After the first two rounds on Day One prepared the field, rounds three and four on Day Two of the tournament started to see players of similar strength battling it out on the go board. Games started at 9:30 on the morning, followed by a lunch break and then another round at 13:30 in the afternoon. For lunch, Japanese meal boxes were provided by the organiser. After finishing a game, players had the opportunity to get commentaries by professional players such as Ichiriki Ryō, Japan’s current top player, and Michael Redmond, one of the most famous go teachers worldwide.

After four rounds at the end of Day Two, four players remained undefeated: Ōzeki Minoru from Japan, Bai Baoxiang from China, Kim Jeong-Seon from Korea, and Lo Sheng-Chieh from Chinese Taipei. On round five on Day Three of the tournament, Korea was paired to play against Chinese Taipei and Japan against Korea, starting the series of key matches to decide the champion.

The Chinese Bai Baoxiang is a true veteran of the World Amateur Go Championship, having participated in 2011, 2016, 2017, and 2022, and having won it each time with a perfect score. Bai was therefore the favourite for the win this year, too, but on round five the unexpected happened: Japan’s Ōzeki Minoru managed to eke out a half-point win, staging a major upset much to the Japanese home audience’s delight. Ōzeki stopped Bai’s extremely impressive 34-game win streak in the WAGC.

Meanwhile on the second board, Korea’s Kim Jeong-Seon, who won the WAGC in 2023, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Lo Sheng-Chieh. The two undefeated players of Japan and Korea then met on round six, with Korea’s Kim defeating Japan’s Ōzeki by resignation.

Now, after six rounds of tournament at the end of Day Three, Korea stands undefeated at six wins and Japan, China, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, and Israel have five wins. Korea and China have been paired to meet on round seven; if Korea wins the match, Korea most likely also wins the whole championship, but if Korea loses to China there is a high likelihood of SOS and SOSOS tiebreakers becoming decisive in the end. All eyes are therefore on the Korea–China match tomorrow morning.

The up-to-date results of the tournament as well as the next pairing can be found on the tournament website.

Below you can view the record of the Japan–China match, where Ōzeki finally put a stop to Bai’s winning streak.