I'm currently in Korea at BIBA for a week after participating in the 13th KPMC. Today we visited the Hankuk Kiwon to support Blackie's team (Jungkwangjang, a Ginseng product) who were playing a match in the Korean baduk league. He's the team coach/manager which means he picks the players/board order. This team won last year (when he wasn't the manager!) but were currently in the middle of the 8-team field (see https://gotoeveryone.k2ss.info/kr/kl/16). The top 4 teams make the play-offs at the end of the season. Each match is 5 games, one of them slow (which means 1 hour and maybe 40 sec 5 times) whilst the others are I think some small amount of main time and 30 second byo yomis. The games are played in a TV studio in the basement of the Hankuk Kiwon in Seoul and there's a room next door with boards and TVs broadcasting the games for others to follow along.

Playing 1st board for Blackie's team was Korean wonderkid Shin Jinseo 9p (goratings #3), against Team Kixx first board Yun Junsang 9p (#34). 2nd board was Park Jinsol 8p (#68) in a tough pairing against Kim Jiseok 9p (#7) (maybe Kixx didn't put their strongest on first board as they thought he'd lose to Shin anyway so maximize chance to win board 3?). Blackie picked female pro Oh Yujin 6p (#156) to play the slow game, against Baek Hongsuk 9p (#75), over legend Lee Changho 9p (#105) who is also on the team but hasn't been doing so well recently, plus Oh recently beat him in the GG Auction cup event of female vs older male pros (I got to play a simul against Oh at the KPMC). These 3 games started first around 6:30, you can find the records on WBaduk, Tygem, Fox etc and game databases later.

Various other pros from the team plus friends were in the next door room following the games. I was interested to see that like the Chinese pros at the Changqi cup semi-finals in Cambridge, Korean pros were also using Lizzie / Leela Zero to analyse the game live. Shin was expected to win but actually was losing at various points in the game (LZ didn't like his sacrifice of 2 stones) but he was the first to win by resign. Park Jinsol also managed to beat Kim Jiseok in a see-sawing game which was a great start. Even though he wasn't playing Lee Changho dropped by to follow the games so it was cool to get to meet him too. Oh Yujin's game wasn't going so well when the other 2 games started with Kim Myeonghoon 6p (#43, a rising young player) and Han Seungjoo 4p (#92). Unfortunately they both started badly, and then Oh resigned so the good start wasn't looking so good anymore. Kim's game was practically over in the first fight said Blackie, LZ gave his opponent 98% but he recovered somewhat and then when his opponent played a solid pole connection allowing a squeeze there were muted squeals of excitement as LZ instantly identified it as a 30% blunder and the game was reversed. Much fighting and ko trades followed but Kim seized his chance and won the game. Han wasn't so fortunate so the end result was a 3-2 win. Here's some pictures.

The playing room, Blackie's team are in red (from closest: Park Jinsol, Shin Jinseo, Oh Yujin).


In the analysis room before the match started, Shin Jinseo is the one leading the discussion of various AI josekis on the middle left.


Some pro with Lizzie on his laptop (running remotely I assume as he was getting 70k playouts in sensible times), looking at a variation for Shin Jinseo not sacrificing the 2 stones.


Lee Changho and Blackie analysing an exciting fight in Park Jinsol's game.


Blackie front left, Lee Changho front right, Shin Jinseo standing on left with fan, Lizzie analysis centre stage.


Shin Jinseo reviewing his game with Lizzie afterwards.


The BadukTV editing/mixing studio

Sounds fun. I should visit BIBA sometime.

When we go to Korea to see relatives, we are usually around Daegu, though... So I rarely spend much time around Seoul.

Anyway, have fun!

_________________
be immersed

Very nice photos, thank you!
Congrats for the tournament, sorry you missed a chance in the last game...

I am curious how do pros use Leela Zero exactly, in case you were able to see that in some detail - are they using it also for analyzing fights, or mostly just in the opening and early mid-game for direction of play?

Are they using it for the early endgame analysis at all?
(If I remember correctly, Nie Weiping commented that AlphaGo's strongest point is in early endgame, after the match with Lee Sedol).

