YI DOES IT WITH WHITE
Yi Ch'ang-ho overcame the jinx of having White to win Game 4 of the 34th Wangwi title match on 4 August 2000 in Seoul, beating challenger Seo Pong-su in 230 moves. This means Yi retains his title and notches up five wins a row in these matches. After a glitch that saw his form become erratic a few months back, Yi is back in dominating mood, with a win-loss record currently above 80%.
Incidentally, they were playing for a first prize of 30 million won out of a total prize fund of 230 million won, both having been reduced back to pre-1996 levels after the Asian financial crisis.
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Older News From 29 July 2000:
BLACK TRIUMPHANT
Black won yet again in Game 3 of the 34th Wangwi title match on 24 July 200 in Seoul, despite the 6.5 Korean komi. This means Yi Ch'ang-ho moved into a 2-1 lead over challenger Seo Pong-su.
Here are Game 2 and Game 3 in downloadable sgf format.
Older News From 18 July 2000:
SEO PULLS LEVEL
Seo Pong-su 9-dan kept his hopes for a successful challenge to Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan alive when he won Game 2 of the 34th Wangwi title match on 18 July 200 in Seoul.
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Older News From 10 July 2000:
TITLE HOLDER TAKES GAME ONE
Yi Ch'ang-ho won the first game of the 34th Wangwi title match on 8 July 200 in Seoul, staking a major claim to hold on to his title in this best-of-five.
The unsuccessful challenger was Seo Pong-su 9-dan, who had overcome Yi Se-tol 3-dan twice in the Challenger's league - once to draw level 6-1 and the second time in the play-off.
The schedule for the other matches set so far is:
- Game 2: 18 July
- Game 3: 24 July
- Game 4: 28 July
Click here for Game 1 in downloadable sgf format, rather rare (nowadays) double san-san opening.
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Older News From 27 June 2000:
INVINCIBLE YI SE-TOL THREATENS INSCRUTABLE YI CH'ANG-HO
Seventeen-year-old Yi Se-tol 3-dan - he of the record 32-game winning streak - has been using some of his record-breaking form in the prestigious 34th Wangwi League to find the next challenger to holder Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (no relation), the famously inscrutable Stone Buddha.
Only veteran Seo Pong-su 9-dan can catch him, and they have to play in Yi's final match.
League standings as of 10 June 2000:
|
Y |
C |
S |
Y |
Y |
Y |
A |
W |
|
| Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9d |
- |
* |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
= |
3-3 |
| Cho Hun-hyeon 9d |
* |
- |
* |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
= |
3-2 |
| Seo Pong-su 9d |
0 |
* |
- |
* |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
= |
4-1 |
| Yi Se-tol 3d |
1 |
1 |
* |
- |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
= |
6-0 |
| Yang Chae-ho 9d |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
- |
1 |
* |
* |
= |
3-2 |
| Yun Hyeon-seok 5d |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
- |
* |
* |
= |
0-5 |
| An Cho-yeong 5d |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
* |
* |
- |
1 |
= |
1-4 |
| Weon Seong-chin 2d |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
* |
* |
0 |
- |
= |
1-4 |
WANGWI ARCHIVES
HOW DOES THE WANGWI TOURNAMENT WORK?
The Wangwi tournament is sponsored by the Chung-ang Il-po (Central Daily News).The main tournament is an 8-man league (all-play-all once) to find a challenger to the holder. The bottom four in the league drop out.
Komi is 5.5. Time limits are 5 hours each in the final and 4 hours elsewhere.
The final was a best of seven from terms 16 to 31 (otherwise best offive).
The prize fund was increased to 270 million won (winner 35m won; second 6m won) in 1996 from 230 million won (winner 30m won).
Wangwi (Japanese Oi, Chinese Wangwei) means Throne.
Click here for a list of the WANGWI WINNERS AND CHALLENGERS.
