Lee Changho, a South Korean considered by...

By Rob Van Zeijst

Lee Changho, a South Korean considered by many to be the strongest go player alive today, became the youngest ever world champion at the age of 16. Lee was virtually programmed to beat his teacher, multiple world champion Cho Hun-hyeon, and he started to do just that at the age of 15. Nicknamed the Stone Buddha, Lee somehow outreads his opponents and keeps track of the score at an uncanny level. He uses his legendary endgame reading to decide the game in his favor. Critics have said Lee's moves appear lackluster, but the world's top players who have challenged him are puzzled by his incredible strength. Often they cannot understand how Lee outmaneuvers them. By winning all international go titles at least once, Lee scored a grand slam and inspired many young South Koreans to pick up the game. Lee Changho is the reason why Korean go has dominated the world over the past 15 years or so.

Diagram 1 (1-40): This is the fourth game from the 1992 Tong-Yang Cup five-game series in which Lee Changho (Black) beat Rin Kaiho 3-2 to grab his first International title at the age of 16. The game starts out with a huge Black moyo (framework) on the right. Although not original, ignoring 20 and expanding his moyo with 21 is a good strategy. Naturally, White invades with 22 and Black starts his attack. One would expect a 16-year-old to start a violent attack. However, Lee plays moves such as 27, which seems very slow, and 39, which takes territory instead. Will he start his attack on the white center group after White has answered with 40?

Diagram 2 (41-72): No, even though his marked stones help to isolate the white marked stones, Black decides not to attack those stones with a move such as A. Instead, he invades with 41 in White's largest territory. In order not to hurt his center group, White plays carefully and Black is able to make a comfortable situation for himself at upper left while destroying most of White's territory with the sequence through 59. White now defends his center group in sente by exchanging 60 for 61. Next, it is his turn to invade with 62. Instead of 68, White could have lived with the sequence shown in Reference 1. However, that might have given Black the chance to attack the center group. On the other hand, Black cannot give in to White's demands and has to play at 69, which leads to a ko when White plays at 70. Black captures the ko with 71 and White plays his ko threat with 72. What would you do if you were Black?

Reference 1: White can make life with 1 through 5. In the game, he played at A in the hope that Black would play at B. That exchange would give White other forcing moves at A (Black must answer at D), or even at E at a later stage. Once the exchange 4 for 5 has been made, a white move at A would be met with black C--a huge difference in eye shape and territory. Also note that once he is strong, Black might aim at F, followed by white G and black H or I to launch a strong attack on the center group.

Diagram 3 (73-100): White has an almost infinite source of ko threats on the left and if Black replies to one, he must reply to all of them, which means he would lose the ko. Therefore Black resolves the ko with 73. This is large in terms of territory and weakens White's center group further. After White follows through on his ko threats with 74, the game is about the fate of White's and Black's marked stones. Black is willing to sacrifice his marked stones to start a strong, possibly fatal, attack on White's center stones. White resists with 86, which leads to the highlight of this game. Black 97 is a fantastic tesuji (skillful move) that saves Black's group on the left (see Reference 2).

In an interview, Lee said he and other top pros commonly try to predict the next 100 moves of the game. It therefore is quite possible he had already read out the sequence through 101 when he ignored white 72. He may even have read that possibility before the ko at top right started.

Reference 2: After black 1, if White plays at 2 and 4, Black 5 is a clever move, White has no choice about 6 through 10 but black 11 puts him on the spot. One way or another, White loses three stones, including the marked ones. That means Black would connect all his surrounding stones, ending in disaster for White. White therefore chooses the variation in the game and lets Black live.

Diagram 4 (1-68 represent 101-168): Black 1 makes his group alive. Since Black's territory is almost fixed, the game now is about on how large a scale White can capture the marked black stones. Black breaks through with 3 through 9 and with 11 through 19. In the end, the combination 57 through 67 ensures victory for Black as the presence of 67 means he can jump all the way to A. The rest of the game is not shown. Black wins by 4.5 points.

Van Zeijst is a four-time European go champion and European representative at the Fujitsu World Championship.