The Nihon Ki-in (Japanese Go association) agreed with Deep Zen Go‘s programmer and it’s sponsor to set up a ‘three games match’ with the Cho Chikun (9p) on 19th, 20th and 23rd November 2016.

Cho Chikun (9p) was widely considered the best Go Player in the world in 1980's. Currently he is not the best Professional in Japan, but still playing at a top professional level.

DeepZen (or Zen) is an AI considered the second best Computer Programme after AlphaGo. It is very well known especially by KGS users, where Zen used to play. With the nickname Zen19K2, it reached 9 dan on KGS in September 2016.

Cho Chikun (9p)'s win means that it is probably still difficult to make an AI that can easily beat top professional players. But DeepZenGo showed that it is already very close to top pro level.

Game 1:
Cho Chikun (9p) played with Black. He played an opening that he has probably never played before, hoping that Zen will not know how to play against it. But Zen played well in the opening, in middle game too and he was in lead through the game. But Cho Chikun(9p) kept fighting and Zen made a mistake in endgame and was forced to resign.


Game 2:
Cho Chikun (9p) played with White. Zen played a normal opening. This was the game, where Cho Chikun (9p)'s game looked like his games against humans. He used to make many groups and live with them even in unexpected places. But this time Zen showed how flexible he is and in the end killed Cho's group, so he was forced to resign.


Game 3:
The decisive game. Cho Chikun (9p) played with Black. Zen made a mistake in the beginning, and even though he was catching up, in the early endgame it seemed like Black's lead is comfortable. So Zen risked, but Cho Chikun (9p) played a good sequence, so Zen was forced to lose his center, or his group would have died. So Zen, for the second time, was forced to resign.