'eku' 9-dan returns!

Nowadays it is much harder to stay 9-dan on KGS than it was some years ago. But that is not a problem for 'eku' - as we predicted, he reached 9d again very soon, and I do not think it will be possible to knock him out of the Top 10 anymore.

It would be interesting to see him facing the Chinese masters 'MilanMilan' or 'smartrobot' again, if 'eku' keeps playing on KGS. I was not able to find out eku's identity... Do you know who he is? Some 6 months ago I commented that 'Eku is currently one of the strongest player on KGS, solid 9d and he beat grubbyfork 9d, LemonLemon 9d, AncientGo 9d, MilanMilan 9d and even smartrobot 9d more than once. He is clearly pro level.' (http://www.gosensations.com/index.php?id=2&server_id=1&new_id=759).

But is he really a Japanese pro?

Here you can see his last game (after which he was 'promoted' to 9d). He played against 'kghin' 8d (who yesterday ended his losing streak by finally beating 'Korondo') and it was a very exciting game, full of fights. It is hard for me to comment such games, but I added a few notes in the game file just to describe what was going on so that weaker players can follow it (please correct me if you see mistakes in the commentary!). Even if we do not understand most of what happened, that does not mean that we can't enjoy it :-).

'kghin' was completely outplayed at every turn by 'eku' . His reading ability is certainly that of a pro. What do you think of his strength?