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Sorin - 361points.com

I don't understand Korean, but from watching them clicking around and body language I'd say:
- they use it throughout the game
- they believe LZ's evaluation of who is leading more than their own, or maybe they are just lazy to count or unsure of their judgement.
- Lee Changho seemed less of a "slave to the AI" (which fits with my noticing he still plays more old-style like taking the gote walls on 3rd line), quietly replaying the game from his phone on a board by himself
- In opening and middle game fighting LZ seems to find the right direction or suggest moves they are impressed by. e.g. in below black played press of 3 which seemed like a normal move Shin expected but LZ preferred the looser move one space above which I think would have surprised him. Also black jump of 1 was better at b or nearby points and they explored some variations.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . X . X O . . . . . . . . . d c . . . |
$$ | . X . X O . . . . . . . . . . e . . . |
$$ | . . X O . c . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . 1 . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . X O O . . . . . . b a . . . . O . . |
$$ | . X X O . O . X . , . 3 . . . X O . . |
$$ | . X O . . O X . . . O . . O . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

- A few moves later black played a peep at c which Shin ignored (because it was played as a tenuki from black c white d on right side) to defend at e and LZ agreed the peep was bad timing and Shin was right to play e. I don't know how sure he was in his opinion that was the best move, but at least LZ agreed with him and he presumably values that opinion.

Hi,

While you are there, can you ask the kind folks @BadukTV when they plan to restore subscription to their service for non koreans.

DrStraw's counting method aside, as well as Robert Jasiek's method, the counting that is taught in books is to count sure territory and supplement that with some vague guesses about influence. (Do the pros have secret counting methods they have been hiding for decades?) As for judgement, the bots have shown us so many new possibilities, who can be sure of their own judgement now?

(Emphasis mine.)

b instead of looks like a Dosaku move to me.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Oreos. Breakfast of champions, apparently.

Seeing as there's no Shin Jinseo appreciation thread, I will co-opt this as one to highlight an amusing hockey stick/thor's hammer/borg cube with appendages he made Fan Tingyu make in the chinese league today. This positions is hard to reverse engineer!

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Shin Jinseo (black) vs Fan Tingyu
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . O . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . X . O X . O O O X X X X . . O O . |
$$ | . . X O . X . O O W O O O O X X X O . |
$$ | . O . . O X . O O O X X X O X . X X . |
$$ | . O O O . X . . . O . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . X X O . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | X . X O O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | X . . X O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X X . . X . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . X . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Looks great.

I'm in Seoul next month and was planning on visiting BIBA. I still need to decide how much time to potentially spend at BIBA vs time spent more of Korea (/maybe beyond).

I'm guessing that you were really lucky to see live pro games like this?

What are other's experiences? Is anything to make sure I catch/avoid?

Mike, I think Blackie and the BIBA students go the baduk league matches (or other events) in the Hankuk Kiwon more often now that he is the manager of a team: I went once or twice in 2 months 5 years ago and once in a week during my recent 1 week stay. I suggest you get in touch with Blackie/Dia and mention you'd like to visit a match so you can plan your trip at a suitable time.

As for Shin Jinseo, his good form continued with winning the 5th Okage cup (for young players, so not so tough competition).

I think you're mixing up the O-Kage Cup (now up to its 9th term) with the 5th O-Kage International New Stars Match, which Korea did win (beating China 4-1, and Japan scraped ahead of Taiwan for third place). But Sin Chin-seo did indeed win all four of his games. Ichiriki Ryo made a promising showing for Japan, going 3-1.

I'm surprised you called them young players. They can be up to 30. Do I detect a feeling that policemen are now looking young to you

Yes, I wasn't sure on the event/format: I saw https://senseis.xmp.net/?Okage which doesn't match with the 5th edition being in 2018, and Shin Jinseo is under 30 but not <=7d. I saw the game on WBaduk subsequently in go4go described as "[2018-10-15] 5th Okage Cup World New Star Competition, final", but there are 5 other games with that description so it's the final round of a team event rather than an individual champion.

Not quite. Because I know some people here like to follow the formats, I'll add that there were three rounds, and the top two from those (KC) played off in the final, and JT played for the wooden spoon.

Also, it's NHK timing.

I followed Uberdude's advice, and my trip was timed luckily so I got to see the final.

I may post more about my experience when I have a moment, but for now, check out the background of this picture to see the best go player in the world (Shin Jinseo, goratings no1) displaying unusual technique in eating fruit.

The junk food is strong with the pros. And is that a single egg in a plastic casing next to Blackie?

Absolutely.
There were cookies, crisps, red bean buns, oreos, matcha puddings, pizza.
There were also a lot of oranges. Seems like you can't have a Korean baduk party without a box of oranges.

Yes. You buy them in twos and one of the young pros already ate the other.

Nice tesuji from Shin Jinseo you usually only see in problems (though I didn't read enough to know if less fancy moves didn't work too*), white to play.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Shin Jinseo (white) vs Byun Sangil
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X O . O O X X . O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O X . X X O , O X . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O O X . . X O O X X O . . . X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X . O X O X X . X O . |
$$ | . . O . X X X X . . O X O O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . O X X O O X O O O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X O . . X X X X X . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . O O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . X . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . X . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Nice shortage of liberties tesuji from Shin in this blitz game (10 min +20 sec Fischer):