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Lee Sedol

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In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

Lee Sedol
Lee Sedol in 2016
Hangul이세돌
Hanja李世乭
Revised RomanizationI Sedol
McCune–ReischauerRi Sedol
Born (1983-03-02) 2 March 1983 (age 41)[1]
Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, South Korea
ResidenceSouth Korea
TeacherKweon Kab-yong[1]
Turned pro1995
Rank9 dan[1]
AffiliationHanguk Kiwon[1]
Lee Sedol
Medal record
Representing  South Korea
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Guangzhou Men's Team

Lee Sedol (Korean: 이세돌; born 2 March 1983), or Lee Se-dol, is a former South Korean professional Go player of 9 dan rank.[1] As of February 2016, he ranked second in international titles (18), behind only Lee Chang-ho (21). His nickname is "The Strong Stone" ("Ssen-dol"). In March 2016, he played a notable series of matches against the program AlphaGo that ended in Lee losing 1–4.[2]

On 19 November 2019, Lee announced his retirement from professional play, stating that he could never be the top overall player of Go due to the increasing dominance of AI. Lee referred to them as being "an entity that cannot be defeated".[3] In a 2024 New York Times article, Lee said, "losing to AI, in a sense, meant my entire world was collapsing." He also offered additional insight behind why he retired, "I could no longer enjoy the game. So I retired."[4]

Biography

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Lee was born in South Korea in 1983. He is known as 'Bigeumdo Boy' because he was born and grew up on Bigeumdo Island.[5] He studied at the Korea Baduk Association. He is the fifth-youngest (12 years 4 months) to become a professional Go player in South Korean history behind Cho Hun-hyun (9 years 7 months), Lee Chang-ho (11 years 1 months), Cho Hye-yeon (11 years 10 months) and Choi Cheol-han (12 years 2 months).

He ranks second in international titles (18), behind only Lee Chang-ho (21). Despite this, he describes his opening play as "very weak".[6] In February 2013, Lee announced that he planned to retire within three years and move to the U.S. to promote Go.[7] He plays on Tygem as "gjopok".[8]

He is married to Kim Hyun-jin, and he has a daughter, Lee Hye-rim.[9] His older brother Lee Sang-hoon [ko] is also a 9 dan professional go player.[10]

Lee's Broken Ladder Game

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This game was played between Lee Sedol and Hong Chang-sik during the 2003 KAT cup, on 23 April 2003. The game is notable for Lee's use of a broken ladder formation.

Normally playing out a broken ladder is a mistake, associated with beginner play, because the chasing stones are left weak. Between experts it should be decisive, leading to a lost game. Lee, playing black, defied the conventional wisdom, using the broken ladder to capture a large group of Hong's stones in the lower-right side of the board. This brought black's stones in the corner which were previously considered dead back to life. White ultimately resigned.[11]

Moves 67 to 97 (Black: Lee Sedol; White: Hong Chang-sik).
Black wins when White resigns at move 211.

Match against AlphaGo

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Main article: AlphaGo versus Lee Sedol

Starting March 9, 2016, Lee played a five-game match, broadcast live, against the computer program AlphaGo, developed by a London-based artificial intelligence firm Google DeepMind, for a $1 million match prize.[12][13][14] He said “I have heard that Google DeepMind’s AI is surprisingly strong and getting stronger, but I am confident that I can win at least this time”.[15] In an interview with Sohn Suk-hee of JTBC Newsroom on February 22, 2016,[16] he showed confidence in his chances again, while saying that even beating AlphaGo by 4–1 may allow the Google DeepMind team to claim its de facto victory and the defeat of him, or even humanity. In this interview he pointed out the time rule in this match, which seems well-balanced so that both he and the AI would fairly undergo time pressure. In another interview at Yonhap News, Lee Se-dol said that he was confident of beating AlphaGo by a score of 5–0, at least 4–1 and accepted the challenge in only five minutes. He also stated "Of course, there would have been many updates in the last four or five months, but that isn’t enough time to challenge me".[17]

On March 9, Lee played black and lost the first game by resignation.[18] On March 10, he played white and lost the second game by resignation.[19] On March 12, he played black and lost the third game as well.[20] On March 13, he played white and won the fourth game, following an unexpected move at White 78 described as "a brilliant tesuji", and by Gu Li 9 dan as a "divine move" and completely unforeseen by him. GoGameGuru commented that this game was "a masterpiece for Lee Sedol and will almost certainly become a famous game in the history of Go".[21] Lee commented after the victory that he considered AlphaGo was strongest when playing white (second). For this reason, and because he thought winning a second time with black would be more valuable than winning with white, he requested that he play black in the final fifth game, which is considered more risky when following Chinese Go rules.[22] On March 15, he played black and lost the fifth game, to lose the Go series 1–4.[23]

