Life In 19x19

Round of 32 starts.
3/16/12 - 3/20/12
Pairing;

Kim Jiseok vs Piao Wenyao
Na Hyun vs Jiang Weijie
Heo Youngho vs Chen Yaoe
Lee Wonyoung vs Meng Tailing
Lee Sedol vs Dang Yifei
Lee Wondo vs Tan Xiao
Lee Changho vs Mi Yuting
Kim Kiyong vs Hu Yaoyu
Kim Seungjun vs Xie He
Park Jinsol vs Zhou Ruiyang
On Sojin vs Niu Yutian
Park Younghun vs Hong Seongji
Won Seongjin vs Baek Hongseok
Gu Li vs Fan Tingyu
Liu Xing vs Murakawa Daisuke
Kong Jie vs Ida Atsushi

There will be few games played each day.

Park Younghun defeated Hong Seongji.
Baek Hongseok defeated Won Seongjin.

Lee Wonyoung defated Meng Tailing.
Mi Yuting defeated Lee Changho.
Zhou Ruiyang defeated Park Jinsol.

Dang Yifei defeated Lee Sedol.
Gu Li defeated Fan Tingyu.

Piao Wenyao defeated Kim Jiseok.
Liu Xing defeated Murakawa Daisuke.
Kong Jie defeated Ida Atsushi.

Chen Yaoe defeated Heo Youngho.
Niu Yutian defeated On Sojin.

Jiang Weijie defeated Na Hyun.
Tan Xiao defeated Lee Wondo.

Hey Trout. I just wanted to say thanks for keeping this up to date.

only survivor is Park Younghun who played another koreans..
that is not good...

It's amazing how well China is doing. So far 11 Chinese and 3 Koreans advanced to the round of 16. Two more games are yet to be played, Xie He vs. Kim Seongjun, Hu Yaoyu vs. Kim Kiyong. The nearly total collapse of the top Korean players is unprecedented. Among the Korean top 10, only Park Younghun will play into the next round:

1 Lee Sedol, lost in round of 32.
2 Park Junghwan, lost in round of 64.
3 Choi Cheolhan, lost in round of 64.
4 Kang Dongyun, lost in preliminary.
5 Wong Seongjin, lost in round of 32.
6 Kim Jiseok, lost in round of 32.
7 Cho Hanseung, lost in round of 64.
8 Park Younghun, won against Hong Seongji, advances to round of 16.
9 Lee Younggu, lost in preliminary.
10 Lee Changho, lost in round of 32.
10 Heo Youngho, lost in round of 32.

And for the game between the most promising future stars, Na Hyun lost a close game to Jiang Weijie. Definitely the worst weekend we have ever seen from the Korean players. Let's hope they will pick it up in the Bailing Cup.

Looks like http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.j.s ... Table.html will keep on getting redder.

I'm rooting for Xie He: I like his play and it's about time he got his first international title.

Xie He defeated Kim Seungjun.
Hu Yaoyu defeated Kim Kiyong.

I haven't heard of Dang Yifei, and the SL page is quite sparse. But he's only 18, and beat Lee Sedol, maybe we'll hear more from him in the future...

Hsiang wrote: And for the game between the most promising future stars, Na Hyun lost a close game to Jiang Weijie. Definitely the worst weekend we have ever seen from the Korean players. Let's hope they will pick it up in the Bailing Cup.

Personally, I think the most promising future star is Mi Yuting. 16 years old and defeated Lee Changho.

Arms Longfellow wrote: Personally, I think the most promising future star is Mi Yuting. 16 years old and defeated Lee Changho.

Sure, Mi won a big game; but I think it is hard to argue against Jiang Weijie being the top new star in China: He just won 2-0 against Lee Changho in LG Cup final a month ago, and defeated Kong Jie 3-2 in Chinese Mingren final three months ago.

