Shin Jin-seo 9-dan led South Korea to victory in the Nongshim Cup, reaching a career milestone of surpassing 10 billion won ($6.9 million) in cumulative prize money.
Shin secured Korea's championship title at the 27th Nongshim Shin Ramyun Cup World Baduk Championship final on Monday at the Hilton Shenzhen Futian Hotel in Shenzhen, China. He defeated Japan's Ichiriki Ryo 9-dan by resignation after 180 moves, playing white.
The victory extended Shin's remarkable 21-game winning streak in the tournament and clinched Korea's sixth consecutive Nongshim Cup title.
With Monday's win, Shin added 150 million won as his share of the 500 million won championship prize, plus 10 million won in bonus for a three-game winning streak and 3 million won in appearance fees, bringing his career earnings to 10.056 billion won.
Shin becomes only the third Korean professional Go player to surpass 10 billion won in career prize money, following Lee Chang-ho 9-dan (approximately 10.7 billion won) and Park Jung-hwan 9-dan (approximately 10.3 billion won). Born in 2000, Shin achieved this milestone at age 25, making him the youngest to reach the mark compared to Lee (age 40) and Park (age 32).
Shin turned professional in 2012 through the first Young Prodigy Tournament and set a domestic single-year prize money record in 2023 with earnings of 1.48 billion won. Among his tournament victories, the Ing Cup, often called the "Olympics of Go," carries the largest prize at $400,000 (587.56 million won).