 |
| Photo: Korea Baduk Association |
On March 13 at Hotel Kaii in Tokyo, Kim, playing Black, forced Japan’s Kato Chie, 4-dan, to resign after 187 moves in the Senko Cup World Women's Go Championship 2026 quarterfinals.
Kim dictated the pace throughout, converting steady positional play into a commanding victory. She now faces Ueno Asami, 6-dan, in the semifinal for a shot at the final.
Ueno reached the last four after beating Singapore’s amateur 4-dan Don Sem by resignation as White after 156 moves. Ueno is a former champion, having won the tournament in its fourth edition in 2022. The two have met once competitively before — Ueno defeated Kim in the preliminary round of the women's team event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
On the opposite side of the draw, Japan’s Fujisawa Rina, 7-dan, and China’s Zhou Hongyu, 7-dan, advanced to the semifinals with victories over Taiwan’s Yang Zixuan, 6-dan, and Japan’s Ueno Risa, 4-dan, respectively. Fujisawa won by resignation as White after 178 moves, while Zhou secured a resignation as Black after 249 moves.
The semifinal lineup is now set: one player from South Korea, one from China and two from Japan.
The semifinals resume at the same venue on March 14 at 11:00 a.m.
The Senko Cup World Women's Go Championship 2026 awards 10,000,000 JPY to the champion (about 93,000,000 KRW, approximately $67,000), with 3,000,000 JPY for the runner-up (about $20,100), 2,000,000 JPY for third place (about $13,400) and 1,000,000 JPY for fourth (about $6,700). Each player has 2 hours of main time; after using 1 hour 55 minutes, they receive five 1-minute byo-yomi periods.
[Sports Today reporter Lee Sang-pil sports@stoo.com]
“The closest encounter, the most FunFun news ⓒ Sports Today”
