LG Cup

The international LG Cup, begun in 1996, is the successor to the discontinued Korean domestic Kiwang title. For the 29th Edn, the full name of the tournament is LG Cup Chosun Ilbo Giwangjeon.

Table of contents Prizes, format, and country wins Previous Winners and Runners-up 29th edition finishing in 2025, rules controversy

Prizes, format, and country wins

The winner’s prize is ₩300 million (about $US209,000), while the runner-up receives ₩100 million (about $US70,000).

The main event is a 32-player knockout tournament, leading up to a best of three (was best of five before 11th cup) final match. Time limits are 3 hours main time with 5 periods of one minute byo-yomi (2014 cup has 5 periods of 40 seconds byo-yomi).

In the 28 competitions held so far, a Korean has won the most with 14 times, a Chinese player has won 12 times, a Japanese representative twice, and a Taiwanese player once.

Previous Winners and Runners-up

(See also LG cup, Go to Everyone)

29th edition finishing in 2025, rules controversy

For the 29th edition, Byun Sangil 9p and Ke Jie 9p reached the finals on 2024-10-02. The top seed and defending champion Shin Jinseo 9p had an upset loss to Han Sangcho, then-6p now-7p, in R2. Han was defeated by Ke Jie in R3.

The final match started on 2025-01-20 with a win to Ke Jie (B+2.5); he had also won all 6 of their previous games against Byun Sangil.

But then Byun won the next two by a strange type of foul. Under controversial new Korean rules, a player must deposit a captured stone on a lid, so it is visible to both, so score can be worked out accurately. The first violation resulted in a two-point penalty, and the second, automatic forfeit. Ke Jie is used to Chinese scoring, where prisoners don’t count as such. Ke lost R2 that way, then refused to continue after the first penalty two-point penalty in R3 ( he was already losing by over 20 points on the board after an earlier big mistake). The Go to Everyone page scored R2 as B+F and R3 as W+A to reflect the different circumstances of the disqualification losses.

This harsh rule has generated much anger among Chinese Go fans. Ke Jie boycotted the award ceremony and the Chinese Go Association refuses to accept the result. The KBA is having second thoughts, apologizing that its new rules brought the event into disrepute, and hopes to restore good relations with the Chinese Go community.

In early Feb 2025, the KBA repealed this rule.