baduk Elegance) if the latter lost.

Cho Hyeyeon 9p saves the day again
A wonder in when Wang Chenxing 5p won her match against Kim Cheayoung 4p, fighting starting on the right side of the board and spreading, ending in resignation in favour of the Chinese professional. This set the tone for the entire match, on the top board a tense confrontation between one and two p's Jang Hyeryeong and Kang Dajeong, the latter countering a black invasion with the well placed on Q12. The game continued until move 196, in which Kang Dajeong 2p took the win. On third board, it mattered that Lu Minquan 4p won both this game and the game in two days afterwards, but Cho Hyeyeon 9p repeated her half-point feat of the previous round and found the perfect position for Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) to advance, so, Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) were unable to be sure to surpass their similarly named competitors just yet.

Buan (Gomso Salt) ascended in the later stage of the main league, in essence holding promise for a better perfomance in the following season— a well earned one also by their coach, perhaps. Gyeounggi (Hoban Construction), on the other hand, might have quite a few regrets in them losing the last round in such a way and being last on the leader-board at the main league's end.

In seventh place over Inje (Skydown) after this shutout, but it may not last as Inje (Skydown) takes on Seoul (Baduk Elegance) in the final fixture of this round, making it extra important for Oh Yujin 5p to win the following day.

In the end, it all depended on Inje
Yeosu (Turtle Ship) are entering the postseason with a result of 13-3, after somewhat surprisingly losing against Seogwipo (Chilisimni), Lee Minjin 8p losing to Cho Seungah 1p and Lee Sula 4p losing to Kim Soojin 5p, the two Seogwipo (Chilisimni) players apparently taking charge in the case of Oh Jeonga 3p losing just shy to Kim Dayoung 3p in an endgame reversal. Seogwipo's sixth win left it in similar place, short of entering the postseason by the three match points of demarcation between finishing and advancing teams, and ahead of Buan (Gomso Salt) by two board points.

On the third board of the round 16 fixture where Buan (Gomso Salt) faced Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical), the single board point deciding whether Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) will tie with their city rivals in third place up to BP's at 24 each until prioritising personal points, or just finish fifth, finally commenced. In it, Oh Yujin 5p defeated Lu Minquan 4p in 210 moves, ensuring seventh place for Buan if their main rival for the position did not win the following day's fixture...

From the first game of the first round to the final fixture of the last— commencing and finishing the main league, Inje (Skydown) stopped Seoul Baduk Elegance from beating Seoul Bukwang to third, overtaking Buan (Gomso Salt) by a stunning shutout.

On board 2 two, the top players from each team toughed it out but the fighting was dominated by black stones; by move 215, the second game of the fast board was due. Beating Lee Youngjoo 2p, Gao Xing 4p held on to an early lead to close out the match, but a third and final board point of the season will have either sealed seventh of set Inje (Skydown) to eighth. Park Shiun 9p had not been performing so well in the league this season, four wins and 10 lossess tallied before this game, but pulled out a final reminder of her ability, but only just— something was not quit right with the white stones on the right side, but the battle on the lower side forced black to crumble in the shortest game of the fixture after 170 turns.

On another note, Inje also won their opening and ending games.

To the posteason

It may have been tough for Seoul (Baduk Elegance) to take a loss like so in the last innings, but there was no time for recovery as they took on their rival team in the wildcard playoff with a one-game advantage given to the fourth placed team the next day, defeating fifth placed Seoul (Bukwang Pharmaceutical) though Hei Jiajia 7p's busy schedule meant she was not able to attend, in an incredible event which saw Kang Jisoo 1p take on Kim Cheayoung 4p and win. Lu Minquan 4p countered this feat in winning against Park Jiyeon 5p, but Kwon Juri 2p couldn't keep her nerve more than Lee Youngjoo 2p, the latter known to leap in performance every time the postseason occurs.

