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The 17th KPMC, a major festival of the world’s Baduk (Go) players was finished successfully.

The championship was hosted by the Korea Baduk Federation (KBF) and Gwangju City, organized by the KBF and Gwangju Baduk Association, and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Korean Sport & Olympic Committee.

In addition, the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation and Gwangju City financially sponsored the KPMC as well as the cooperation with the Asian Go Federation and the European Go Federation.

More than 150 participants from 54 countries around the world, including host Korea, 15 Asian countries, 28 European countries, 9 Americas, and 2 Oceania had participated in the championship.

The tournament was held in a way that the participating players ranked according to the scores they acquire after six rounds. They were given 50 minutes and 3 countdowns for 30 seconds. The Dum/Komi was 6.5 points.

The golden trophy for the champion was awarded to Jung-sun Kim, the No.1 Amateur ranking player in Korea, which has been the host country. As a result, Korea, which had 2 consecutive championships following the last tournament (Seung-gu Kim), has once again proved itself as the world’s strongest Baduk country by increasing the number of championships to 9. The runner-up is China (7 times).

Jung-sun Kim advanced to the semifinals by defeating Ziyaattin Husrev Aksut(Turkey) in the first round, Jose Piccioni(Argentina) in the second round, Remi Campagnie(Canada) in the third round, and Kenyi Kina(Peru) in the fourth round.

After that, he beat Robert Csizmadia(Hungary) in the fifth round and won the championship in 191 moves against Minoru Ozeki(Japan) in the final round.

Jung-sun Kim, the tournament champion, scored 40 points as a tryouts bonus. With a cumulative score of 100, he could join the professional league with the points.

The runner-up was Yu-Cheng Lai(Chinese Taipei) and the third place was Minoru Ozeki(Japan).

Jae-soo Song, the standing vice president of the KBF, said at the closing ceremony, “I am really grateful that the best players from all over the world decided to participate in the KPMC despite the COVID-19 situation.”, adding “The KBF would do its best to make Baduk an official Olympic event by securing competitiveness with diversification of international events.

The KPMC drew attention as various events were held as well as the main tournament.

During the timeframe, the 2022 AGF (Asian Go Federation) general meeting was held to discuss various agendas for the development of Asian Baduk.

Moreover, an Baduk event competition called ‘pair Go’, a unique way for men and women to be a group was also held. This event gave a bite and thrill to viewers as there were many unpredictable games with a possibility of the reversal of winning games.

Meanwhile, the 18th KPMC scheduled in September next year would be also held in in Bitgoeul, Gwangju.