After narrowly winning the first game against Byun Sungil in the LG Cup, Ke Jie lost both the
second and third games – and the title -- because of "outside of lid" capture rule violations. The LG Cup finals battle took place January 20-23.
The finals did not start auspiciously for Byun. After a hard-fought, drawn-out battle in Game 1, Ke Jie's endgame double-hane tesuji squeezed out a 2.5 win with several hotly contested kos. One of the fiercest finals matches ever, you can find many insightful reviews of the game here Michael Redmond, Eunkyo, zchenmike.
Ke Jie's good form continued into Game 2 until it was cut short through two "outside of lid" capture rule violations, twice placing a captured stone on the table instead of on the bowl lid. This resulted in a forced forfeit under new Korean rules. When this occurred again in Game 3, Ke Jie was again forced to forfeit and Byun Sungil was crowned the match winner, collecting his second world Championship. Daniela Trinks has a more detailed account here: Rare Rule Violation in the LG Cup Finals
“Players in North America should rest assured that AGA tournaments accommodate different player habits,” noted Michael Chen 1P. “The AGA does not have a lid rule, and accommodates all players, no matter what system you are familiar with. Tournament Directors work hard to explain all necessary rules and generally are lenient to inadvertent and unintentional offenses. AGA rules also do a superb job at settling disputes,” Chen said, “here is a recent account of AGA rules working as intended. AGA tournaments,” Chen added, “are some of the best ways to build friendships and are always fun, especially when the competition gets intense.”