American Go E-Journal

Moon Dowon continues her winning streak in Jeongganjang Cup: Korea’s Moon Dowon 2P (r in photo) kept Team Korea on top with her win over Japan’s Chinen Kaori 4P (l) in the third round of the 9th Jeongganjang Cup on January 10th. This was another decisive win for Moon, defeating Chinen by 10.5 points. Round four will be played January 11th. Game records from earlier rounds can be found here. Lee Changho knocked out of Siptan: In another of a series of losses, Lee Changho 9P was knocked out of the 6th Siptan by Lee Younggu 8P in the third round of play. Lee lost ground early on and was never able to sufficiently recover and resigned after 152 moves. The Kuksu title match between Lee Changho and Choi Cheolhan 9P is coming up on January 12th, and with Lee’s significant slump and Choi’s strong showing over the past several months, it will be an uphill battle for Lee to retain his title. Kong Jie advances to quarterfinals in RICOH Cup: In the third round of the 11th RICOH Cup, curent title holder Kong Jie 9P defeated Qiu Jun 8P by resignation. Cho Hyeyeon advances to women’s Myeongin final: In the 12th Female Myeongin challenger decision match, Cho Hyeyeon 9P defeated Park Jieun 9P by a decisive 9.5 points. Cho who was recently promoted to 9 dan will now face defending champion Rui Naiwei 9P for the title. This will be the eighth time since 2003 that Rui Naiwei and Cho Hyeyeon have faced each other for the Myeongin title. Cho has won the title only once, in 2004, against Rui. The title match is a best of three series that will begin on January 13th. Lee Changho and Choi Cheolhan in Kuksu Final: In the third and final round of the 54th Kuksu challenger decision match, Choi Cheolhan 9P  defeated Kim Jiseok 7P by resignation. Choi will now face current Kuksu holder Lee Changho 9P in the title match. This will be Choi’s fourth time playing in the Kuksu final. He has won the title twice and lost it once, all three previous matches were against Lee Changho. Lee has played in the Kuksu final eighteen times since 1990 and won the title ten times. Round 2 Maxim Cup Results: Defending champion Choi Cheolhan 9P defeated Yang Jaeho 9P by resignation in second-round play of the 12th Maxim Cup. In other second-round play, Kang Dongyun 9P defeated Won Sungjin 9P by resignation.
– JustPlayGo; edited by Jake Edge