This was the first game of the 17th China Korea Tengen, between Chen Yaoye 9p and Park Younghun 9p.
Chen Yaoye
Chen Yaoye 9 dan receives a caricature of himself at the 17th China Korea Tengen match.
Chen Yaoye is currently ranked #1 in China, and he’s already won this China Korea Tengen three times.
He’s held the Tianyuan (Chinese Tengen) title for five years in a row now.
Over the last two years, Chen defeated Choi Cheolhan 9p in this mini title match, with a score of 2-0 both times.
If he won this time, he’d make it three in a row.
Chen also won the 9th Chunlan Cup this year, against Lee Sedol 9p, and he’s currently regarded one of the strongest players in the world.
He likes to play thick and solid games, but, actually, he’s very good at fighting too. His reading is sharp and accurate, and he rarely makes mistakes.
Park Younghun
Park Younghun 9 dan, amused by the remarkable similarity of his caricature.
On the other hand, Park Younghun 9p is ranked #6 in Korea.
He was given the nickname ‘Little Prince’ when he won the 6th Chunwon (Korean Tengen) title as a 2p.
He was also called ‘Little Lee Changho’ because he’s very good at the endgame and counting – which was Lee Changho’s specialty too.
Recently, Park’s been playing more of an active and fighting game, compared to before, and it seems like he’s trying to change his serene style to become more of a fighter.
Qualifying for the China Korea Tengen
Chen defeated Gu Lingyi 5p 2-0, in the final of the Tianyuan, to qualify for this mini title match.
Meanwhile, Park bested Choi Cheolhan 9p 2-1, in the final of the Chunwon.
Park and Chen first played one another in 2006, at the 6th Chunlan Cup, and Chen won.
However, Park beat Chen at the 8th Nongshim Cup (2006), and at the 14th LG Cup (2009).
Those games were quite a while ago though.
See game record at:
Weiqi To Go 