A new team based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, will participate in the 2024-25 KB Baduk League, which is scheduled from the end of this year. The first general manager will be Lee Chang-ho (49), a native of the region famous for his “legend of the baduk” in Korea.
“We have recently reached a detailed agreement with the city of Jeonju on participation in the 2024-25 KB Baduk League,” an official from the Korea Baduk Association said on Sunday. 라바카지노 “At the end of this year’s KB League, we will meet players with Jeonju team names.” “I understand that Lee Chang-ho, the first general manager of the rookie team, has been assigned to Lee Chang-ho, a ninth grader,” the official said. Lee, a star player from Jeonju, is seen as a plan to transfer his unique know-how to the rookie team, and seek to raise awareness along with insufficient experience.
Following the Korean Baduk League, which started in 2004, the KB League, which has been operating for an average of five to six months with 7 to 12 teams every year since 2006, is actually an incubator for the Korean baduk community. The self-diagnosis that “it was possible thanks to the KB League that Korea overtook Japan to become the center of the world’s baduk community today.” is an open secret within the Korean baduk community.
However, the KB League, which had 12 teams (including two overseas teams) last year, has shrunk to eight this year. Considering the KB League’s presence in the Korean Baduk community, it is fatal to professional baduk players. For professional baduk players who are economical (14 million won for the winning team and 7 million won for the losing team), a reduction in the KB League is the worst-case scenario. The reason why the Korean Baduk players have been making efforts to vitalize the KB League at the end of this year since early this year was due to the nature of blocking such trend in advance. Rumors have it that Jeonju City’s affiliated team’s decision to participate in the KB League was also made possible after continuous persuasion by the Korean Baduk players. The aspects of professional baduk players produced in this region have also been taken into account. Key professional baduk players from this region include Lee 9 dan, Hong Seong-ji (37) 9 dan, Na Hyun (29) 9 dan, Lee Dong-hoon (26) 9 dan, Ahn Jung-ki (27) 7 dan, Park Ji-hoon (40) 5 dan, Kwon Joo-ri (27) dan, Yoon Ye-sung (22), Um Dong-gun (24), Mu Ji-hyun (18) dan, Kim Min-ji (19) dan, and Noh Woo-jin (16). In this regard, a professional go player said, “The KB League is like the lifeline of the domestic professional go team,” and added, “The news that a new team with Lee Chang-ho, a symbol of Korean Go, will join the KB League, which has been in a slump recently, is expected to bring positive reactions in various aspects.”
On the other hand, this 9 dan, who won 141 games (23 times in international and 118 times in Korea), is a living legend in Korea, including achieving the Grand Slam at the 2003 World Games (Fuji Tzu-bae, Eung-bae, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, LG Bae, Chun Ran-bae, and Toyota Denso Bae) and winning the gold medal in the men’s team event at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.