The best-selling Japanese comic Hikaru no Go has hit Korea, and moved straight into the charts at No. 8 (end March 2001). It is still holding up at No. 11 in Japan with over 100 episodes published, but publishers Shonen Jump have taken the plunge with the first overseas edition, renamed as The Ghostly King of Go. The story is about an ordinary little boy who knows absolutely nothing about go (and cares even less), so he would not at first sight seem to have much in common with Korean children. But he is taken over by the ghost of a cheated go champion of 1,000 years ago who wants revenge. That sounds more like it!
Much of the detail may not be familiar to Korean readers, either. One probably important feature of the original is that the writer, Hotta Yumi, took a lot of trouble to enquire about inside details of professional life. The big name on the book covers as go consultant is Umezawa Yukari, but we understand Mrs Hotta was also heavily reliant on the Nagoya-based pro Mizuno Yoshika 2-dan, whose classes she attended. There is a theory among insiders that the bespectacled pro go teacher (Shirakawa) during Hikaru's first attempts to master the game is modelled on a somewhat younger Mizuno. But others say the model was Kurahashi Shozo.
Collectors of go trivia might like to know that there are 200 Hikaru postcards to collect. No doubt these will migrate to Korea, too.
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Older News From 27 January 2001: 2000 WIN-LOSS STATS
The final outturn for 2000 showed a magnificent 83.3% win-loss ratio for Yi Ch'ang-ho 8-dan. He scored 55 wins and was defeated only 11 times. Of course, most of his games also took place in title matches or in the upper echelons of tournaments.
In second place was Pak Yeong-hun 2-dan on 79.0% (49-13), and in third, also on 79.0%, both Yi Se-tol 3-dan, with a record 95 games split 75-20, and Yun Seong-hyeon 7-dan (45-12). Yi Se-tol's record 75 wins included a record 32-win streak that lasted from 25 January to 16 May. When Sakata Eio once put up a similar run in Japan, someone pointed out that in pro games the probability of winning should be about 0.5. The probability of winning two in a row was 0.5 x 0.5, etc and the probability of 29 in a row (as I recall; JF) is infinitesmal. (Comments to the Message Boards not me, please! ) Next best streak was 17 by Yun Seong-hyeon 7-dan and Weon Seong-chin 3-dan.
The rest of the top ten were: An Yeong-kil 3-dan (48-13; 78.7%), Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 3-dan (55-18; 75.3%), Yang Keon 5-dan (47-1-15; 74.6%); Ch'oe Myeong-hun 7-dan and ChoHan-seung 4-dan (43-15; 74.1%), Mok Chin-seok 5-dan (58-22; 72.5%).
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Older News From 4 January 2001:
Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan, styled by his fans the "Emperor of Go", has emerged as the top prize-money winner in Korea for the year 2000. Despite a faltering performance in domestic events, he scored big by winning the Fujitsu Cup in August and the TV Go Asia Championship in May. His final pre-tax winnings were 388,780,000 won (about 300,000 pounds or 450,000 dollars). Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan was yet another who benefited from an away win to compensate for poor home form.
His victory in the Samsung Cup in December hauled him into second place with 357.2 million won. Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan dominated the home events but that was only enough to out him in third place with 217.1 million won. Chinese guest player Rui Naiwei 9-dan enjoyed her stay as she came fourth with 112.6 million. New star Yi Se-tol 3-dan was just behind with 100.4 million, and the remaining top ten places were filled by Ch'oe Myeong-hun (78.7m), Mok Chin-seok (76.7m), Seo Pong-su (74.5m), Yang Chae-ho (53.1m) and Kim Yeong-sam (37.9m).
Cho's 2000 total is still behind his record earnings of 1994 when victory in the Fujitsu and Tong Yang Securities Cups helped him notch up over 420 million won.
