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| A screen capture of Lee Se-dol's second match against the AI in Seoul, Thursday/ Courtesy of YouTube |
By Kim Se-jeong
Korea's top Go master Lee Se-dol was defeated by HanDol, a locally developed artificial intelligence program in the second round of the match held in Seoul, Thursday, following Lee's victory the day before.
The second match took a lot more time than the first and HanDol, developed in 2017 by NHN Entertainment Corp., held a clear lead for more than half the time.
The last game is scheduled to take place on Saturday in Sinan, South Jeolla Province, Lee's hometown.
Lee was in the weaker position to begin with on Thursday. Unlike Wednesday's game, Thursday's game had no handicap stone for Lee.
On Wednesday, Lee's victory was empowered by his two stones that were on the board when the game started. It is customary in Go games that the stronger player allows an advantage for the weaker player by placing the weaker player's stones before the game begins.
Go, known as baduk in Korean, is a strategy game originated in China 3,000 years ago.
In 2016, Lee beat Google AlphaGo's DeepMind in one out of five matches. In November, the 36-year-old announced his resignation from the game, saying the life of a Go master is meaningless if he cannot beat an AI.
"I am not at the top even if I become the No. 1. There is an entity that cannot be defeated," Lee told Yonhap News Agency during an interview last month. At the invitation of HanDol, Lee delayed his official resignation.
HanDol has already beaten five Korean players before Lee.
The game had the same format as seen in the 2016 match.
Amateur 5-dan player Lee Hwa-seop placed the stones on the physical board on behalf of HanDol.
Lee began playing Go at the age of five and became a professional player seven years later. He has won 18 championships.
Also popular in Japan and Korea, the game has developed slightly different rules in each country. The strategy game has players across the world, and the three countries have long been in competition to dominate the game's global standing.
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