^^: LG CUP[David versus Goliath]

The new rising star versus the greatest World master.
The calm face to the agressivity.
The Talent meets the Talent.
(Article en anglais.La trad française arrivera cette aprèm.
Si vous etes courageux,lisez déjà en V.O.:P)

Yesterday,it was the first final of the 12th LG Cup.I think we can easily say it is the greatest final of the last years.Since the results of the semi finals,the world of go waited this event a lot.
The final opposes on the go board Lee Sedol 9dan pro,the best world player of the last years.In 2007 he won several titles and the Samsung Cup the last month.
He dominates the world of go.But,his opponent is not one of the chinese masters Gu Li,Kong Jie Wang Xie or Chang Hao.It is not Cho U,the best Japanese player.Not Zhou Junxun,the Taiwanese star.It isn't another Korean master,Park Yeonghun,Lee Chang ho or Choi Chulhan.But,who is his opponent?
Start the story...

At the first round of the LG cup held the last year,we could find 2 young korean players:On Sonjin 3p(at the time,he is now 4p)and Han Sanghoon,a new pro from the year.
Han Sanghoon is not very young.He is 18(or 19 maybe now)i think.For exemple,Lee Sedol and Lee Chang Ho became pros at the age of 11.He failed to pass the pros exam 3 times,and managed to win at the the last exam.
Not an exceptionnal story.But...
At the first round,On Sonjin bet Ding Wei 8 p,a truly strong player.And Han Sanghoon,taking white,bet Ryu Shikun,a Japanese 9p!A good surprise!But in the second round,we can say it will not be the same story,when we know who will be his opponent...
At the second round,On Sonjin,who was already a Korean new star,
bet Yamashita Keigo,9p,Japanese Kisei.
But,in front of Han Sanghoon,there was Gu Li,certainly the greatest Chinese master.
He won serveral titles at the end of 2007,it was really impressive.He was not in good form,but recently,he shows very good results(unfortunately for Gu Li's fans,but fortunately for China,Chang Hao who was in superb form too,won all of his games in the Nongshim Cup and didn't let Gu Li play a gameXD!^^''')
Gu Li is the number 3 world player,Han Sanghoon is far,very far...
Han won the nigiri.And,i was a little surprising when i saw the game record,but he chooses to play on White.The great surprise of the first day,Han Sanghoon make Gu Li give up.
It was a little unbielievable.
A great surprise!But certainly he will lose the third round...
In the third round,On Sonjin continued his great way,beating Kono Rin 9p,Japanese Tengen.We can say he is the killer of the Japan!
On the other side of the tournament table,Lee Sedol won his game against Cho U,number one japanese player,actual Meijin and Gosei.Lee Sedol won against his black horese and eliminated the last Japanese player.Hard time for Japan,who had lots of escaped players at the end of the first Round.
And Han Sanghoon,always taking white,won by 4,5 points against Liu Xing 8 dan pro!A famous chinese player!
From now,everybody wanted to see Han reach the final!
But,cerainly,the semi final will be the most dificult game...
Facing to On Sonjin,han Sanghoon made a great fight.We can note he still took white .And after a very difficult game,he took the victory by 2,5 points,to meet Lee sedol,who beat Hu Yaoyu,in the final.
Beetwen the semi final and the first final,Han managed to become 2 dan pro.
The first final held Yesterday showed an impressive game.A fight from fuseki to the end of Chuban,and Lee Sedol,taking Black,could not win the decisive ko fight,so,at move 260,he resigned.
When Han win one of the 2 last games,he will win the title,and beat a record:Becoming 9 p ater just a year of pro.Hard to beat a record like this^^!
But,a new difficulty fo Han:For the second final,he will take Black,for the first time in the tournament.We have seen he is a monster with white,and the komi is his biggest arm.After lots of fights and calculation,with his calm style and his strong reading skill,Han always manage to win...But with Black and without komi?I am impatient to see the game.
See you tommorow!

Photos of the first final and the game record^^: