Samsung Cup
The Samsung Cup is an annual international title. Starting with the 10th Samsung Cup, time limits are reduced to two hours each of regular time. The winner's prize is ₩200,000,000 (about $200,000 USD).
The main event is a 32-player knockout tournament, leading up to a final match which has varied between a best of three match and a best of five match. Currently, both the semi-final and final matches are best of three.
The following is a list of winners and defeated finalists. (The dates given are for the main knockout tournament, including the final match. Preliminary events are held earlier.)
1st (Sep 1996 - Nov 1996) Yoda Norimoto (d. Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 2-1) 2nd (Aug 1997 - Nov 1997) Yi Ch'ang-ho (d. Kobayashi Satoru 3-0) 3rd (Sep 1998 - Feb 1999) Yi Ch'ang-ho (d. Ma Xiaochun 3-2) 4th (Sep 1999 - Dec 1999) Yi Ch'ang-ho (d. Cho Sonjin 3-0) 5th (Aug 2000 - Dec 2000) Yu Ch'ang-hyeok (d. Yamada Kimio 3-1) 6th (Aug 2001 - Dec 2001) Cho Hun-hyeon (d. Chang Hao 2-1) 7th (Aug 2002 - Jan 2003) Cho Hun-hyeon (d. Wang Lei 2-0) [1] 8th (Aug 2003 - Dec 2003) Cho Chikun (d. Pak Yeong-hun 2-1) [2] 9th (Sep 2004 - Dec 2004) Yi Se-tol (d. Wang Xi 2-0) [3] 10th (Sep 2005 - Jan 2006) Luo Xihe (d. Yi Ch'ang-ho 2-1) 11th (Sep 2006 - Jan 2007) Chang Hao (d. Yi Ch'ang-ho 2-0)
In 2006, the final tournament consists of 32 players, 16 of whom are chosen through a set of preliminary tournaments among 295 professionals and four Korean amateurs (Yun Hojin?, Cho Wonhee?, Cho Kunho?, and On Seunghoon?). In addition, four professionals were seeded into the final tournament: Lee Changho, Lee Sedol, Gu Li and Cho Chikun. The sixteen preliminary tournaments began on 8 August 2006 and concluded on 17 August 2006. Two preliminary tournaments are reserved for women only, thus ensuring that at least two women will reach the main event. Both women list in the first round of the male knockout tournament. See Go News 2006, Samsung Cup for additional details.
[1] See Samsung 2002 Game 1 for questions and comments about the spectacular first game of the 7th Samsung Cup final.
[2] Park won the first game of the 2003 final by 4.5 points with white.
Cho won the second and the third game by resignation with white.
Let's discuss the final game at Samsung 2003 Game 3.
[3] See also Samsung 2004 Dispute.