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© 2015 Yuan Zhou

Master Play: The Style of Lee Sedol

Yuan Zhou

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

Lee Sedol is one of the top current players in terms of international titles won, but his play is oddly enigmatic. He demolished Gu Li 9 dan, whom many consider the best Chinese player, in a ten game match in which Gu won only two games, but Lee also sometimes loses to weaker opponents in early rounds of tournaments. Zhou clarifies how Lee plays and what makes his style difficult for opponents through a thorough analysis of three of his recent games.

About the Author

Yuan Zhou (American Go Association 7 dan) was born in Tianjin, China. Tianjin is a major city in the northern part of China, near Beijing. His father taught him to play go at the age of six, and a year later he won the Tanggu District Junior Go Championship. After this auspicious beginning, Zhou began professional go training while he was still seven years old. He was twice invited to represent Tianjin in the All China Prodigy Cup.

In 1989 Zhou immigrated to the USA, becoming a US citizen and joining the American Go Association (AGA). Zhou was the president of the University of Maryland Go Club, from which he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering, and became increasingly involved in AGA events, winning many go tournaments. Please see the list below for Yuan Zhou’s 30 US go titles. Zhou was also elected to the AGA board of directors in 2005.

Zhou is one of the top competitors on the American go scene, winning the Eastern US Open, one of the biggest US tournaments in 1992. He also won the New Jersey Open, one of the biggest US tournaments, four times. Twice he has won the Maryland Open, another major tournament that attracts strong players. Zhou has placed in the top ten in the US Open many times, as well as in the North American Ing Masters Cup and the North American Fujitsu Qualifying Tournament. These tournaments involve the strongest North American go players and include pros. In Zhou’s go career, he has defeated pros many times, including four times in even tournament games: Hak Soo Kim 6p in the 1996 Fujitsu, Xuefen Lin 1p in the 2001 Eastern Oza, Huiren Yang 1p in the 2009 North American Ing Masters, and Feng Yun 9p in the 2011 SAMG World Team Go US Team Qualifier. Zhou also won the US Pair Go Championship four times. Zhou represented the USA in international tournaments many times (WAGC, Korea Prime Minister Cup, World Pair Go Championship, etc).

In 2009, Zhou represented USA in the 4th Korea Prime Minister Cup World Go championship in Jeonju, Korea and finished in 5th place.

In addition to his competitive successes, Zhou has become a popular teacher and lecturer, frequently giving lectures and teaching lessons at various go clubs in the Eastern US region. He has also published many go books with Slate & Shell (www.slateandshell.com) and SmartGo Books (www.smartgo.com). Zhou resides in Germantown, Maryland, USA. His website is at www.zhouyuan.com.

Copyright Page

(c) 2015 Yuan Zhou

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited.

Slate & Shell
1425 Westshire Lane
Richmond, VA 23238
www.slateandshell.com

Edited by William Cobb

Cover design by Laurie M. Crammond

Conversion to SmartGo Books by William Cobb and Richard Hunter

ISBN of print edition:
1–932001–71–9

Table of Contents

Master Play: The Style of Lee Sedol

About the Author

Copyright Page

Introduction

Game One

The chapters in gray are included only in the full book.

Game Two

Game Three

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About SmartGo Books

Introduction

Lee Sedol 9P of Korea is widely considered one of the best go players in the world as this is written and is the most likely pro to equal Lee Changho’s record number of international titles. Lee’s complete domination of Gu Li 9P, who has been designated number one in China several times in recent years, in their ten game match in 2014 further strengthened Lee’s reputation.

Lee was born on March 2, 1983, and became a pro at the age of twelve. He won his first international title, the 15th Fujitsu Cup, in 2002 and was promoted to 9 Dan after winning the 16th Fujitsu Cup in 2003. At that time he was the youngest 9 Dan ever. At the time of this writing, Lee has won sixteen international titles, second only to Lee Changho 9P who has won twenty-one.

Lee’s playing style is that of a constant fighter. His aim is to make games as complicated as possible as early as possible because of his confidence in his judgment of the relative size of the various possibilities that present themselves during fighting and his superior ability to read out complicated situations quickly. He avoids giving his opponents opportunities to make good plays even if it means his own position is made less secure in the process.

Another factor in Lee’s dominance is his ability to put psychological pressure on opponents. An important way of doing this is his tendency to make unexpected plays in complicated situations. In other words, Lee is not risk averse. Often his plays seem not to be the best choice at the time and hence make his opponents worry that they have overlooked something.

Lee’s strength is not in opening play. In this he is weaker than other top pros. As a result he is frequently behind at the end of the opening, but catches up during the middle and endgame. This pattern was fully shown in the ten game match with Gu Li, who is outstanding at play in the opening.

Game One

This game is from the semi-finals of the 9th international Chunlan Cup, played on December 6, 2012. Lee Sedol of Korea is Black and Kong Jie of China is White. Komi is seven and a half points. This title is sponsored by a Chinese company and the games are played using Chinese rules.

