‘Guardian God’ Shin Shin-seo, 23, rescued Korean Go from the brink.
Shin Shin-seo (23) defeated China’s Xu Shehao (25) in 133 moves in the final game of the second round of the 25th Nongshim Shin Ramen Bae World Go Championship at Hotel Nongshim in Busan on Thursday.
The victory saved South Korea, whose eighth-ranked Seol Hyun-jun and ninth-ranked Byun Sang-il, Won Sung-jin, and Park Jung-hwan had failed to win a single game in the tournament.
Shin Shin-seo, who was black on the day, took control of the game from the start, pushing Sheng Hao hard.
Immediately after the endgame, Shin Shin-seo went on the offensive, boldly cutting the white king from the left side to the top side.
With his hemp on the verge of being captured, Xie Shenghao managed to escape by cutting off his left tail.
Xin Xin then continued his offense by cutting the hemp on the upper and lower sides again.
When Xie Shenghao was caught again, he tried to make a switch, but as the color drained from his face, he threw a stone.
With his first win for South Korea in this tournament, Shin Dong-seo improved his head-to-head record to 8-2.
Xie Shenghao attempted to break the record for the longest winning streak in a single tournament at Nongshim, but was unable to overcome Xin Xin’s barrier.
Sheerhao, who had won seven consecutive games the day before, had to settle for tying the record with Fan Tingyu 9 dan in the 18th and 20th games and Yang Dingxin 9 dan in the 21st game.
Shin Shin-seo extended Pajuk’s four-year winning streak at Nongshim to 11 games.
He had previously won 10 in a row from 22-24 to lead Korea to the title for the third consecutive year.
His 11-game winning streak is the second-longest in the history of Nongshim Bar, behind only Lee Chang-ho’s 14-game winning streak in which he led South Korea to six consecutive titles from 1-6.
“Korean go is in crisis, but I promised myself to play my own game (without pressure), and I feel good that I won with good content,” Shin said after the match.
South Korea, which would have been eliminated in last place if Shin had lost, will now hope for an upset victory in the final three rounds in Shanghai, China, next February.
Shin will face Japan’s last runner-up, Yuta Iyama 9th dan, in the first match of the third round, in the 10th country.
China, which has four players waiting in the wings in the form of Kou Ze, Ding Hao, Guo Zhihao and Zhao Tianyu 9th dan, remains the favorite to win the title.
The prize money for winning the Nongshim Bae is 500 million won.
A player who wins three consecutive games will receive a streak prize of 10 million won. For each additional win after the three-game winning streak, an additional 10 million won will be paid.
The time limit is one hour and one second for each player. 토토