American Go E-Journal

2012 SportAccord World Mind Games Day 6: Round 7 Report; Sun Naijing: The Ranka Interview

Sunday December 16, 2012

Round 7 Report
The four players took their seats in the playing room at the Beijing International Conference Center ten minutes before the starting time of round 7. Choi Chulhan and Kang Dongyoon, playing for the men’s individual gold medal and $100,000 sat facing each other in stony Korean silence. Li He and Rui Naiwei, playing for the women’s individual gold medal and $40,000, chatted cheerily in Chinese. The silver medals come with awards of $40,000 (men) and $20,000 (women). Click here for the full reportwinner’s photos by Ivan Vigano

Up Next: Pair Go
This is not the end of the go competition at the World Mind Games in Beijing. Starting on December 18th, Li, Lin, and the two Choi’s will contend for further medals in the pair go competition, where Choi Chulhan is partnered with Choi Jeong, Li He with Jiang Weijie, and Lin Chi-han with Joanne Missingham.

Sun Naijing: The Ranka Interview
Only one game took place in the playing room at the Beijing International Convention Center on the morning of December 16. Sun Naijing (right), winner of the Pandanet-SportAccord Online Go Tournament and official guest at the World Mind Games, took on Michael Redmond (left) in a regulation game with clocks, broadcast live on the Internet by Sina.com. ” I tried my best, but I was playing a professional 9-dan, and he was much stronger,” Sun said. Though Sun spent most of the game rescuing a large black group, he says that “As an amateur player, I play more for fun than to win.” Click here for the full interview and Michael Redmond’s game commentaryphoto by Ivan Vigano