American Go E-Journal

On November 12 and 14, Lee Sedol 9P of Korea and Gu Li 9P of China swept the 17th Samsung Cup semifinals, both defeating their opponents 2-0. Gu and Lee now proceed to the Cup finals, which will be played December 11-13 in Shanghai (not Korea, as originally reported)  and broadcast live on Baduk TV. Interestingly, the two superstars have only met in two international tournament finals, which account for 7 of their past 30 games. The two are neck and neck at 4-3 in Gu’s favor in international finals; Gu won the 13th LG Cup in 2009 2-0 and Lee won the 3rd BC Card Cup 3-2 in 2011. Gu has a slight lead in their overall head-to-head, with a 15-14 record. This finals series will decide who takes the lead from here. Their 29th game during the Samsung Group Stage resulted in a spectacular quadruple ko, which was ruled a draw and Gu won the rematch to pull ahead by one game.
– adapted from a report on GoGameGuru, which includes extensive reports, photos and game records from the Samsung Cup; photo: Lee Sedol (left) and Gu Li (right) with famous Korean musician and amateur go player Kim Janghoon at the 17th Samsung Cup semifinals.