|| To cap off an extraordinary rise from newcomer to championship contender, Alion02 has defeated #5 Ally and claimed the title of Tak Champion.
Alion and Ally were evenly matched throughout the 6-game finals match, ending the series tied 3-3 and forcing a single game tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Ally played as white and Alion as black with a komi of 2.5. Around move 38, with only seconds left on his clock, Alion cornered his opponent into a Tinue and won the game.
The two champion contenders entered into the last two games of the series tied, 2-2. In game 5, after an exciting back-and-forth, Alion appeared to have pulled off a flat win in his favor. But then, in the end-game, Ally "played it beautifully" to wrestle back control and looked to be cruising to a near-certain win. With only seconds left on each player's clock, the game was incredibly tense. Then, in a "gutting" mistake on move 46, Ally miscounted the flats and gave the win to Alion. In game 6, Ally handily defeated Alion.
In light of what would have been two decisive victories for Ally - without the blunder in game 5 - veteran commentator Simmon gave the Ally the edge going into the tiebreaker game. As white, Ally maintained control and momentum for much of the game. Nevertheless, with time starting to run low, Alion gradually shut down Ally's options and set up a horizontal Tinue along the bottom of the board.
With this victory, Alion has won the Tak community's most prestigious tournament and is the first newcomer to claim the title of Tak Champion.
