Older News From 9 September 2000:
A new tournament sponsored by a national cable television company is on the way. Pros will form into teams of five representing their hometowns, and the teams will meet each other in a league. There will be some latitude in forming the teams. Yi Ch'ang-ho and Cho Hun-hyeon have been separated and will each lead a North and South team, while Chinese guests Rui Naiwei, her husband Jiang Zhujiu and Huang Yan will apparently line up for Cheju Island. It seems the matches will not be played physically as teams, but as a series of individual encounters.
*****
Older News From 15 August 2000:
Current rankings (as of 31 July) in the win-loss stakes for the year 2000 show 17-year-old Yi Se-tol 3-dan leading with 47-5 (it was 42-5 last time we reported), followed by Mok Chin-seok 5-dan (34-8) and Ch'oe Ch'oel-han 3-dan (33-8). Of the higher-ranked players, best performer is Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan on 25-5 in 7th place, which he shares with Rui Naiwei 9-dan (25-7). Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan is said to be going through a slump (by his standards - he is on 25-17), and the newcomer we highlighted previously, Pak Yeong-hun 1-dan, is now on 27-7.
*****
The Korean Go Association has a new president, only the fifth in its history. The post has been vacant for six months following both the retirement of Kim U-chung and some internal reorganisation. The new head is Han Hwa-kap, a leading politician, having been in the Korean parliament since 1992, though at the age of 61 he apparently sees himself as something of a stopgap.
*****
Older News From 31 July 2000:
An update on the runaway train Yi Se-tol: his tally for 2000 so far, up to mid-July, is 42 wins and 5 losses, an 89.36% record (at one stage he was on 40-3). Mind you, given the tougher competition, Yi Ch'ang-ho's performance could be regarded as even better. He has scored 19-4 or 82.61%, tieing for third place with Yun Seong-hyeon 6-dan. Another new star, Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 3-dan has a 31-6 record (83.78%) and Pak Yeong-hun 1-dan is clearly another one to watch - he has recorded 25-6 (80.65%).
*****
Older News From 24 June 2000:
Seventeen-year-old Yi Se-tol finally stretched his unbeaten run to 32 games and so beat the 31-game record of Cho Hun-hyeon. But the game that stopped his winning streak was a mere blip, it seems. Since then he has won 7 more games on the trot. Going into the recent LG Cup he had a current career record of 49-3.
*****
Older News From 26 April 2000:
A major internet match is to be held between amateur players from North and South Korea on 6 June 2000. Extensive preliminaries will be held in South Korea, starting in May, but it is not clear how the North Korean players will be picked - but they do have some strong talent.
More details (servers, etc.) are available, in Korean, on www.vanhouse.co.kr (which also has details of a similar janggi - Korean chess - match) and on www.joy4you.com.
*****
Older News From 11 April 2000:
Korean go is slowly but surely recovering from the financial turbulence that rocked Asia, and Korea in particular, in July 1997. Although several tournaments have ceased - among them the Tong Yang Securities Cup, the Kukgi, the Taewang, the Jinro Cup, the Bohae Cup and the China-Korea matches - new events are coming in to replace them. The Hung Chang Cup replaces the Bohae, and the hugely successful Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup replaces the Jinro.
Some tournaments survived but had their prize money reduced, or the number of games was cut down. The surge of interest in the Kuksu tournament, now that Rui Naiwei 9-dan has won it, is being rewarded with a huge increase in the total prize fund from 100 million won to 180 million (the winner's prize goes up from 18 million won to 20 million and the final will be a best-of-five again).
Next year's LG Cup will benefit from a winner's prize of 250 million won instead of 200 million, with a second prize of 80 million (previously 50 million). The Kiseong now has a prize fund of 200 million won (instead of 75 million won) and a winner's prize of 24 million (instead of 8 million) thanks to new sponsorship from Hyundai Cars.
Some tournaments suffered a brief interruption but have now resumed, notably the P'aewang. It now has a prize fund of 130 million won (previously 90 million) and the winner's prize goes up from 9 million to 12 million won (and the final is restored to a best-of-five).
Note: 1 million won is about 600 GB pounds or $1,000.