To Kim Cheayoung 4p credit, she would have been very tired for her match after an extensive competition schedule, but she did receive commemorative bouquet for her 25 game winning streak from the 2017 to 2018 seasons. It might be a long time before anyone is able to repeat that in the history of the Women's Korean Baduk League [url]http://w.baduk.or.kr/WEB_FileUpLoad/wnews/[299]d4.JPG[/url].

Hei Jiajia 7p's absence would come to sting as Seoul (Baduk Elegance) would not be so fortunate next fixture best of three match, Pohang (POSCO Chemtech)'s Park Taehee 2p and candidate Wang Chenxing 5p sealing the deal against Lee Youngjoo 2p and Kang Jisoo 1p.

Kang Jisoo 1p can take the fight to her opponent no matter who they might be, possibly helping in her game against Kim Cheayoung 4p in a manner similar to Choi Jeong 9p since Kim Cheayoung 4p's more defensive style can come apart at the hands of an extremely aggressive fighter, but Wang Chenxing 5p's experience was superior in this instance and helped her win in just 174 moves.

Lee Youngjoo 2p, however, seemed to be on the path to victory against Park Taehee 2p until a sudden switch of fates in the middle game.

Wang Chenxing 5p has stayed in Korea since the 16th round, not needing to play in the Women's Chinese Weiqi league in a while. This is evident then in four wins out of four games, as many foreign candidate players cannot perform at top level amongst the commute, lag, and return each time they are called.

Only games necessary for the fixture win are played postseason, board points not anymore being important. Cho Hyeyeon 9p and Kang Jisoo 1p may play next, however!

To fight or not to fight, that is the question...

Flames
Park Jiyeon 5p and Cho Hyeyeon 9p were perhaps the biggest names playing on each team, and with attention on the fast board, it would have been , to some extent expected for both players to tread carefully on this important game, Cho Hyeyeon 9p especially known for her excellent endgame skills in which case she may play to her strengths.

A large left side 'su sang jeon'/'semeai' (zero-sum battle for life between two groups) erupted on the board. In only 148 moves, white struck the last blow to take the game.

On board one, two of the toughest fighters in league crossed swords: Kang Jisoo 1p and Park Taehee 2p are both known as prolific in bold fighter go. But in this game, not a single major group died, the centre fighting leading the game to points in favour of, by four-and-a-half points, Park Taehee 2p.

Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) defeated Seoul (Baduk Elegance) by 2:0, advancing to play Chungnam (SG Golf) in the semi-finals. Pohang director Lee Youngshin 5p shared her thoughts on feeling lucky finishing third despite the dificult schedule, hoping for more good fortune to come. Song Taekon 9p was surprised by the ordering of Wang Chenxing 5p in fixture one.

Fire and water
Rui Naiwei 9p's famous fighting and Cho Hyeyeon 9p's stable styles have crossed paths more than a few times throughout the years. However in this game, it appeared that Cho Hyeyeon 9p took the fight to white and in response, Rui Naiwei 9p settled the position! Eventually winning by half-a-point.



In the end, Song Hyeryung 2p sealed the deal with light movements around Kang Dajeong 2p to take two points and the match to Chungnam, and thanks to a 2:0 win Choi Jeong 9p resting a day since qualifying games on the 24th and 25th of a international team competition, possibly cementing Chungnam's chances for next fixture.

A Championship charge
The next day, Chungnam (SG Golf)'s Rui Naiwei 9p and Choi Jeong 9p, two of the strongest, took the helm against Pohang (POSCO Chemtech) against Park Taehee 3p and Wang Chenxing 5p respectively.

Choi Jeong 9p showed her unique fighting power, putting her herself in a superior position by move 203. She stated the value of resting a day as being of great help in restoring physical strength for the match. Park Taehee 3p fell just short of defeating fellow fighter Rui Naiwei 9p, a middlegame mistake meaning Rui Naiwei 9p could reverse the game and win by one-and-a-half points.



On the first, second and third of June, the championship match will take place deciding the 50 million won prize money and 2018 Women's Korean Baduk League title.