Stomping Grounds

This year has been nothing short of incredible for Go players across the globe, filled with drama, upsets, and exciting news. We’ve seen Thailand’s first player enter the Samsung Cup, and witnessed the rise of Kim Eunji as South Korea’s strongest female player after years of Choi Jeong holding the title. Though, as of writing this, Choi Jeong has reclaimed her top spot, so Kim Eunji's reign was short-lived. Additionally, we recently saw Japan claim their first major victory in nearly two decades, winning a controversial Bo3 series against Xie Ke in the ING Cup.

Now with the ING Cup finally ending, attention has shifted to the Nongshim Cup, a unique team tournament where Japan, South Korea, and China compete in a king-of-the-hill format. In this format, the winner continues playing until they lose, with the team that runs out of players first losing the event.

In the first round of the Nongshim Cup, Ke Jie of China faced off against South Korea’s Seol Hyunjun. To my surprise, it was a highly competitive and close game. I expected Ke Jie to dominate convincingly as he is China's 4rth ranked player which is a huge gap over Seol Hyunjun ranked at 43rd, but Ke Jie started with an unconventional opening and an unnatural corner play in professional games. In the end, Ke Jie narrowly edged out Seol Hyunjun, winning by only 0.5 points.

For an excellent breakdown of this game, I highly recommend checking out the commentary from who I believe to be the best Go commentator in the community, TelegraphGo. You can find his commentary for this game here. Be sure to show him some support by liking his video and subscribing to his channel I highly recommend it.

Game 3 of the Nongshim Cup also had a shocking finish. Ke Jie, who was on a winning streak, faced Kim Myounghoon from South Korea. Ke Jie held a solid 6-point lead, but the game was abruptly cut short at move 167 as Kim Myounghoon claimed victory after Ke Jie lost on time. This loss could have serious implications for China, given the format of the tournament.

In typical king-of-the-hill formats, it’s common to send out the weakest players first. However, China opted to start with Ke Jie, one of their most decorated players, currently ranked 4th on GoRatings.org. With only Li Xuanhao being above Ke Jie advancing, China’s decision to send one of their top players first raises questions. Did they expect Ke Jie to sweep the tournament? Or do they now consider him the weakest of their representatives? Or maybe they have a lot of trust in Li Xuanhao to sweep the games later.

You can find the third game here.

What do you think? Did China aim for a clean sweep with Ke Jie, or have they shifted their perception of him as a top player? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and if you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to leave a heart!