Pak Chi-eun 2-dan (just turned 16) came from behind to beat Yi Yeong-sin 2-dan to take the 1st Women's Myeongin title 2-1. She won Game 2 on 2 February 2000 and followed up with victory in Game 3 on 11 February.
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Older News From 30 January 2000: NEW WOMEN'S TITLE
Yi Yeong-sin 2-dan drew first blood in the first final of the new Women's Myeongin, beating her 16-year-old rival Pak Chi-eun 2-dan on 29 January 2000.
The next two games are scheduled for 2 and 11 February.
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Older News From December 9 1999: PAK THROUGH TO FINAL
Pak Chi-eun 2-dan (just turned 16) and Yi Yeong-sin 2-dan (22) will compete for the honour of becoming the first Women's Myeongin in Korea. This event is one of the first fruits of the Hanguk Kiweon's efforts to bolster the position of female pros and it has attracted a very healthy top prize of 8 million won.
Pak may be favourite as she already beat Yi at the semi-final stage (this is one of those events where losers get a second bite at the cherry). She has also made her mark with her fighting style of play, earning the nickname of the "female Yu Ch'ang-hyeok."
WINNERS' SECTION
Round 1:
Yi Yeong-sin 1-0 Kim Hyo-cheong
Nam Ch'i-hyeong 1-0 Cho Yeong-suk
Hyeon Mi-chin 1-0 Yun Yeong-min
Kweon Hyo-chin 1-0 Hwang Yeom
Kim T'ae-hyang 1-0 Cho Hye-yeon
Hing Kkoch'noeul 1-0 Kang Seung-heui
Yi Chi-hyeon 1-0 Kim Min-heui
Pak Chi-eun 1-0 Chang Cheong-p'ing
Round 2:
Yi Yeong-sin 1-0 Nam Ch'i-hyeong
Kweon Hyo-chin 1-0 Hyeon Mi-chin
Hoing Kkoch'noeul 1-0 Kim T'ae-hyang
Pak Chi-eun 1-0 Yi Chi-hyeon
Round 3:
Yi Yeong-sin 1-0 Kweon Hyo-chin
Pak Chi-eun 1-0 Hing Kkoch'noeul
Round 4:
Pak Chi-eun 1-0 Yi Yeong-sin
LOSERS' SECTION
Round 1:
Kim T'ae-hyang 1-0 Nam Ch'i-hyeong
Yi Chi-hyeon 1-0 Hyeon Mi-chin
Round 2:
Kweon Hyo-chin 1-0 Kim T'ae-hyang
Yi Chi-hyeon 1-0 Hong Kkoch'noeul
Round 3:
Yi Chi-hyeon 1-0 Kweon Hyo-chin
Round 4:
Yi Yeong-sin 1-0 Yi Chi-hyeon
HOW DOES THE WOMEN'S MYEONGIN TOURNAMENT WORK?
The Women's Myeongin Tournament is sponsored by the Mae-il Sin-mun newspaper company. The total prize fund is 35 million won, with 8 million won going to the winner.
All the women professionals can play. The main tournament is a seeded knockout of 16 players (Winners' section) with the losers going across, according to the stage at which they lose, into a parallel repechage knockout (Losers' section), like the Judan in Japan. In Term 1, the winners of these two sections play off for the title.
Myeongin, although originally a Chinese word denoting a Master of some esoteric science such as medicine, in its go context was, like the Chinese Mingren, copied from the Japanese Meijin.
WOMEN'S MYEONGIN FINALISTS
Year
Term
Winner
Score
Loser
1999
1
Pak Chi-eun 2d
2-1
Yi Yeong-sin 2d
Note: All Korean names are in McCune-Reischauer transcription.
