2018 Samsung World Masters starts

[Uberdude]

Not so good for Ahn in game 2, according to the opinionated Elf it was all over in the opening: e15 was a big mistake (should f16 block like a kyu player) because capturing the stones wasn't good given white's nice squeeze. Given that e17 should have been tenuki to f5, and e16 capture was bad too (no need to fear white atari there as black should have tenukid it, but it's hard to abandon the plan of capturing the 3 stones once you've started: in for a penny, in for a pound) and with all that black dropped from 70 to 20%. LZ 191 agrees with each mistake and better move, though the winrate drop is a more restrained 48 to 35 (it's not uncommon for Elf to think black is winning where LZ thinks losing in early game).

ahn ke winrate elfv1.PNG (209.16 KiB) Viewed 5781 times

ahn ke winrate lz191.PNG (243.48 KiB) Viewed 5781 times

[trout]

Final;

12/4 - 2nd game;
Ke Jie defeated Ahn Kukhyun by resign.
Tied 1:1

12/5/18 3rd game

[xiayun]

Down to the wire in Game 3. Look like a razor thin finish with either side winning by half point. Ke Jie always has exciting ending for the final game of a championship.

[trout]

Final;

12/5 - 3rd game;
Ke Jie defeated Ahn Kukhyun by 5.5.

Ke Jie is new Samsung cup Champion.

[xiayun]

325 moves! A final ko exchange decided it.

[Uberdude]

Ke Jie was white, won by 5.5

LZ thinks both players were making lots of mistakes in the endgame from move 150 to 250, but I don't know how much to believe that given how close the game was and LZ's wrong komi. Looks like Ke Jie monkey jump on the lower side endgame was decisive in creating sufficient ko threats to win the ko up top (LZ and Elf said Ahn should never have let white get in there, and make honte defence at o3 after white r2 rather than m8: that oh-so-human weakness of too much fighting spirit). at the point of the ignored ko threat LZ thinks black is winning if he answers but that's a really close horizon effect of not realizing white has sufficient threats because if you play out white retaking the ko LZ says white winning again (+26%) so it's just not evaluating the ko correctly so I'd trust Ke Jie more on this. Here's a LZ 191 winrate graph on low playouts so just a rough guide. White having time to o19 and not die in the middle looks a key moment and something the LZ and Elf misevaluated. k8 at n7 too: white had his cake and ate it in that he got huge o2 yose and black didn't even kill m6 with m8.

samsung 3 winrate.PNG (214.09 KiB) Viewed 5635 times

[WindCaliber]

I initially surprised at Ke Jie giving up the 3 stones at the bottom left, but looking at it again, it does seem like the gain from the left was enough to compensate(and then some, according to LZ).
However, I was really shocked at , not connecting seems to give up so much to Black on the lower side!

But anyway, glad to see Ke Jie still winning international titles!

[sorin]

Ke Jie was white, won by 5.5
LZ thinks both players were making lots of mistakes in the endgame from move 150 to 250, but I don't know how much to believe that given how close the game was and LZ's wrong komi

I watched Yoonyoung Kim's video commentary: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/345070811
She pointed to black's connection at 141 as close to losing a move - capturing the two white stones in the upper-right would have ensured black's victory.
The game became very close after that, then black made another slack move, 151, which was intended to be sente but it was not; white lived in sente, then got the chance to defend at 154 and is leading by 1-2 points.
After that, the game got complicated due to Ke Jie starting unnecessarily a ko in the upper-right with move 208 - just defending simply would have been enough.

Also, she mentioned a couple of interesting facts:
- Ke Jie slammed his hand on the table holding the board in anger at some point during this game; the referee warned him that one more such thing and he's forfeiting the game
- Ke Jie "forgets" how to properly hold/place stones once he's sure of victory, and he starts using his thumb to place stones