▲ Ninth-dan Shin Jin-seo has maintained his position as South Korea's top-ranked Go player for the 80th consecutive month.
Shin Jin-seo 9-dan, the undisputed powerhouse of South Korean Go, has maintained his position as the country's top-ranked player for the 80th consecutive month.
According to the July rankings released by the Korea Baduk Association on the 5th, Shin recorded 10,402 points to comfortably outpace second-place Park Jung-hwan 9-dan (9,971 points) and keep the top spot.
Last month, Shin drew significant attention for his high-profile match against the artificial intelligence (AI) KataGo, though he had no opportunities to play in official matches.
As a result, he maintained the exact same ranking score as in July and easily defended his first-place ranking.
Following Park Jung-hwan, Shin Min-jun and Byun Sang-il 9-dans held their positions at No. 3 and No. 4 without any changes in their rankings.
An Sung-jun 9-dan, who was selected as a national representative during the domestic preliminary matches for the Nongshim Shinramun Cup last July, climbed five spots to rank fifth.
Kang Dong-yun 9-dan dropped one spot to sixth place, while Lee Ji-hyun and Kim Ji-seok 9-dans maintained the seventh and eighth spots, the same as the previous month.
Kim Myung-hoon 9-dan fell three spots to ninth, while Hong Sung-ji 9-dan rose two spots to take tenth place.
In the female rankings, Choi Jung 9-dan fended off Kim Eun-ji 9-dan to hold the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive month, while Japan-born Nakamura Sumire 6-dan rose to third place in the women's rankings, her highest since transferring to South Korea.
Sumire, who recorded 10 wins and 3 losses over the course of July and added 51 ranking points, jumped to 62nd overall in the general rankings.
Having started at 217th in the April 2024 rankings during her first month after the transfer, Sumire shattered her personal best by climbing an astounding 155 spots in two years and four months.
Oh Yu-jin and Kim Chae-young 9-dans took fourth and fifth places in the women's rankings.
Meanwhile, Kim Se-dong 8-dan accumulated 240 cumulative points in the preliminary rounds of the Nongshim Shinramun Cup held last month, earning a promotion to 9-dan.
A total of 16 players received promotions, including Kim Chang-hoon and Kim Seung-jin, who advanced from 7-dan to 8-dan.
(Photo courtesy of Korea Baduk Association, Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.