Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) A team from Taiwan will participate in the Korean Baduk (Korean for "Go") League (KB League), which will kick off on Wednesday, for the first time since the league began in 2004.
The Taiwanese team consists of eight top local pro Go players and will vie for the league championship and its 250-million-won (US$196,040) prize money under the name "Formosa Elite Team," with Taiwan's 9-dan pro (9P) Go legend Chou Chun-hsun (周俊勳) serving as the coach, said HaiFong Go Association in a press statement.
The team is led by Hsu Hao-hung (許皓鋐, 9P), who grabbed eight of nine major local titles this year, and four other pro Go players in its main roster comprising Wang Yuan-jyun (王元均, 9P), Lin Chun-yen (林君諺, 9P), Lai Jyun-fu (賴均輔, 8P), and Chen Chi-jui (陳祈睿, 7P), while Lin Li-hsiang (林立祥, 9P), Chien Ching-ting (簡靖庭, 6P), and Hsu Ching-en (徐靖恩, 4P) will be the substitutes, according to its press statement.
The team is scheduled to debut on Wednesday -- the opening day of the 2022-2023 season -- and play its final game of the regular season on May 10.
"It's a very rare chance for our Go players to compete with the top players of other countries. I hope we can make it to the playoffs first and see what we can do next," Chou told CNA Monday, saying that he will adjust the lineup mainly according to the players' performance.
Prior to the announcement made on Nov. 14, the only league in which Taiwanese pro Go players could compete against elite foreign players was China's professional league, Chou said.
HaiFong Go Association President Lin Min-hao (林敏浩), who played a key role in the Taiwan team getting a spot in the KB League, said that he expects the league to familiarize Taiwanese Go players with international competition, preparing them for stronger matchups at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which has been postponed to September 2023.
At most international tournaments, Taiwan is given only one to two slots, and Japan around five, while China and South Korea are given more than 10, Lin Min-hao pointed out.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Lai, who won the 2022 CMC Grandmaster Tournament, told CNA he cherished this rare chance a lot and looked forward to competing against South Korean Go player Shin Jin-seo, who is currently No. 1 in the world.
Wang, 26, an experienced veteran who has represented Taiwan multiple times in top-flight international tournaments, said he saw every match as equal and would try his best to win all of them.
The KB League, sponsored by the Kookmin Bank, is divided into two six-team groups (K and B), where each team will play 16 games -- twice against other teams in the same group and once against teams from the other one -- in the regular season to decide the top six teams that can advance to the playoffs.
In addition to the Taiwanese team, there will also be a team from Japan.
The South Korean teams will play on-site at Baduk TV headquarters in Seoul, while the teams from Taiwan and Japan will play remotely in their respective countries, Chou said.
The Formosa Elite Team is sponsored by the Taiwan Chi Yuan Culture Foundation and the HaiFong Go Association, and will play its league matches remotely from HaiFong Go Association in Taipei, Chou added.
