Rui Naiwei 9-dan finally took away the title of Pak Chi-eun 3-dan when she won Game 3 of the 2nd Women's Myeongin on 26 February 2001 in Seoul.
The 2-1 margin was less flattering to Rui than it was to Pak.
*****
Older News From 3 February 2001: PAK BRINGS MATCH BACK TO LIFE
Pak Chi-eun 3-dan found reserves of spirit and fought her way back into contention in the final of the 2nd Women's Myeongin on 3 February 2001. Although the holder, Pak did not have to face Rui Naiwei in Term 1, and few fans gave her any chance against the Chinese 9-dan. Rui's dominance in Game 1 exacerbated the feeling of a one-horse race,
But Pak played a splendid Game 2 at the Hanguk Kiweon and her calm move Black 31 was particularly admired, not least because she weathered the ensuing attack with ease, forcing an early resignation from Rui.
Neither the date nor the venue for Game 3, which few expected to see, has been decided.
Older News From 30 January 2001: FIRST BLOOD TO RUI
Rui Naiwei 9-dan won the first game of the 2nd Women's Myeongin against holder Pak Chi-eun 3-dan on 30 January 2001. In a first for the Kortean Baduk association, the game was broadcast live on its cyberkiwon server with an English commentary by Nam Ch'i-hyeong 2-dan.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is on 3 February.
Older News From 30 December 2000: RUI TO CHALLENGE
Rui Naiwei 9-dan has won the right to meet holder Pak Chi-eun 3-dan in the title final of 2nd Women's Myeongin. She defeated Yi Chi-hyeon 2-dan on 21 December 2000 in the Challengers' Final.
Game 1 of the best-of-three final is on 30 January 2001. Rui naturally starts as red-hot favourite, but 17-year-old Pak is known as the "Female Yu Ch'ang-hyeok". Yu has recovered his form lately and that may encourage Pak, too.
*****
Older News From 30 October 2000: RUI AND YI FACE-OFF IN CHALLENGER'S FINAL
The Challengers' part of the 2nd Women's Myeongin will end in a final between Rui Naiwei 9-dan and Yi Chi-hyeon 2-dan. The losers' (repechage) section was completed on 27 October 2000 when Yi beat Ha Ho-cheong 1-dan and so earned a second chance to play Rui in this event - she lost out in Round 2 of the winners' section. Full results are below. It might be worth pointing out that Rui is not the only Chinese in this event. Huang Yan has been playing in Korea since 1994, joining as 2-dan, which meant demotion from her Chinese grade of 5-dan. That will give some idea of how strong the Korean women are.
The winner of the Rui-Yi clash will earn the chance to play Pak Chi-eun 2-dan for her title early in the New Year (and the 8 million won first prize, of course!).
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
The year is that in which the tournament starts.
Year
Term
Winner
Score
Loser
1999
1
Pak Chi-eun 2d
2-1
Yi Yeong-sin 2d
2000
2
Rui Naiwei 9d
2-1
Pak Chi-eun 3-dan
Note: All Korean names are in McCune-Reischauer transcription.
