American Go E-Journal » Park Younghun

2010’s Top 20 Professional Go Players

Saturday May 12, 2012

For those of you who like to follow the professional go scene, An Younggil 8P (r) recently finished writing a year-long series of articles for GoGameGuru profiling the top 20 professional go players of 2010. Throughout the series, Younggil goes well beyond the usual historical details to write about players’ personalities and go styles, as well as recounting his own meetings with many of them. Younggil’s intention was to introduce his professional colleagues to a Western audience as humans, rather than just pro go players. He also shares many insights into the life of a professional go player and the go scene in Korea. It makes fascinating reading for any serious go fan.
The full list of bios includes: Lee Sedol, Kong Jie, Park Junghwan, Choi Cheolhan, Kang Dongyun, Heo Youngho, Gu Li, Xie He, Won Seongjin, Li Zhe, Zhou Ruiyang, Tuo Jiaxi, Lee Changho, Qiu Jun, Kim Jiseok, Wang Xi, Cho Hanseung, Chen Yaoye, Park Younghun and Lee Younggu.

photo: Kong Jie (left) and Lee Sedol play in the final of the 23rd Fujitsu Cup (2010). 

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Lee Sedol Wins GS Caltex Cup; Chen Yaoye Holds Tianyuan; BC Card Cup Finals Begin

Thursday May 10, 2012

May isn’t just a big month for US go players. The temperature is rising on the international go scene too. On May 4, Chen Yaoye 9P defended his Chinese Tianyuan (Tengen) title against up-and-coming player, Zhou Hexi 4P. Zhou faced off a strong field to top the 26th Tianyuan qualifiers for the second year in a row, but once again fell to Chen, who has now held the Tianyuan for four consecutive years. Meanwhile in Korea, Lee Sedol 9P fought back from a 2-1 disadvantage to defeat Park Younghun 9P in the (best of five) 17th GS Caltex Cup. Lee took home a cool $60,000 for his trouble. The finals of the 4th BC Card Cup start tomorrow (May 11 in the US), with Korea’s Baek Hongseok 9P set to take on China’s Dang Yifei 4P. China dominated the earlier rounds of the tournament, but Baek managed to fight his way through to the final, defeating Zhou Ruiyang 5P and Hu Yaoyu 8P along the way. 17 year old Dang Yifei’s run has been no less impressive. En route to the final, Dang defeated Lee Sedol 9P, Park Younghun 9P and Piao Wenyao 9P, among others. Both players are competing for their first international title.

Coming up very soon:

  • The 33rd World Amateur Go Championship is just getting started in Guangzhou, China. Expect updates from the E-Journal team very soon.
  • The 4th BC Card Cup finals start tomorrow. Watch them live on Baduk TV. The coverage for game 1 starts at 11:30pm, May 11, US EDT.
  • The 67th Japanese Honinbo title match starts on May 15 in Kyoto, Japan.
  • This being an Olympic year – the (quadrennial) Ing Cup will begin on May 23 in Taiwan.
    For more details, see the professional Go calendar at Go Game Guru.

– David Ormerod, GoGameGuru; Photo: 17 year old Dang Yifei 4P (right) plays Piao Wenyao 9P.

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Park Younghun Wins World Meijin Tournament

Sunday August 21, 2011

Park Younghun 9P took the World Meijin title for Korea on Saturday (August 20), defeating China’s Jiang Weijie 5P and Japan’s Iyama Yuta 9P. The 2nd World Meijin tournament – officially called the China Changde Cup, World Mingren Championship – was a contest between the domestic Meijin title holders in China, Japan and Korea. In China and Korea the titles are called Mingren and Myeongin respectively. The format of the tournament was similar to the recent Bosai Cup. There were three rounds and two wins were required to take the title. In the first round, Park defeated Iyama, securing a place in the final. Jiang, who drew a bye in round 1, eliminated Iyama in round 2. Park won the final in 132 moves, after successfully fending off Jiang’s last ditch attempt to kill one of his groups. Congratulations Park Younghun!

Correction: While we’re on topic of Park Younghun, in last week’s article: Park Junghwan Wins Fujitsu Cup, Breaks Record we incorrectly reported that Park Junghwan 9P had broken Lee Sedol 9P’s record as the youngest ever winner of the Fujitsu Cup. While it’s true that Park Junghwan now holds that record, one sharp-eyed E-Journal reader pointed out that it was in fact Park Younghun’s record that was broken. Park Younghun broke Lee’s record by almost two months when he won the Fujitsu Cup in 2004. The original article has been updated.

– Jingning; based on her original article: Park Younghun wins 2nd World Meijin at Go Game Guru. Photo: Park Younghun 9P.

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Park Younghun Wins 12th Maxim Cup

Monday April 11, 2011

On April 7 2011, Park Younghun 9P won the 12th Maxim Cup, beating Lee Changho 9P by half a point in the second match. Park won the first match several weeks ago (March 21), and with two wins he took the best of three title.

Two masters of endgame

Both Lee and Park are famous for their accurate counting and endgame skills. Go fans used to say that if Park and Lee played and the winning margin was half a point, the winner would be Lee. However, now people say that if the winning margin is half a point, the winner will be Park.

In November last year Park also won the Korean Myeongin (Korea’s equivalent of the Japanese Meijin).

The Maxim Cup

The Maxim Cup is a rapid Korean domestic tournament for 9 dan players only. This year, the tournament was held on the beautiful Jeju Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is popular with tourists.

Stone Babushkas?

Lee was accompanied by his wife and, prior to the match, revealed that the couple were very happy and plan on having two or three children. Given that Lee’s nickname as a Go player is “Stone Buddha”, perhaps the little ones could be called the “Stone Babushkas”? Before you ask, there was no mention of whether the children would learn Go.

After the match, a reporter asked Lee how he felt about losing his dominance of the baduk world after more than two decades. Lee was non-plussed, and replied that he did not mind as long as he could still play a good and interesting game.

– Jingning; based on her original report at Go Game Guru, which includes more pictures and game records.

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