Opening ceremony and meal
Yoda Norimoto, representing Japan, looks absorbed while Liu Xiaoguang makes a speech.

Opening ceremony and meal
A sneeze, or too many flashes, but anyone can tell it's the Korean star Lee ChangHo behind the hand. Distinctive shirt, too. Nie Weiping (left) was not in the Chinese selection tournament, won by Kong Jie.

Opening ceremony and meal
The sponsors have gifts for the players - a beautiful fan in this case.

Opening ceremony and meal
Whereas Lee and Yoda were selected by their organizations as representatives, Kong Jie had to face the other 7 top Chinese players to be there. He beat Gu Li in the final.

Opening ceremony and meal
Kong Jie draws for a berth in second round; Yoda turns out to be the lucky one.

Round 1
Kong Jie plays White 12. The game soon turns into an uphill fight, after his losing a precipitated semeai.

Round 1
Lee ChangHo plays Black 15 to establish his hold on the North side.

Round 1
The players comment the game in a playing room now thronged with fans, some of which very young.

Round 1
The first fight (from White 22) was everything in this loss, and Kong Jie tries and find how he could have got the one liberty he lacked.

Round 1
Yet another defeat at Lee's hands for a top Chinese player.

Round 1
The wonderful playing table was specially built for the occasion and said to have cost the sponsor $120,000. There's a grid engraved on top of it.

Round 2
A flock of reporters came to Tianjin. Both well used to that kind of pressure, Lee and Yoda concentrate anyway.

Round 2
Yoda nigiris. He'll have the black stones in this 6.5 komi game.

Round 2
Yoda Norimoto starts out. Liu Xiaoguang stands behind referee Wang Runan.

Round 2
Yoda ponders Black 9, a quite fashionable variant of the sanrensei fuseki, with two interposed kakaris.

Round 2
A lot of cameras keep on buzzing while the game progresses.

Round 2
Yoda deep in thoughts during the opening.

Round 2
Young Chinese players came to analyze the game, among which Zhou Bo 5p (first from the left) and Liu Xing 6p (center). Right now they're not into Yoda vs. Lee : the game on the board is Lee vs. Hu Yaoyu from the Chunlan semi played 3 days before.

Round 2
Quiet man Lee ChangHo is unfazed by his recent Fujitsu Cup defeat to Yoda and wins with ease today. His strength as a competitor is truly astonishing.

Round 2
Even though Yoda lost, he manages a brave smile as the game commentary begins. The Fujitsu game sweetens his mood, perhaps.

Round 2
Discussing the game, the atmosphere looks generally relaxed. On second thoughts, they use the table engraved grid to replay it.

Closing ceremony
Lee's bank in Seoul must have resized a counter especially for him :). Kong Jie and Yoda are not too badly off either, respectively pocketing $10,000 and $15,000.

Closing ceremony
A typical Chinese show closes the event on a joyous colourful note. The black and white dancers in the back might be symbolizing weiqi stones.