South Korea’s strongest go player, 9th dan Shin Shin-seo (23-photo), is one win away from winning his first world title. Shin Shin-seo won the black inheritance in 253 moves in Game 1 of the third and final round of the 9th Ng Sibae World Go Championship at the Sunkou Villa in Changning District, Shanghai, China, on Nov. 21. With this victory, Shin needs only one more win in the second (23rd) and third (24th) games to reach the top of the board for the first time.
After taking black, Shin remained in a tight balance until the middlegame, when a big white move on the top side put him at a slight disadvantage. However, after two consecutive complacent moves, Shaker quickly reinforced the bottom side and quickly turned the tide. Suddenly at a disadvantage, Shaker tried to cut down on his black pieces at the risk of forcing the left-hand king into a fight, but Shin immediately responded with a fight and pushed the white king even harder to take control of the game.
Shaker tried to make amends, but eventually threw a stone when he saw no chance of an upset.
Shin Shin-seo’s first-place victory puts South Korea one 바카라 step closer to winning its sixth title at the Ng Si-Bae, which is often referred to as the “Go Olympics. The South Korean team of Cho Hun-hyun, Seo Bong-soo, Yoo Chang-hyuk, and Lee Chang-ho won four consecutive titles in the first through fourth rounds, while Choi Cheol-han won the sixth round. For China, Chang Hao won the fifth edition and Fan Tingyu and Tang Weixing won the seventh and eighth editions.