Player Profiles: Kim Seungjun 9P

Hanguk Baduk League Pre-lim

---Now---

I met Kim Seungjun 9P through a mutual friend, Diana Koszegi 1p.   He was the first Korean pro that I met on my stay here. 

He is known by many as Blackie, or Black Knight due to his dark complexion.  In a recent article in the American Go Association E-journal, I was mis-quoted as saying that he speaks perfect English.  This deviates a little from the truth.  While he speaks enough English to teach Baduk, his conversational knowledge of the language is limited.

Our first meeting was in Coffee shop, he approached me in hopes that I could help him set up a workshop in the states.   Though his English is limited, due to his emotive personality, and my minute knowledge of Korean, we had no problems communicating, I was even able to conduct a brief interview with him.  

I quickly learned that he was passionate about spreading Baduk, or Go, in the west.  Blackie had just come back from a short European Baduk tour with fellow pros Mok Chinseok 9P (mymy on KGS) and Diana.  They played simul games in Budapest, Romania, and Amsterdam, as well as helping with a tournament in Amsterdam.

This coming weekend he is doing a live Web-cam commentary on The Amsterdam Pandanet Tournament. my sources tell me he has been studying English, so lets see the results.

In October, he and Diana Koszegi will be conducting a BaduK workshop in San Fransisco.

---History---

Kim Suengjun started playing Baduk at 10 years old, he learned to play from his father, an EGF 2D.  Though his brother and sister quit baduk rather quickly he kept playing.

I asked why he plays Baduk, he had no answer.

Two years later the Black Knight became a younguseng, or a pro in training.  At that time he would take 5 stones from a Pro**.  He did nothing but play Baduk, three years later, in 1988 he became a Pro.

In 1994 he made it to the finals of the Kogi cup

In 1996 he made it to the semi-finals of the Samsung cup.

Many of his games, recent and old, can be viewed online here.  

---Trivia---

In addition to playing Baduk, Kim Seungjun enjoys playing Golf, this has been his most recent hobby.

He is a the second strongest billiards player among the Korean Baduk pros.

He is the strongest foot volleyball player among the pros.

After finishing his Simul-games in Budapest he proceeded to defeat their strongest Billiard player as well.

Unlike most Koreans, he does not drink or smoke.

While he is good at almost anything he does, he cannot swim.

---Side Note**---

Younguseng these days are far stronger than they used to be.  They are divided into 10 groups, competition to become a Younguseng is so fierce that even the lowest group ones can compete with a weak pro without handicap.  The ones in the top class are often stronger than many current Pros.  We have seen many young kids, who had just made pro, defeat 9P's.  Even the world champions Lee Sedol and Gu Li would not be able to give these kids 2 stones.

---End Side Note---