News

The champion of the19th KPMC was Mr. Tianyi Liu(7D) from China.

Like the previous champion, Mr. Chongzhe Tang from China, Mr. Liu was also never defeated for seven rounds.

As China got consecutive victories for two years in the KPMCs, the victories by Korea and China have become even despite its absence to the 17th KPMC due to Covid-19.

[Number of champions in the KPMC history]

 - Korea: 9

 - China: 9

 - Chinese Taipei: 1

Meanwhile, Mr. Valerii Krushelnytskyi from Ukraine got the 3rd place in the main tournament with six victories and one loss against Mr. Chen-en Chung from Chinese Taipei, which was the runner-up.

About 10 years have passed to welcome a European player entering the top three since Christian Pop from Romania took it in the 10th KPMC.

A Korean professional player commented that Mr. Valerii showed great performance especially in battles, which might lead him to the top three.

There was another big surprise happening during 19th KPMC which may make Korean Baduk players surprised.

It was the first time in the KPMC history that a Korean representative player has been pushed out of the 3rd place as Mr. Tae-heon KIM was 4th place for this time.

Of course, that is a bad news for Korea but it is also a pleasure to see that the rise of European players and some defeats of Asian player may prove the gap between Eastern and Western Baduk has been narrowed.

Meanwhile, the 19th KPMC tried some challenges to promote itself.

It opened a pair Baduk tournament with 4 rounds-Swiss System, which everyone could participate in.

Also, foreign representative players could enjoy 'Can you Go, Kid' event, which was a event match between foreign players and Korean Baduk players under 13 years old.

Moreover, it expanded the date of pro-simultaneous games from a few hours to a few days.

Lastly, thanks to the cooperation of European go Federation, KPMC utilized the new paring system called 'Pairgoth' as well as inviting its broadcaster to broadcast the match via Twitch Channel of European Go Federation.