Among the current Chinese top players, I am most fond of Jiang and Xie He. They have well balanced and steady games and both are modest and gentlemanly in their demeanor. A big credit to their sensei, Cao Dayuan.

As to who is the most promising young player:

I think that the situation is more complicated than a number of you believe. There are so many circumstances that come into play when trying to determine this question. It would be less annoying if people would stop trying to judge the strength of a player based solely on one game.

I have followed Pak Jeong-hwan fairly closely over the last year and a half. Despite his obvious strength (in terms of winning percentages), whenever he came across experienced players the result was less certain. Recently however, he has managed to overcome people like Choi Cheolhan and even Pak Jeong-hun, who seems to me the kind of player who rarely gives easy games to opponents. Despite this, the experienced players don't let him get anywhere near winning the longer time game Korean tournaments; such as the Myeongin. Maybe they - like Yi Se-tol - don't mind losing the blitz tournaments. Which Pak wins a lot of.

In his last 10-15 games Jeong-hwan has approached the game with the intention (as far as my weak eyes can tell) of killing dragons. Possibly because in his past games against Se-tol and Gu Li he's been absolutely battered.
Yes, yes, I know he beat Gu Li recently but that was during one of Gu's dry periods (5 losses in a row I think.)

As for Jiang Weijie I first noticed him when he beat Gu Li in the Mingren. I never really noticed his style back then but I recently looked at some of his games and he plays like me . He often makes a lot of influence, so I should be studying his games more closely.

Iyama Yuuta, Piao Wenyao, Chen Yaoye, Jiang Weijie, Pak Jeong-hwan, Kim Jisuk etc, are all very promising and I get really exciting when any of them play one another. But, they are children . I never cease to be amazed at the amount of experience required to gain a sufficient level of skill and stability necessary to maintain consistently high level performances at the highest levels. Just look at Yi Se-tol, it wasn’t until 2008, after 14 years as a professional before he was truly considered as the best in the world. It’s true that there was a lot of talk around 2000 (his breakout year) about how Yi Ch’ang-ho always seemed to lose his cool when playing him. True perhaps; but the winning percentages and the number of both international and domestic tournaments won from 2000-04 tell a far different story.

My point is that we can only wait and see, instead of jumping to conclusions.

…

Anyway, my money’s on Jeong-hwan. He will definitely be the world’s best. Definitely!!!!!!!!

joppon wrote:Iyama Yuta, Piao Wenyao, Chen Yaoye, Jiang Weijie, Pak Jeong-hwan, Kim Jisuk etc, are all very promising and I get really exciting when any of them play one another. But, they are children . I never cease to be amazed at the amount of experience required to gain a sufficient level of skill and stability necessary to maintain consistently high level performances at the highest levels. Just look at Yi Se-tol, it wasn’t until 2008, after 14 years as a professional before he was truly considered as the best in the world. It’s true that there was a lot of talk around 2000 (his breakout year) about how Yi Ch’ang-ho always seemed to lose his cool when playing him. True perhaps; but the winning percentages and the number of both international and domestic tournaments won from 2000-04 tell a far different story.

I don't know whether to agree or disagree. But taking Lee Sedol's case, he was 25, with 14 years of professional experience when he reached the very top.

Then we have (years's experience may be low by one for some players because I don't neccessarily have promotion dates):

• Iyama Yuta: 22, 10 years,
• Chen Yaoye: 22, 11 years,
• Jiang Weijie: 20, 6 years,
• Kim Jiseok: 22, 7 years,
• Park Jung-hwan: 18/19, 5 years,
• Piao Wenyao: 23, 13 years,

Obviously, there is a big range. But for the older and more experienced players, they are at a point in their career when you could have a meaningful opinion about who will be the best.

Then again, even at a late age, there's huge uncertainty. Will Lee Sedol's career continue as long as Lee Changho's did? Is Lee Changho's window to win international titles over or will he be a contender for the next decade? In general, which of the players at the top will stay there, and which will have just a few years is so hard to judge.