The Oh Cheong Won Bae World Women’s Go Tournament, which has been a home for South Korea, is about to begin its sixth season. The international competition for female knights is a “friendly” affair, with Korean knights winning four of the last five editions.

The sixth edition of the O-Cheong Won-Bae kicked off the new season on the evening of August 8 with a draw ceremony in Fuzhou, China. The 24 players representing each country (region) will compete in the round of 24 on the 9th, the round of 16 on the 10th, and the quarterfinals on the 11th, followed by the semifinals and three finals at the end of the year.

In addition to the winners and runners-up of the electric competition, the main stage includes four players from Korea, seven from China, four from Japan, one from Taiwan, two from Europe, two from North America, and two wildcards.

In the electric competition, 9th dan Yujin Oh of South Korea won the title and 5th dan Tianxing Wang of China was the runner-up. The wildcards were Li He 5 from China and Wei Lijun 4 from Taiwan. This brings the number of competitors to five from South Korea, nine from China, and two from Taiwan.

Of the Korean representatives, Choi Jeong 9th and Kim Chae-young 8th qualified as ranked seeds and Kim Kyung-eun 3rd qualified as a reserve. In addition, Jeong Jung-jin 3rd passed the domestic qualification.

Eight of the 24 Main Event members will advance directly to the Round of 16. The Round of 16 seeding is based on the number of previous quarterfinalists: three from South Korea, two from China, two from Taiwan, and one from Japan. According to the rules, they are Oh Yoo-jin, Choi Jeong, and Kim Chae-young of South Korea, Wang Tian-hsing and Yu Hsieh-ying of China, Lu Yu-hua and Yu Li-jun of Taiwan, and Ueno Asami of Japan.

The draw for the round of 24 was held today. The draw is made every round to minimize the number of matches between players from the same country.

As a result, the two Korean players in the round of 24 are Kim Kyung-eun-Gao Xing and Lee Jung-jin-Li He. Kim suffered one loss to Gao Xing in the 2018 Korean Women’s Go League, while Lee Jung-jin will play Li He for the first time.

Wu Yiming-Sumire Nakamura, Li Xiaoxi-Fujisawa Lina, Tang Jie-New Eiko, Yin Ming-Lita Pochai, and Fang Luoxi-Arian Wu Jie will also determine the owners of the Round of 16 tickets. The draw was conducted in person by the Chinese players and on behalf of the organizers.

The round of 24 will begin at 1 p.m. ET on Sept. 9. Chinese and Taiwanese players will compete at the Fuzhou venue, while other players will compete online at designated locations in their respective countries. The time limit is two hours of play and five one-minute second reads.

The prize fund for the competition is 500,000 yuan (approximately $92 million) for the winner, 200,000 yuan for the runner-up, 20,000 yuan for the fourth-place loser, 25,000 yuan for the eighth-place loser, 20,000 yuan for the 16th-place loser, and 15,000 yuan for the 24th-place loser. Kim Chae-young, Choi Jeong, Zhou Hong-yu, Choi Jeong, and Oh Yoo-jin took home the trophy. 스포츠토토