For day 2 of the 38th World Amateur Go Championship, there were no major surprises at the top tables. Round 3 in the morning saw US and Russia lose to China and North Korea respectively; Thailand lose to Czech; Austria lose to Hong Kong; and France lose to South Korea. The Czech player Lukas Podpera caught a lot of attention after he beat Lai Yucheng from Taiwan yesterday. In round 3 he played a strong game against the Thai representative Vorawat Tanapatsopol, a Go teacher from Bangkok, and won.
There were a number of strong games in round 4. At the end, only three undefeated players remain – China, South Korea, and North Korea. The round started with an exciting game between Hong Kong’s Chan Naisan and South Korean Lee Sangbin. “Lee is just too strong”, sighed Chan after losing a well-fought game. Lukas Podpera lost by just 0.5 point to North Korean Ri Jin-Ung (whose name was mis-spelled in yesterday’s report). Anoother Go teacher, Romanian Cornel Burzo lost to China in a game that finished very late and attracted many Chinese Go reporters. The match between Japan’s Sakamoto Shusaku and Vietnam’s 12-year old Vo Duy Minh (right) also attracted a lot of media attention, although the result was hardly surprising. Danny Ko recovered to defeat the player from Macao.
For round 5 on Tuesday, the top games will be China vs. North Korea, Finland vs. South Korea, Japan vs. Hong Kong, and US vs. Romania.