Venue: Hidden in the famous Huangshan mountains, the village of Hong Cun is the picturesque setting of the 8th China-Korea New Star match.

Venue: Villagers washing their laundry in the Moon Crescent Pond. Not much has changed in appearance here since the Ming and Qing dynasties (16th-19th centuries).

Venue: The old South Lake bridge. No wonder UNESCO listed Hong Cun among its "World Cultural Heritages".

Venue: A unique feature is the ancient water-supplying system, with running water distributed to every house (the rule holds to day: Drinking before 9 a.m., other uses after.)

Venue: Of course tourism is the main activity, but Hong Cun is still alive - this school is in use nowadays. In 2000, Ang Lee chose this location to film the famous "Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon".

Venue: Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain of Anhui province, is famous for its 4 Wonders: strange pines, fantastic rocks, hot springs, and seas of clouds.

Venue: The day before the match, a friendly warm-up between Gu Li and Park YoungHoon. Awed by the breathtaking scenery, both vowed to play games "as beautiful as the natural site".

Opening ceremony: Chinese Xinren Wang, Gu Li (right), meets Korean BC Card Cup winner Park YoungHoon for the 8th annual China/Korea New Star match.

Opening ceremony: Park 9p is the most successful Korean player since the beginning of 2005; as for Gu Li, he's been the undisputed Chinese #1 for more than a year now. Their status is not much in keeping with the whole "New Star" idea...

Opening ceremony: This led both the Hankuk Ki-Won and WeiQi Association (represented by President Wang Runan) to announce stricter age and ranks limits to qualify for next year's match.

Round 1: The Korean, holding Black, chose the fashionable mini-Chinese fuseki. White 8 as a high kakari is the latest idea, as opposed to this or that wariuchi which was preferred before.

Round 1: Is the resulting White South-East formation thick or slow ? Pros tell us these are two sides of the same coin. The balance is everything in Go.

Round 1: The referee checks the score - a solid 3.5 points victory for Park.

Round 2: Perhaps disquieted by his defeat two days before, Gu Li departs from his usual sanrensei fuseki. The pincer/ counter-pincer of White 6 and Black 7 is often played recently.

Round 2: Gu Li waits for Park's White 8. Notice the table clock: The players themselves manage their time, a rare (new ?) feature in title games.

Round 2: During the post-mortem, Park reviews the North-West joseki. As in Round 1, Black won through exerting careful but relentless pressure, leading to a decisive third round. Violence awaits its day...

Round 3: Park on Black chooses the mini-Chinese again, but changes move 9 to a wider pincer. The game soon turns into a bloodshed in which he's properly outread by Gu Li.

Round 3: The mauling he's just taken doesn't deprive Park of his humor, though it must be an uncommon experience to him. Yet another New Star match goes China's way who leads 5-3 overall.

Prize-giving: In this bilateral New Star tournament, the only Korean to take the bigger cup home for the last 5 years was Lee SeDol in 2002 (he beat Peng Quan then).