Yi Ch'ang-ho clocked up eight wins in a row for Kiseong title matches when he won the final of the 11th term on 14 February 2000. It took him just 135 moves to despatch challenger Ch'oe Kyu-pyeong 9-dan, who nevertheless did well to bring the final to the deciding third game.
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Older News From 27 January 2000: NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED IN 11th KISEONG
After the shock opener in the 11th Kiseong final, Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan reasserted himself and despatched challenger Ch'oe Kyu-pyeong 9-dan in Game 2 on 26 January. It was not such a clean kill as Ch'oe's 93 moves of the first game, but Ch'oe was forced to submit after just 175 moves. The next game decides the title.
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Older News From 11 January 2000: 11th KISEONG FINAL STARTS WITH SHOCK
The title match for the 11th Kiseong title is under way in Seoul, and has started with a stunning upset. Challenger Ch'oe Kyu-pyeong 9-dan forced Yi Ch'ang-ho to resign in just 93 moves on 10 January. Game 2 of this best of three is on 26 January. Yi has Black in that game. He is supposed to be close to invincible with Black, but by his standards he has been going through a bad patch recently.
In the Challengers' Final, Ch'oe beat Kim Seong-ryong, while in the semi-finals the results were: Ch'oe 1-0 Yang Chae-ho and Kim 1-0 An Cho-yeong.
(The format for this event has changed to a knockout. We await further details.)
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Older News: 11th KISEONG FINAL DRAWS NEAR
The battle to challenge Yi Ch'ang-ho for his Kiseong title has come down to the semi-finals. In the first, on 5 November, An Cho-yeong 5-dan, just turned 20 in September, continued his storming year by defeating Kim Seong-ryong 6-dan, another youngster at 22.
The average age of the eight quarter-finalists was 25, eloquent proof of the way Korean go is developing.
RESULTS 1999
Quarter-finals (September-October 1999)
Kim Seong-ryong 1-0 Mok Chin-seok;
Ch'oe Kyu-pyeong 1-0 Yun Seong-hyeon;
An Cho-yeong 1-0 Yun Hyeon-seok;
Yang Chae-ho 1-0 Yang Cheon
HOW DOES THE KISEONG TOURNAMENT WORK?
Also known as: Kisung; Korean Kisei or Baduk Saint, the Kiseong is sponsored by the Se-kye Il-po (World Newspaper).
First prize in 1989 was 27 million won out of total prize money of 160 million won, but in 1998 this dropped to 18 million won (second prize 3 million won), out of a total of 75 million, and the final was cut back from a best of seven to a best of three.
The main tournament is an 8-player league (all-play-all once) to find a challenger to the holder. The bottom four in the league drop out. In the first term, the first two in the league played off.
Komi is 5.5. Time limits are 5 hours each in the final and league, 4 hours elsewhere. The final used to span December-February but is now scheduled to start in January.
Kiseong means Go Sage and has traditionally been regarded as a supreme accolade for a go player. It goes back almost 2,000 years to Han times in China. It is also used as Kisei in Japan and Qisheng in China. The tournament is sometimes known as the Korean Kisei, because of the preeminence of the Japanese Kisei tournament.
