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3rd Korean Ambassador Cup (Prague, May 1. - 2., 2010)

The 39th International Prague Go Tournament was held in the historical Congress Hall of the Masaryk college in Prague 6 - Dejvice. This event was again a qualification for the World Baduk Championship, Prime Minister Cup in Korea, and for the third time it was held under the auspices of the Korean Ambassador in Czechia. The number of 109 participants comming from 4 countries, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Czechia, confirmed the position of Korean Ambassador Cup among the top three go events organized in the Czech Republic.

The opening ceremony was attended by many important guests. His Excellence Mr. Gabriel Oh, the Korean Ambassador in Prague, gave a nice speech, pointing out the importance of go for the development of personality as well as for better mutual understanding of Czech and Korean cultures. Then, the participants were officially greeted by the mayor of the Prague 6, Mr. Tomas Chalupa and by the representatives of the sponsors: Mr. Karel Janecek for the RSJ, Mrs. Jolana Heklova for the SungWoo Hitech and by Mr. Vladimir Danek, who was also the tournament organizer. Another sponsor, China Tours, was not able to send their representative.

The top 16 Czech participants played part of the tournament as a knockout to decide the Czech representative at the Prime Minister Cup in Korea. This competition and the main trophy, the Korean Ambassador Cup, was won by Ondrej Silt, the current Czech champion. He beated Jan Hora in the final game, while Vladimir Danek won the playoff for the 3rd place against Lukas Podpera, who is just 15 years old and one of the hopes of Czech go. The prizes for the winners were awarded at the prizegiving ceremony by Mr. Gabriel Oh himself.

The open competition was won by a Korean player Hwang In-seong who lives in Berlin (Germany) and who managed to beat all his opponents. The second place went to Ondrej Silt. Both players made their best in the past to follow the professional career in go, Silt was insei in Japan, Hwang was one of top inseis in Korea. The 3rd position was taken by Vladimir Danek, the chief organizer of the event and a former Czech champion. The organizers were also pleased by a large attendance of young go players, some of them comming with their parents.

The tournament was visited by a special guest, Korean professional player Ms. Yi Ha-chin, 3 dan pro, who gave many teaching games, played simultaneous games and provided a detailed commentary on the final game of the knockout between Ondrej Silt and Jan Hora. Meeting this nice young lady was a life experience for many participants and also an inspiration to young players, as Yi Ha-chin is already in her 22 years among the best world female players.

The prize budget was about 3000 EUR in total, thanks to the generosity of tournament sponsors. The prizes went not only to the top 10 winners, but there were many special awards in various categories (best female player, best youth player, the youngest player etc.). A pleasant atmosphere of the tournament was enhanced by a tea room arranged just in the playing hall and by a very popular artist Chidori, famous for her caricatures related to the life of go players.

The tournament was organized by the Pagoda association that supports the baduk activities in Prague region. The results of the tournament (the knockout and the open) can be found at their www pages. A short report (in Czech) by the internet TV broadcast of Praha 6 is also available.