The famous "Elephant from China", daxiang 9d, exhibited grand skill in his performance against 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d, a Korean professional making his debut on GoSensations.com with this article.  We have already heard a bit about daxiang 9d (http://www.gosensations.com/?id=2&server_id=4&new_id=354).  There is still not 100% certainty that he is a professional player, but there is no doubt that he plays at a professional level.

Upon researching a bit more on 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d, I came across the following article:

http://www.tygem.com/VBoard/Tboard/viewpage.asp?pagec=&seq=269328&gubun=B005

The article is somewhat notable, because there seems to be some suspicion of 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d's intentions on the Tygem go server.  From the article, it seems that some would even like to see 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d suspended from the Tygem server.

From what I can gather, 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d seems to cause problems with the betting system used on Tygem.  Many users on Tygem see the (P) sign, and decide to put their faith in the user.  However, 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d seems to sometimes resign from games when there is no reason to.  One day, he will win a game swiftly and easily, and the next he will seem to give up for no reason.  One game referenced in the article mentions that 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d could have won by simply capturing a few central stones.  But instead, he went on to kill everything around the board.  This in itself doesn't seem bad, but for other games, he will mysteriously disconnect to cause a loss, only to come back a few minutes later and play another game.

Despite whether 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d is an authentic player or not, users seem quite upset with him, and complain that he is manipulating the betting system.  Some even consider the possibility that he is hired by Tygem to cause users to lose their betting money.  Whether this is speculation or not, I do not know for sure.

Regardless of the speculation of 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d's authenticity, it seems to me that daxiang 9d played well for this game, and perhaps led 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d to an honest resignation...  But perhaps we can question whether white's ko threat at H15 was an authentic one...  What do you think?  Is 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d just playing to manipulate the bets?

Note: Another interesting observation is to notice that 폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d has the same number of losses and wins as a 9d.  Do you think that reports of his cheating are bogus or the real thing?

Last 20 Games

폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d: 11 - 9

daxiang 9d: 14 - 6

Ranking Points

폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d: 35101

daxiang 9d: 37730

Game Stats

폭풍(P)/Nice7 9d: 415 - 415 [9d] | 417 - 450

daxiang 9d: 13 - 6 [9d] | 1178 - 867