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1. its introduction during the Old Chosun until Unified Silla
2. its popularization period during Koryo until the mid-Chosun
3.. the dominance of Sunjang Baduk until the end of Chosun
4. the introduction of international rules(to 1945)
5. the rising standard of Korean Baduk(1954-1989)
6. the golden age(1989-present day)
With Kim Hyang-hee, Choi Chaiwoo and Yoon Young-Su, I personally know 3 korean baduk players who are activ spreading baduk in the world and who visited the EGC 2024 in Toulouse.
This video was made by the KBA as a documentary to commemorate the Baduk Day.
The video about the history of baduk can be found here.
We would like you to send questions, comments and remarks about the video to me:
agmclaasen(at)gmail.com
Below you find the english translation of the spoken words in korean.
In November 1945, when the afterglow of liberation was still fresh, Cho Nam-cheol, the pioneer of modern Korean baduk, opened the first modern baduk in Korea, the Hanseong Kiwon.
Cho Nam-cheol, who went to Japan to study in 1937, entered the league at the age of 19 and lived as a professional player in Japan before returning to Korea in 1944.
Cho Nam-cheol established the foundation of modern baduk in Korea by opening the Hanseong Kiwon in 1945, but had to evacuate due to the outbreak of the Korean War.
Cho Nam-cheol returned to Seoul and founded the Korea Baduk Association in 1954, announcing the launch of the second modern baduk in Korea.
In 1956, the Dong-A Ilbo created the first professional national baduk tournament, the National Player 1st Place Tournament, and Cho Nam-cheol won the first to ninth tournaments, heralding an era of invincibility.
The landscape changed when Kim In, who had been studying in Japan, returned. Kim In-eun, who passed the professional gate at the age of 16 in 1958, was the most notable figure at the time. However, he failed to overcome Cho Nam-cheol's wall in the 1962 Highest Ranking Tournament and the National Championship, and chose to go to Japan.
After returning to Korea after a short stay in Japan, Kim In-eun won the National Championship in 1966, when Cho Nam-cheol was on a nine-game losing streak, and became the 7th champion in 1968, achieving the first generational change in the history of modern Korean baduk.
In 1968, the Korea Baduk Association building was built in Gwancheol-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and Korean modern baduk entered the Warring States Period.
Many players competed, but the one who stood out the most was Seo Bong-su.
Seo Bong-su, who learned baduk late at the age of 15, succeeded in joining the national team in 1970 at the age of 19. In 1971, he won 11 consecutive wins in the Myunginjeon to earn the right to challenge, and in the challenge held the following year, he defeated Cho Nam-cheol to become Myungin, setting numerous records including the youngest, shortest time, and lowest-ranking winner in Korean baduk history.
While Seo Bong-su was making a big mark, Cho Hun-hyun had finished his activities in Japan and returned to Korea.
In 1962, Cho Hun-hyun set the world’s youngest entry record at 9 years and 7 months, and chose to study abroad in Japan in 1963.
He returned to Korea in 1972 and won seven titles in 1977, marking the beginning of the ‘Cho Hun-hyun era.’
In 1980, the long-awaited 11th Myunginjeon challenge. Cho Hun-hyun won this match and became the first ‘all-crown champion.’
At the time when Cho Hun-hyun was sweeping the titles, Cho Chi-hun was making his presence known in Japan. When he was 6 years old, Cho Cho-hoon went to Japan to study baduk under the guidance of his uncle, Cho Nam-chul.
In 1968, at the age of 11, Cho Cho-hoon set a record as the youngest person to enter the Nihon Ki-in.
Cho Cho-hoon, who had said, “I will not return to Korea until I become a master,” finally won the Masters Tournament in 1980 and made a splendid return home.
In 1984, Cho Hun-hyun accepted an elementary school student as his disciple. The disciple’s name was Lee Chang-ho. It only took a few years for the baduk world to know his name.
Lee Chang-ho, who entered the professional ranks at the age of 11 in 1986, became the world’s youngest challenger in the highest-level tournament in 1988 with an incredible winning percentage of 75 wins and 10 losses. Although he failed to win the title due to the wall of his teacher, Cho Hun-hyun, he won the KBS Baduk King Tournament in 1989 and set a record as the youngest winner.
In 1989, Korean baduk began to take off when Cho Hun-hyun won the first Ing Cup.
Ying Chang-chi of Taiwan hosted the Ing Cup, a world tournament, with a prize of $400,000.
Cho Hun-hyun, who entered the tournament alone, defeated representatives from Taiwan and Japan and advanced to the finals, where he played a five-game match against China's Nie Weiping. With his indomitable will, he lifted the first Ing Cup trophy.
Korean baduk began to dominate the world, and at the center of it all was Lee Chang-ho.
Since the first world tournament was established in 1988, Korea has proven itself to be the world's strongest country by winning 22 of the 32 major world tournament individual events held until 1999. Lee Chang-ho won 12 of those.
Lee Chang-ho set a record of 41 consecutive wins in 1990, and became the youngest world champion at the 3rd Dongyang Securities Cup in 1992. The world baduk championship and Lee Chang-ho's performance brought about a baduk boom.
In the new millennium, Korean baduk, which became even stronger, achieved an incredible feat of winning 23 consecutive world championships, including team competitions, starting with Cho Hun-hyun's Fujitsu Cup victory in August 2000 and ending with Lee Se-dol's LG Cup victory in March 2003.
Lee Se-dol followed in Lee Chang-ho's footsteps.
Lee Se-dol was born in Bigeum Island in 1983 and entered the professional ranks in 1995 at the age of 12.
Lee Se-dol, who began to rise in 2000 with a 32-game winning streak, fired a signal flare for a generational change by defeating Lee Chang-ho, the number one player, 3-1 in the finals of the 2003 LG Cup.
In addition to the world championships, he also showed his strength against Chinese players by winning 19 consecutive matches in the captain's match in the China A League and winning the 10th game against Guri, living up to the expectations of baduk fans.
Korean modern baduk is facing a turning point. It is the transformation into a sport.
The efforts to turn baduk into a sport have borne fruit since the Korea Baduk Association, founded in 2005, became a regular member of the Korea Sports Council in 2009. Following the great success of sweeping gold medals at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, baduk has become an official event in the National Youth Sports Festival since 2015 and in the National Sports Festival since 2016, solidifying its position as a true sport.
Korean baduk is changing as it steps into becoming a sport.
Following the existing Korean Baduk League, the Women’s Baduk League was founded in 2015 and the Senior Baduk League was founded in 2016, establishing a three-league system. In 2018, the Rookie League was added to provide solid support. It suggested the direction that baduk should take as a sport, and it also became a catalyst for the revitalization of the entire Korean baduk.
The advent of AlphaGo ushered in the era of artificial intelligence.
It was thought that computers would not be able to beat humans in baduk, but everything changed with the advent of AlphaGo in 2016. AlphaGo showed a move that overturned common sense and won 4 to 1 against the human representative Lee Sedol.
This incident, which seemed like it would be a crisis for the baduk world, instead brought attention to baduk, and various artificial intelligences have emerged since then.
We must overcome the crisis by expanding the base.
Cho Nam-cheol planted the seeds of modern baduk, and as a result, it dominated the world for a long time. Behind it were the efforts of many people who worked hard to popularize baduk, and efforts to expand the base of baduk are still ongoing. I hope that Korean baduk, which has endured and overcome any crisis, will once again show its strength. And at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, where the adoption of the official rules of Baduk is likely, we hope to recreate the glory of 2010 and regain our reputation as the strongest country.
