"Go Empress" Choi Jeong (9th dan) defeated "Japan's Go Genius" Nakamura Sumire (3rd dan) to win the "Haesung Women's Kisei Championship" for the fifth time.
On the 10th, in the final game of the 8th He Hae Sung Women's Kisei Championship, held at the Korea Go Association Go TV Studio, Choi Jeong, playing black, won by a mid-game push against Nakamura Sumire, playing black, in 155 moves, giving her an overall record of 2-1.
Choi Jeong 9-dan took the lead by scoring in the battle on the right side of the middle game, but he did not let up on the reins. He aggressively cornered Nakamura Sumire 3-dan, took the big stone and won the game with a bang.
Choi Jeong (9th dan) said, "I think today's game was the best of the three final games. I was able to set up my moves in my own style and it was easy to place them.
"I played easy in the beginning and ended up being overtaken, so I wanted to play hard today," he said, "Nakamura Sumire 3-dan seems to have grown a lot since she first moved. She's still a young player, so it's hard to predict how much she'll grow in the future."
"It's difficult even to win. Sometimes I feel pressured to compete against my juniors, but it's also fun. I'm happy to have won my fifth championship. I'm grateful to Kaisei Group for putting on such a great tournament."
Choi Jeong, 9th dan, lost the first game of the final on the 3rd, conceding the first point, but won the second and third games in succession to win the Women's Kisei title for the fifth time and become the highest-ranked player in the Korean Women's Go Championship.
He won the championship prize of 50 million won (approximately 5.3 million yen), the largest amount ever. Choi Jeong 9-dan also won this tournament, marking his 33rd victory since joining the team in 2010.
On the other hand, Nakamura Sumire, who challenged for her first official tournament victory after transferring in March, finished as the runner-up in this tournament. Nakamura Sumire won the 7th International Go Haruka Selection, a non-official tournament, in June this year.
She has won the tournament once before, and will be competing again for the individual title this Thursday in the third game of the final of the Harim Cup Women's National Championship.
