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Lee Sedol Retirement Plans Apparently On Hold

Lee Sedol 9P’s plans to retire from competitive play and move to the US may not be quite as firm as they seemed last year (In Shocker, Lee Sedol Announces Retirement; May Move to U.S. 2/13/2013). "One year later, it seems that Lee’s plans are less definite than we originally thought," Go Game Guru's David Ormerod reported on May 29. In 2013, according to Ormerod, Lee (at right, with Gu Li) was involved in projects like Go9Dan.com and was missing his daughter, who was studying in Canada. He started to seriously talk about retiring again at that time. "Unfortunately, Go9Dan didn’t work out as planned, which affected Lee’s other plans," Ormerod reported. "On a more positive note, the long mooted jubango between Lee Sedol and Gu Li finally became a reality and our source believes this has rekindled Lee’s passion for go. Because of this, Lee has stopped talking about retiring and doesn’t appear to have any plans to do so in the near future." Lee now leads 3-2 in the jubango. "If there’s no imminent plan for retirement, then that’s mostly good news for go fans, because we’ll be able to enjoy more of Lee’s spectacular games in the meantime," Ormerod concludes. "In the long run, Lee will surely do whatever he thinks is best for his family. And North American go players can keep their fingers crossed." - based on Ormerod's longer report on the GGG site.