Game 4, Lee Sedol (white) v. AlphaGo (black).
First 78 moves

After his fourth-match victory, Lee was overjoyed: "I don't think I've ever felt so good after winning just one match. I remember when I said I will win all or lose just one game in the beginning. If this had really happened ― I won 3 rounds and lost this round ― it would have had a great bearing on my reputation. However, since I won after losing 3 games in a row, I am so happy. I will never exchange this win for anything in the world."[24] He added: "I, Lee Se-dol, lost, but mankind did not."[22] After the last match, however, Lee was saddened: "I failed. I feel sorry that the match is over and it ended like this. I wanted it to end well." He also confessed that "As a professional Go player, I never want to play this kind of match again. I endured the match because I accepted it."[25]

Retirement from professional play

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On 19 November 2019, Lee Sedol announced his retirement from professional play, stating that "Even if I become the number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated."[3]

However, in December he agreed to play a three-game match against the HanDol AI system, developed by Korean NHN Entertainment Corporation. Playing with a two-stone handicap (advantage) for the first and third games of the match and no handicap for the second game, Lee Sedol defeated the machine in the first game.[26] HanDol subsequently won the remaining two games of the match, with a final score of two-to-one, winning the overall contest.[27]

Promotion record

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Lee Sedol turned pro in 1995 as 1 dan, and reached 9 dan in 2003.[28]

Rank Date Notes
1 dan 2 July 1995 Promoted to professional dan rank after passing qualifying test.
2 dan 1 January 1998
3 dan 1 January 2000
6 dan 28 March 2003 Won the 7th LG Cup against Lee Changho (4 dan and 5 dan were skipped over due to the Hanguk Kiwon promotion rules).
7 dan 6 May 2003 Runner up in the KT Cup against Yoo Changhyuk.
9 dan 7 July 2003 Won 16th Fujitsu Cup against Song Taekon (8 dan was skipped over due to the Hanguk Kiwon promotion rules).

Career record

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As of 2 May 2019[29][30]
Year Won Lost Win %
1997 0 1 0.0%
1998 0 1 0.0%
1999 0 0
2000 30 12 71.4%
2001 31 17 64.6%
2002 48 25 65.8%
2003 33 18 64.7%
2004 40 18 69.0%
2005 44 21 67.7%
2006 78 28 73.6%
2007 81 23 77.9%
2008 74 26 74.0%
2009 26 15 63.4%
2010 74 14 84.1%
2011 54 21 72.0%
2012 61 25 70.9%
2013 54 39 58.1%
2014 59 25 70.2%
2015 53 27 66.2%
2016 48 27 64.0%
2017 29 13 69.0%
2018 53 36 59.6%
2019 10 5 66.7%
Total 980 437 69.2%

Titles and runners-up

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As of 1 January 2019

Ranks #3 in total number of titles in Korea and #2 in international titles.

Domestic
Title Wins Runners-up
Baedalwang 1 (2000)
Paedal Cup 1 (2000)
Chunwon 1 (2000) 2 (2006, 2008)
Wangwi 2 (2002, 2004)
BC Card Cup 1 (2002)
KTF Cup 1 (2002)
New Pro King 1 (2002)
SK Gas Cup 1 (2002) 1 (2000)
KT Cup 1 (2003)
Guksu 2 (2007, 2009) 1 (2014)
Prices Information Cup 3 (2006–2007, 2010) 1 (2008)
Siptan 1 (2011)
Olleh KT Cup 2 (2010–11)
GS Caltex Cup 3 (2002, 2006, 2012) 3 (2007, 2013, 2018)
Myungin 4 (2007–2008, 2012, 2016) 1 (2013)
Maxim Cup 5 (2005–2007, 2014, 2016) 1 (2013)
KBS Cup 3 (2006, 2014, 2016) 4 (2001, 2004, 2009, 2015)
Total 30 17
Continental
Title Wins Runners-up
China–Korea New Pro Wang 1 (2002)
China–Korea Tengen 1 (2001)
World Meijin 1 (2018)
Total 2 1
International
Title Wins Runners-up
Fujitsu Cup 3 (2002–2003, 2005) 1 (2010)
LG Cup 2 (2003, 2008) 2 (2001, 2009)
Samsung Cup 4 (2004, 2007–2008, 2012) 1 (2013)
World Oza 2 (2004, 2006)
Zhonghuan Cup 1 (2005)
Asian TV Cup 4 (2007, 2008, 2014, 2015) 2 (2009, 2017)
BC Card Cup 2 (2010–2011)
Chunlan Cup 1 (2011) 1 (2013)
Mlily Cup (梦百合杯) 1 (2016)
Total 18 9
Career total
Total 50 27[31]

