Most Exciting Game So Far? (840 Observers!)

Event

"Promotional game" for Experience Go in China 2012

(For more info check out http://www.experience-go.com/)

Players

Black: MilanMilan 9-dan (Liu Yuanbo, 2-dan pro)

White: lsai 9-dan (Hu Shuai, 3-dan pro)

It is always a rare opportunity to see a match between two professionals on KGS; a match like this one, however, with long time controls (1h15min+3x60 byo-yomi), is even rarer! MilanMilan and lsai both like to fight very much, so this promotional game for Experience Go in China promised to be very exciting!

Black [MilanMilan] played for territory (cash), while White was accumulating strength (influence). One of the many surprising moves in this game was B61 (C9); Black made an unexpected invasion at the left side and got even more cash:

smartrobot [9d]: b has so many points, i'm jealous

The onus was now on White... He had to use his power to attack strongly! And, indeed, a sharp fight took place soon. At this time, there were already more than 800 observers watching the game! Jack Jin, 2-dan pro, who was the live commentator, even asked:

smartrobot [9d]: can we reach 1000?

After move 144 (L2) White entered byo-yomi, but MilanMilan was kind and kept adding time to his opponent. They were both true gentleman, as we would expect: we can mention a funny episode that happened at move 65 (see the game variation); MilanMilan misclicked and played a silly move (Q1), then lsai, who was trying to be fair, passed his turn! Black was allowed to "undo", so the incident was easily resolved with good sense of humor:

MilanMilan [9d]: thanks

MilanMilan [9d]: Q1 wasn't a good move

lsai [9d]: ^^

With W160 (O13), and the subsequent moves, White delivered a potent attack against Black's group at the top. He even managed to make that big dragon have to fight a ko for life!

smartrobot [9d]: w start to fight back!

However, even more surprises were in store for the more than 840 observers who were watching this game! Somehow White overdid it, and his "greed" to capture Black's group backfired! After B225 (E15), you can see that White's own dragon was in trouble!

It is not true that "big dragons never die"! Even though he was "leading in most of the game" (MilanMilan's words), White was finally forced to resign at move 241... What an exciting match!

Note: You can find smartrobot's live commentary in the game file. Enjoy!