A showdown with the human champion for the first time in 10 years, AI smiles again... Shin Jin-seo suffers a forfeit loss against KataGo

*This content was translated by AI.

The world's No. 1 ranked Go player and reigning human champion, Shin Jin-seo 9-dan, suffered a heartbreaking comeback defeat in the first match of his long-awaited face-off against artificial intelligence (AI) after a decade.

On the 17th, Shin Jin-seo 9-dan played black and lost by forfeit on move 245 against the AI program KataGo in Game 1 of the "Shin Sun-math · The Korea Economic Daily (Hankyung) Ki-sin Jeon" best-of-three series held at The Korea Economic DailyTV studio in Jung-gu, Seoul.

The match proceeded as a two-point handicap game (with a komi of 0.5 points), with Shin Jin-seo 9-dan playing black and placing two stones on the board before starting. However, it was not enough to overcome KataGo's near-perfect computational power.

After the game ended, Shin Jin-seo 9-dan remained seated for a long time, unable to leave his spot, visibly consumed by regret. According to the Korea Baduk Association, he stated, "I am very disappointed. I was flustered by White's second move on the first board, and my prepared plans were effectively ruined. I became mentally shaken."

Continuing, Shin Jin-seo 9-dan said, "In actual play, I thought I could sufficiently attack Black's large group in the center, but KataGo judged that it was not at all dangerous. It seems I had already lost on that point," and added, "Regardless of the result, I am personally very ashamed of today's performance."

Having lost the first game, Shin Jin-seo 9-dan regrouped over the next day and will head to Game 2 on the 19th at the same venue, aiming for his first victory in the rematch. Shin Jin-seo 9-dan emphasized, "In matches against AI, psychological strength is the most important factor." He further declared, "Even if the point difference narrows slightly in the early and middle stages, I will focus on maintaining mental stability throughout the game and prepare as diligently as possible."

This confrontation marks the first official human-versus-AI showdown exactly 10 years after the historic match in 2016 between Lee Se-dol 9-dan and AlphaGo, which ended with Lee winning one game and losing four.

The outcome hinged on the central battle. Shin Jin-seo 9-dan's win probability plummeted to over 99% after moves 70 and 76 in black, followed by a critical error (black move 90) in the lower-right corner. Ultimately, the situation completely reversed within just 102 moves, allowing KataGo to seize the lead.

Thereafter, Shin Jin-seo 9-dan launched an aggressive attack on KataGo's large central group, attempting a late-game gamble. However, KataGo widened the point gap even further. Shin Jin-seo 9-dan could not overcome the already established deficit.

This Daejeon will proceed through all three games regardless of the outcome. Shin Jin-seo 9-dan will receive a base prize of 50 million won per game, totaling 150 million won for the series. An additional victory bonus of 50 million won is awarded for each win. If he secures two or more victories, he will be presented with a premium Genesis G90 sedan as a prize.

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*This content was translated by AI.