Lee Sedol is one of the strongest players today, recently ranked number one in Korea and in the world, and has won several international titles. Kong Jie has won three international titles and has been ranked number one in China in recent times. Since both players in the other semi-final were Chinese, Chinese fans were hopeful that Kong Jie would win and thus guarantee a Chinese winner of the title.

Lee is often seen as a fighting style player, but his style is very tricky—he can play various styles. This makes it difficult for his opponents since Lee usually chooses a style that he knows will be hardest for his opponent to deal with. He is also known for his strength in the psychological part of the game, making excellent judgments at critical points and unexpectedly playing elsewhere in local fighting situations.

Moves 1–3

Black 3 can lead to the popular Hashimoto opening (Black A next) or to the mini-Chinese opening (Black B and C next).

Move 4

Kong Jie chooses a solid opening, a nirensei (two star points), which is very popular these days for White. It avoids many of the complex joseki around 3–4 point stones, but its flexible nature requires good whole board judgment.

Both players avoid complicated josekis and focus on whole board thinking in the opening.

Move 5

This approach with Black 5 is also very popular. It can to lead the mini-Chinese opening for Black—White A, Black B. White often prevents that, however.

Move 6

White 6 prevents the mini-Chinese pattern. Black may go into the corner in response or jump out. See variation “Common Joseki” below.

Common Joseki

If Black goes into the corner with 1, this common joseki allows White to use sente to attack the weak side of Black’s 3–4 stone with 10. Normally, Black would not choose this continuation since it gives White a good result: White’s thickness supports his attack with 10. Because of this, Black will often make a one space jump out instead of going into the corner in this situation.

Move 7

See variation The Point below for an explanation of the order of Black’s moves here.

The Point

Black could play 3 in the game at 1, of course, the Hashimoto opening. White would then usually play 2 because the corner enclosure below makes the right side a valuable area for Black. Then if Black approaches at 3, White would not pincer at A but slide to 4, making the left side a valuable area for White. In the game Lee changes the order of the moves to prevent this result that is good for White. This is a good example of the subtle strategy in pro games. Strong players start trying to disrupt their opponent’s expectations and plans from the beginning of the game.

Move 8

White prevents a double approach by Black with 8.

Move 9

Now Black makes the excellent extension with 9. is a more valuable move than because Black closes a corner while the lower left corner is still open so has aji. Nevertheless, is not a good move in this situation now, so this overall result is even. does make White a little uncomfortable, which is the sort of thing Lee often does to opponents—give them something more to worry about. Lee prefers a very complicated game. Also note that Black 9 is low, which is more territorial. It could be played on the star point which would lean toward a moyo strategy.

Move 10

White 10 could be at the top, which is the biggest open area, but Kong chooses to prevent Lee from making a double wing shape by extending at the bottom from the corner enclosure. 10 is a good double-purpose move as it also makes the position of more awkward, although it is not dead. However, Black is not going to run this stone out now since White is strong on both sides. If Black jumps to A, White would close the corner at B, which means Black could not expect this fight to work out well for him.

White 10 is high because Kong is aiming to prevent Black from expanding the right side. If White gets to play at C later, White 10 will be well positioned to support White C. Black could not easily separate White C from 10, but could do so if 10 was on the third line.

Move 11

Because of , Black gives up any idea of developing the right side as a moyo ( also wouldn’t fit that plan well as it is low). If Black was thinking about a moyo, 11 would be played on the top side.

Move 12

White 12 is a peaceful response. White could pincer, but that would be more complicated. Kong’s style is to be more calm and solid, avoiding severe complications instead of trying to create them—the opposite of Lee’s aim.

Move 13

Playing at Black 13 instead of extending down the left side is the right way here. White is very strong below and it would not be a good idea for Black to try to create a position near that strength. Especially when playing inside the opponent’s area of influence, you want to be safe and solid—no weak shapes. Lee is not reckless.

Move 14

White 14 would have been played at A almost always in the past, but nowadays, since White has the alternative of extending to B on the side, White leaves the left side for later. 14 inhibits further development of Black’s right side position.

Move 15

Playing Black 15 high rather than at A is correct in this situation because below is low. If it was on the fourth line, Black might play 15 at A for a high-low shape. Black also would not pincer at B in this situation because after White takes the corner by invading on the 3–3 point (the normal continuation) it would be too easy for White to reduce Black’s right side with a shoulder hit at C.

Move 16

White 16 makes a good position at the top and reduces the severity of a black invasion in the upper left corner.

Black has choices now. If Black wants to develop the upper right side, playing at A would be normal. Or Black could start to develop the lower right area by playing at B. An extension to C would also be a good move for Black since both players have the potential to develop on the left side.

Move 17

However, Lee Sedol immediately plays in a way that can save . See variation “No Weaknesses” below for why Black does not play 17 at A.

No Weaknesses

If Black invades on the 3–3 point, this would be a normal joseki. Black gets a solid corner and sente, but White ends up with a complete shape that has no weaknesses. This result does not appeal to Lee. As a player who likes to fight, he is very sensitive to the issue of his opponent’s weaknesses. He does not want to help his opponent to avoid them.

The full book continues this game to the end, followed by a thorough analysis of two more games.