Kim Sung-Rae

Kim Sung-rae 김성래 (金成來) is a 8 dan Hankuk Kiwon professional 6 dan under the KBA. He was born 11 September 1963 and promoted to 1 dan in 1996. Some sources say that in 2010 Kim was promoted to 8 dan, but that was evidently honorary.

Table of contents Family Go career Promotion history Books Primary Author Co-author Notes Kim Sung-Rae’s autobiographical sketch Links Photos

Family

Kim Sung-Rae is married to Lee So-yoon. Female pros Kim Chaeyeong 9p and Kim Dayoung 5p are their daughters. They are the first Korean family with three professionals.

Go career

He is fluent in English, and is the author, or co-author, of several English language books.

Kim Sung-rae was (as of June 2009) the headmaster of the now defunct King's Baduk Center (an international Baduk school) in Gangwon-do, South Korea. He continued the activity in Budapest, Hungary, but that center also seems to be defunct.

He has been working on the WBaduk server.

Promotion history

• 6 dan / 2021.02.26 / Promotion to 6th Dan
• 5 dan/ 2013.11.18 / 19th GS Caltex Cup
• 4 dan / 2006.02.28 / 40th Wangwijeon Preliminary
• 3 dan / 2004.03.11 /
• 2 dan / 1998.01.01 / Points earned

Books

Primary Author

Co-author

Notes

Kim Sung-Rae’s autobiographical sketch

I don’t know how can I be professional player!

I don't know exactly when I started to play Baduk. I was about 7-8 years old. One day my two brothers began to play a board game. I just watched and soon I knew some of the rules. As soon as I learned Baduk, I fell into it. Whenever I had vacation, I spent my days in the Go center near my house. I studied hard and improved very fast without a Go teacher. It didn't take long I beat my brothers. I just played and played against adults.

But I faced a big trouble. About the time I went to middle school, My father told me, “Stop playing Go and concentrate on school.” At that time, 1970s in Korea, it was not easy to make a living from playing Go. It was just like Europe now. Even if there was a professional Go system in Korea, the Korean professional players were still hungry. I was Insei for a while but I had no choice and finally I had to quit studying Go. Before I went to the University, I didn't play Go for 5 years.

In 1983, I participated in the Korean university Go championship, and took first price. But in amateur Go tournaments in Korea, I still wasn’t a top player. And another period I can’t play Go came. I had to join the army for national duty. I was in the US Army in Korea for two and half years. It was no doubt I couldn’t play Go. After I graduated from the University, I had worked in an Insurance company for 7 years. In these days, I could play baduk on weekends, but I wasted more time for drinking alcohol than studying Go. But I was slowly becoming stronger even if I didn’t know the reason. I got married when I was 32.

At about the time my first baby was born, I decided to make a living from Go and quit the company. I realized that Go was one of the most important things in my life. My first lovely daughter Kim Chaeyeong—she became a professional player in 2011—was born in January of 1996. I had no job. I started to teach Go for living. Fortunately on March, I took my first and last amateur championship. I was promoted to 6d. And at the end of the year I became professional player even if I had no time to study Go. I was 34. They said, “It is a miracle.”

To become a professional player, commonly young students have to study at least more than 10 years in Korea. They spend whole day studying Go. So, How I can be professional player at 34. I had much time and studied hard? Honestly no. If I said God give me a big gift, they might be angry. The only one thing I know is that I don’t forget the moves I feel fresh. I didn’t study life and death problems much, but I can “If I kept studying Go with professional teachers at my teens, how strong would I be now.”

DuEm6: His KBA profile says he's 6-dan. Korean wikipedia page too. Is this another case of "honorary" 8-dan like Yoon Youngsun or Kim Yoonyoung? Which I find a bit weird. He's not doing any overseas outreach like the other two. Although a lot of his books have been translated into English. edit: Never mind, I miss the Baduk Center effort in Hungary.

Additionally, I suspect the essay was translated from some foreign source. My guess is a now defunct wbaduk page. Which makes the edit "she became professional player in 2011" by 180.182.158.48 unnecessary. Unfortunately just a speculation.

Links

• Korean Wikipedia
• Korean Baduk profile
• Go Ratings and Games
• Go4Go

Photos

Kim family 2015: father Kim Sung-Rae (52), mother Lee So-yoon (50), Kim Da-young (17), Kim Chaeyoung (19) (Image credit: news.tygem.com

Kim family 2017: Clockwise from top left: Kim Chae-young 3p, Kim Da-young 2p, mother Lee So-yoon, father Kim Seong-rae 5p.
(Image credit: Choi In-young, yna.co.kr)

Kim family 2017: L-R mother Lee So-yoon, Kim Dayoung 2p, Kim Sung-Rae 5p, and Kim Chaeyoung 3p (Image credit: yna.co.kr