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there were korean amateurs participating for a long time... but now there are amateurs from all over the world in the preliminary. further information?
One factor increasing the number of amateurs is that from this year no game fees are being paid. In previous years, losers in the four rounds of the preliminary got 300,000, 600,000, 1 million and 1.5 million won respectively. It was generally reckoned that a foreign player reaching Round 3 had already recouped his airfare and hotel costs, although the Chinese practice of doubling up in hotel rooms possibly meant they reached that point even sooner.
The new practice has already led, for example, to a halving in the Japanese professional contingent, which leaves more room for amateurs.
I don't find anything in english on those changes... thanks a lot.
Were the non-asian participants decided by some other tournaments or by invitation? (sadly all of them lost - only north-american Ko Daehyuk won his first game)
I don't know the entire details of qualification for the Samsung, but Dae Hyuk Ko participated in a playoff against Jing Yang of Canada for the right to represent North America.
What's impressive to me is the performance of the Korean amateurs, who are 8-6 so far by my count--6 of 10 won their first round games (one is still waiting to play).