LEAGUE FINALISED
Yi Seong-chae 6-dan, 23, beat Jiang Zhujiu 9-dan in the "D" preliminary final on 24 November 2000 to take the last remaining place in the league for the 32nd Myeongin.
Yi is a nephew of Cho Chikun.
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Older News From 16 NOVEMBER 2000:
LEAGUE TAKES SHAPE
The league for the 32nd Myeongin - the winner of which will challenge world No. 1 Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan for the title - is rapidly taking shape.
Already qualified from the last term are Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan (the unsuccessful challenger), Ch'oe Myeong-hun 7-dan, Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan and Yang Chae-ho 9-dan.
The four remaining places go to the winners of four separate qualification knockouts. Mok Chin-seok 5-dan won one place by beating Yi Heui-seong 3-dan in the "A" final on 3 November 2000, and on the same day Yun Hyeon-seok 5-dan won the "B" final against Yun Hyeok 2-dan. A week later, on 10 November, veteran Im Seun-keun 9-dan overcame Yun Seong-hyeon 7-dan in the "C" final. The "D" final has yet to be played.
MYEONGIN ARCHIVES
HOW DOES THE MYEONGIN TOURNAMENT WORK?
The Myeongin (sometimes spelt Myungin) tournament is sponsored by Han-kuk Il-po (Korea Daily News). From term 27 inclusive it has been played also for the Yukong Cup then the SK Yukong Cup (Yukong Limited is a company in the Sunkyong or SK group, which became co-sponsors from Term 28, replacing Daewoo Securities). SK Corporation describes itself as "the first and biggest energy and chemicals company in Korea" based on a complex in Ulsan.
The total prize fund was increased in 1997 to 300 million won (winner 40m won; second 8m won) from 130 million won (winner 11m won), but has been reduced (apparently temporarily) to 200 million won (winner 24m won) at present as a result of the recent crisis in Asian financial markets.
Up to Term 30 the format was for twelve qualifiers to join four seeds in the main tournament, a 16-man knockout, which culminated in a best-of-three final to find a challenger to the holder. From Term 31 this has been changed to an 8-player league with a repechage knockout for the qualifiers. The title-match final, a best of five, takes place in early Autumn.
Time limits are 5 hours each in the title final, 4 hours in the knockout and 3 hours elsewhere. Komi was 5.5 points up to Term 30 inclusive. It is now 6.5 points.
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. The event is sometimes called the Korean Meijin.
Click here for a list of MYEONGIN FINALISTS.
