Yi Ch'ang-ho

Lee Changho 6-dan v. Cho Chikun 9-dan, 1993-04-22, Lee completely dictates the pace with a flurry of miai moves  

Lee employed a fantastic ability to dictate a leisurely pace right from the opening, whether playing as Black or White. He often discovered probes that would limit an opponent's strategic options, sequences that would guarantee making miai of all the large points, and ways to peacefully concede to an opponent's intention without falling behind. In his earlier games, important groups rarely diedーneither his nor his opponent's. These were helped both by his fantastic endgame calculations and brilliantly subtle endgame sequences, which he would be calculating and planning far in advance and for which Koreans' termed his endgame skill: "divine calculation."

For many years, players didn't fully understand how strong Lee was. He did not pull clear ace-in-the-hole moves that left audiences stunned or overwhelm opponents with powerful fighting and attacking. Instead, his brilliant moves could often said to be subtle, hiding their intent beneath the surface and, frequently, only by observing the larger picture.

Beating the Master

Lee's first teacher, Cheon Yeong-seon, said that Lee always tried to come up with myoshu. Then Lee became a pupil of Cho Hun-hyeon. At first, Cho doubted the talent of the kid, since he could not even perfectly reproduce the game he played that day. The conventional wisdom dictates that a go genius is endowed with magnificent intuition, quick razor sharp analytical ability, and vast memory. In Cho's assessment, the kid fell short of expectation in most categories of natural talent. But, Cho noticed that Lee was amazingly studious and was a deep thinker endowed with a different mindset. He later decided that Lee was of a "different type" of go genius.

During his studies under Cho, Lee's style got completely overhauled. He became a master of "common" moves instead of myoshu.

Lee has come to prefer a safer move (from which he can plan future moves by being able to predict the opponent's reactions with high probability) to a myoshu that leaves unpredictability down the road. In so doing, Lee minimizes the factor of chance arising from difficult situations. In short, he has become a "control freak."

So why was he to be transformed from a lover of myoshu to a seeker of seemingly average yet certain, effective moves? The reason is not precisely known. Yet, it is ventured that the motivation could have been the natural talent of his teacher, Cho Hun-hyeon, who is often dubbed as the most talented player.

In the early stage of his career, Lee was criticized that his playing style was molded only to beat the teacher, Cho (as he was not as dominant over other top players). Although he later proved that his style was effective against anyone, the criticism has some truth as he confessed later indirectly that his goal was to beat the teacher.

It was a question of how. Lee simply could not match Cho in natural brilliance. That is, it was impossible for Lee to follow in the footsteps of Cho and surpass him. Instead, Lee chose a path along which his magnificent calculation and deep thinking triumphs over Cho's natural brilliance and quick thinking.

Simplification is the word that best fits Lee's style. In his game, everything is simplified. However, the level of simplification is quite relative. Hence, many were, and still are, unimpressed by his game (until they get to play him, as Chang Hao said). Quoting loosely his teacher, Cho Hun-hyeon, Lee sits and waits patiently in the depths of the unknown. You wait and wait to find out what Lee hides in the depths. You finally run out of patience and jump into the deep. Without fail, you find yourself trapped in the depths.

In other words, it is the depth of simplicity.

Lee's Later Style

Around 2001, Lee began to be challenged by a new generation of players. His simple approach and peaceful methods became less successful as fighting players, such as Lee Sedol and Ch'oe Ch'eol-han, found ways to first force Lee into attacking positions and then turn them into all out fights where the other player could outmaneuver Changho. The first part of this method was most famously demonstrated in the 2001 LG Cup final against fellow counterman Lee Sedol. In games one, two, and five Sedol played stones and left unsettled groups that enticed Changho into directions where attacking was the clearest and simplest way to gain an advantage. Once Changho began attacking, Sedol would try to outmaneuver Changho in disadvantageous or slack results by threatening whole board fighting, which Changho would want to avoid. These fights also seemed to occasionally unsettle Changho, causing him to make surprising mistakes, lapses in judgement, or play at an uncharacteristic pace. Subsequent interviews have also stated that Lee had felt considerable pressure to perform against the new, younger players.

According to Kim Seungjoon 7d, part of the reason Lee Changho began to lose his composure was that he was no longer guaranteed to win by sticking to his old style. While some younger Korean players he inspired became as good in calculation, reading positions, and the endgame as he was, Lee was being forced to abandon or rely less upon his old style of often conceding a few battles and still winning the war. Lee pursues a new style that is more battle ready, much stingier, and more tightly gripped upon opponents.

Cho Hun-hyeon takes an insightful look into what is happening with his pupil and Lee Sedol: "Is the era of Lee Changho over? No. It is just that the time has finally come that Lee Changho has a legitimate rival. The two will battle head to head for many years to come. After the smoke clears, we will see whose time this is." Being a veteran of the two greatest rivalries of the Korean Go history -- Cho beating Seo BongSoo by 2-1 ratio over a decade and then losing to Lee Changho by the similar ratio over the next decade -- Cho senses another rivalry brewing, something Yoo ChangHyuk could not give to Lee Changho.

Lee Changho will change as Cho had to change in order to stay toe to toe with the pupil of his who shot him down from the very top of the world. Whether or not Lee is truly one of the greatest of all time will depend on what his metamorphosis may become and how effective it might turn out to be.

Park Chimoon, a Korean Go critic, said that Lee Changho might be the greatest go strategist of all time as Lee has successfully come back against the so called Lee Changho killers (e.g., Yoda Norimoto et al.). We will see the real truth of it in as the smoke of rivalries clear.

Thoughts from Professionals

Chang Hao 9p: You get to know how strong Lee is only when you play him.

Go Seigen: "studies a lot and hard, but in terms of talent doesn't look as good as Cho Hun-hyeon, your teacher." - (1998)^[1]

Rin Kaiho: "When you're playing Lee, you get nervous if the game is close. But if you do anything the slightest bit unreasonable, he immediately pounces on you. There's just no way to handle him." - Go World Iss. 71 p. 26 (1994)

"Lee Chang-ho is confident in his endgame ability and he probably believes that if a game becomes a leisurely one he'll win it. I think that he's researched the opening well so that he can get the kind of game he likes." - Go World Iss. 71 p. 19 (1994)

Rui Naiwei: Lee lets you do what you want yet wins over you at the end.

Ryu Shikun: "When I was a child, I believed that go was not a game of calculation, but Lee would accurately count one-point wins. At first, that astonished me. Nowadays, he's already calculated the score even when there are still various places to fight. And his figures are quite accurate. He virtually never makes a mistake in the endgame." - Go World Iss. 71 p. 26 (1994)

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