Choi Chulhan 9P Wins Men’s Gold, Li He 3P is Women’s Champion: Choi Chulhan 9P and Li He 3P are the champions of the SportAccord World Mind Games, with Choi (Korea) defeating Kang Dongwan 9P (Korea) in the Men’s Individual event and Li (China) upsetting Rui Naiwei 9P (China) in the Women’s Individual on December 16. Click here to download Michael Redmond’s commentaries on both games.
Game Commentary: Round 7 (Men’s Individual Final): Choi-Kang
This is an all-Korean final for the 2012 SAWMG Men’s Individual title. The players are top Korean players who have confidence in their reading abilities, which are on full display in this exciting game.
Game Commentary: Round 7 (Women’s Individual Final): Choi-Kang
Rui is a strong fighter, as well as a tenacious player. She’s been at or close to the top of the women’s game for quite a while now. Li, on the other hand, is a new young player who’s recently become very prominent in women’s go.
Lin Chi-han 9P: The Ranka Interview: Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chi-han 9P —
who won the third-place bronze medal at this year’s SportAccord World Mind Sports Games — started playing go when he was about six years old. “My uncle could play go, and Mother thought it would be good for me to learn,” he said. When he was about nine or ten he started taking lessons from Lin Sheng-hsian, a 7-dan pro. He became a professional in 2000; he also began studying business administration at Taiwan National University around then. “I graduated in 2004, but I had already starting winning professional tournaments and was committed to a professional career,” Lin said. “My university training may prove useful later when it comes to investing my earnings, but it has not been of any direct use to me as a go player.” When he’s not playing or teaching go, Lin is a big NBA fan. Click here for Ranka’s full interview. photo by Ivan Vigano
Game Commentary: Round 6: Missingham-Kovaleva
Women’s Individual
W: Joanne Missingham 6P (Taipei)
B: Natalia Kovaleva 5D (Russia)
Commentary: Michael Redmond 9P
Edited by Chris Garlock
I saw Kovaleva in Japan recently at the Pair Go Championships, where she and her partner were among the stronger pairs, and she did well here this week in the SportAccord World Mind Games Women’s Individual event.
In this game against Joanne Missingham 6P, Kovaleva’s attack backfires when Missingham counter-attacks with a devastating ko.
