Samsung Cup World Open

Launched in 1996 and sponsored by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the Samsung Cup is one of the most prestigious annual international Go championships. The format begins with a preliminary stage of group play, with group winners joining seeded players in a main knockout bracket; semifinals and the final are best-of-three. The champion takes home 300 million Korean won (roughly US$230,000), making it one of the richest prizes in professional Go. The tournament has been a proving ground for legends -- Lee Changho, Lee Sedol (who won it three times), and in recent years Chinese players like Ke Jie have dominated. It remains a centerpiece of the Korean Go calendar and a barometer of which nation currently leads the Go world.

Country Korea Type Open Format Knockout Cycle 1y Komi 6.5 Editions 33

1996 · Edition #1

Champion: Yoda Norimoto · Runner-up: Yu Ch'ang-hyeok

Final 3 games

Nov 25 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok B+0.5 Yoda Norimoto Nov 27 Yoda Norimoto B+1.5 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok Nov 29 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok W+1.5 Yoda Norimoto

2nd Preliminary, Group Final 2 games

Aug 16 Yi Seong-chae W+0.5 Liu Jun Aug 16 Kim Tong-yeop W+R Jimmy Cha

Semi-final 2 games

Oct 30 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok B+0.5 Lee Changho Oct 30 Yoda Norimoto B+R Yang Chae-ho

Quarter-final 4 games

Oct 28 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok B+2.5 Liu Xiaoguang Oct 28 Kim Seong-ryong W+1.5 Yoda Norimoto Oct 28 Lee Changho B+R Seo Pong-su Oct 28 Yang Chae-ho B+5.5 Kobayashi Koichi

round 3 1 game

Oct 28 Lee Changho B+R Seo Pong-su

Round of 16 8 games

Sep 24 Rin Kaiho W+R Yu Ch'ang-hyeok Sep 24 Seo Pong-su B+R Cho Chikun Sep 24 Yu Bin W+R Lee Changho Sep 24 Yoda Norimoto B+9.5 Cho Hunhyun Sep 24 Kobayashi Koichi B+R Nie Weiping Sep 24 Takemiya Masaki W+R Kim Seong-ryong Sep 24 Liu Xiaoguang B+8.5 Wu Songsheng Sep 24 Yang Chae-ho B+R O Rissei

2nd Preliminary, Round 2 1 game

Aug 14 Jimmy Cha B+R Shao Weigang

Round of 32 16 games

Sep 22 Liu Jun W+5.5 Seo Pong-su Sep 22 Kim Seong-ryong B+0.5 Kobayashi Satoru Sep 22 Lee Changho B+R Kataoka Satoshi Sep 22 Cho Hunhyun B+R Yamada Kimio Sep 22 Cho Chikun B+R Wu Zhaoyi Sep 22 Takemiya Masaki B+0.5 Yun Ki-hyeon Sep 22 Ma Xiaochun W+R Wu Songsheng Sep 22 Yoda Norimoto B+10.5 Kim Su-chang Sep 22 Jimmy Cha W+2.5 O Rissei Sep 22 Yu Bin B+R Kim In Sep 22 Rin Kaiho B+R Ch'oe Kyu-pyeong Sep 22 Yu Ping W+R Yang Chae-ho Sep 22 Seo Neung-uk W+19.5 Liu Xiaoguang Sep 22 Ryu Shikun W+0.5 Nie Weiping Sep 22 Yu Ch'ang-hyeok B+R Zhang Wendong Sep 22 Kobayashi Koichi B+R An Cho-yeong

2nd Preliminary, Round 1 1 game

Aug 12 Komatsu Hideki W+R An Cho-yeong

Preliminary 3 games

Aug 6 Yu Ping B+1.5 Yamashiro Hiroshi Aug 12 Cao Dayuan W+1.5 Cheon Yeong-seon Aug 16 Wu Songsheng B+5.5 Yo Kagen