Korean Baduk League

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Season Team Place Record
2007 Team No.1 Fire Insurance (Captain) 4th place 9–5[32]
2008 Team No. 1 Fire Insurance (Captain) 4th place 13–3[33]
2010 Team Shinan Chunil Salt (Captain) Champion 16–2[34]
2011 Team Shinan Chunil Salt (Captain) 7th place 1–2[35]

Chinese A League

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Season Team Place Record
2007 Team Guizhou (Captain) 2nd place 9–3[36]
2008 Team Guizhou (Captain) 2nd place 8–0[37]
2009 Team Guizhou (Captain) 8th place 6–4[38]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Lee SeDol. gobase.org. accessed 22 June 2010.
  2. ^ "Google vs. Go: can AI beat the ultimate board game?". The Verge. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b "(Yonhap Interview) Go master Lee says he quits unable to win over AI Go players". Yonhap News Agency. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  4. ^ Wakabayashi, Daisuke; Young, Jin Yu (10 July 2024). "Defeated by A.I., a Legend in the Board Game Go Warns: Get Ready for What's Next". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  5. ^ "서울경제". economy.hankooki.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  6. ^ Lee Sedol Interview. justplaygo.com, accessed 22 June 2010. Archived July 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ An Younggil. "Interview with Lee Sedol". Archived from the original on 5 March 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  8. ^ King of Kings (Final): "gjopok" vs. "idontca1", game 3. gosensations.com, accessed 19 February 2012
  9. ^ An Younggil. "Biography of Lee Sedol". Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  10. ^ "(2nd LD) Go master Lee Se-dol expects no answers at his secession talks". Yonhap News Agency. 20 May 2016.
  11. ^ Sensei's Library: Lee Sedol – Hong Chang Sik – ladder game
  12. ^ "Google to Livestream 'Go' Battle Between World Champ, AI Tech". PCMAG. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  13. ^ Elizabeth Gibney (27 January 2016). "Go players react to computer defeat". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.19255.
  14. ^ "Computer Says Go". The Economist. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  15. ^ "YouTube will livestream Google's AI playing Go superstar Lee Sedol in March". VentureBeat. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  16. ^ "[인터뷰] 이세돌 "5대 0으로 이기지 않으면 의미 없다고 생각해"". JTBC (in Korean). 22 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  17. ^ "S. Korean Go player confident of beating Google's AI". YonhapNews.co.kr. Yonhap News Agency. 23 February 2016. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  18. ^ "AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol in first game of historic man vs machine match". Archived from the original on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  19. ^ Metz, Cade. "Google's AI Wins Pivotal Game Two In Match With Go Grandmaster". Wired.
  20. ^ Borowiec, Steven (12 March 2016). "AlphaGo beats Lee Sedol in third consecutive Go game". The Guardian.
  21. ^ Ormerod, David (13 March 2016). "Lee Sedol defeats AlphaGo in masterful comeback – Game 4". GoGameGuru.com. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  22. ^ a b Lee Se-dol shows AlphaGo beatable, Korea Times
  23. ^ "Google's AlphaGo AI beats Lee Se-dol again to win Go series 4–1". 15 March 2016.
  24. ^ [Q&As] 'I'll never exchange this win for anything in the world', Korea Times
  25. ^ "한국 바둑계 '감'으로 나섰다가 '아뿔싸'" [Korea Baduk Association ventured into "without thought" and "Yow"] (in Korean). The Hankyoreh. 16 March 2016.
  26. ^ "Human vs. AI: Board Game Champ, Who Surrendered to Google, Beats AI in Surprise Game". Observer. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  27. ^ "Lee Sedol Surrenders to AI Go Player – Again". WIRED Korea (in Korean). 23 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Lee Sedol" (in Korean). Korea Baduk Association. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  29. ^ Username *. "Lee Sedol | Search by Player". Go4Go. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Win–loss Ranking – Go to Everyone!". K2ss.info. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  31. ^ Lee Sedol 9p Archived 2011-05-24 at the Wayback Machine gogameworld.com, accessed 22 June 2010
  32. ^ "2007 Korean Baduk League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  33. ^ "2008 Korean Baduk League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  34. ^ "2010 Korean Baduk League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  35. ^ "2011 Korean Baduk League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  36. ^ "2007 Chinese A League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  37. ^ "2008 Chinese A League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  38. ^ "2009 Chinese A League". igokisen.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 13 June 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
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Wikiquote has quotations related to Lee Sedol.

On YouTube

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