Go player Choi Myung-hoon, a 9-dan professional, captured the championship trophy at the Daeju Cup Men's and Women's Pro Senior Championship, claiming his first title in 26 years.
Choi defeated fellow 9-dan Mok Jin-seok by 1.5 points with the white stones in 276 moves in the final of the 13th Daeju Cup Men's and Women's Pro Senior Championship held at the K-Baduk Studio in Pangyo, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday. With this victory, Choi secured his second career title since winning the 5th LG Caltex Oil Cup (now the GS Caltex Cup) in 2000.
The final featured an intense slugfest from the opening. Mok held the initiative through the middle game, but Choi leveled the position and turned the match around with precise endgame play. It marked Choi's first win over Mok since the domestic preliminary round of the 2006 Nongshim Shin Ramyun Cup, ending a 20-year gap. The victory also snapped a six-game losing streak against Mok, narrowing their head-to-head record to 8 wins and 19 losses.
"I was eliminated in the (Daeju Cup) preliminaries but was picked as a wild card, and playing with a relaxed mind seems to have been the key to winning," Choi said after the match. "Although it is not a major comprehensive tournament, I am happy to win after 26 years. Today's victory is a meaningful win in many ways."
The Daeju Cup offers 15 million won in prize money to the champion and 5 million won to the runner-up. The time limit is 15 minutes per player, with three 40-second byoyomi periods.
