The official result made Byun Sang-il champion, but the unusual path to victory triggered an international Go controversy. Byun had won the second game through Ke Jie’s automatic loss and received the third game after Ke Jie’s withdrawal, meaning critics argued that he had not defeated Ke Jie in a fully completed game of the final. Chinese players and figures including Ding Hao, Nie Weiping, Lian Xiao, and Tang Weixing condemned the episode as a breakdown of Go’s traditional image as a gentlemanly contest. Critics also pointed to alleged inconsistencies: footage and fan analysis raised questions about whether Byun had accidentally moved and reset a stone in the first game, and whether he had pressed the clock before placing a captured stone during the final game. These claims contributed to accusations of double standards, although the source text marks some of them as requiring citation rather than definitively proven violations. Ke Jie later described the match as psychologically traumatic, saying he struggled to eat and sleep and felt that “Go itself” had been broken. The controversy spilled into policy and sponsorship: Mengly Group chairman Ni Zhanggen indicated that Byun would be barred from the sixth MLily Cup, while the Chinese Go Association announced a 2025 restriction on foreign players in Chinese leagues and championships, a measure expected to hit Korean professionals particularly hard. Byun expressed regret over the ending and said he understood Ke Jie’s position, while also acknowledging that he had not even known about the captured-stone rule before the referee called the foul.
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