The Korean Prime Minister’s Cup, one of the premier international amateur competitions, took place in Seoul this year. Ireland’s representative was Thomas Shanahan. Over 6 rounds of play, he scored 2 wins over Hungary and Argentina. This placed him in 41st position, just above his seeding of 42nd, and was thus a very good performance. Congratulations to him! The results are available to view here.
You can now read Thomas’s own notes on the event.
Arrived on Wednesday – sandwich for dinner! Next day, tour around a Baduk school and Baduk Association building, then a banquet in the evening – some lovely drummers and then to follow some band whose music can only be called noise. However the food was lovely. Off to bed early for the raging battles ahead. There was much heat; on the board and culinary wise.
First day of games:
There were 6 opponents – Norway, Hungary, Mexico, England, Indonesia and Argentina.
First from Norway on table 1. Unfortunately Odin was not on my side this day and I was defeated but not without the usual scrap here and there spreading all over the board. The game can be found onhttp://www.wbaduk.com/
Second game was with the Hungary. Hadúr was in a funny mood this day, giving Hungary the advantage early on but in classic Irish style the underdog grasps the win. Success!!!
Third game against Mexico – a disaster – it was all so normal until I realised that so much was dead on the board – just outdone by the cheeky Xipe-Totecian Mexican 5D!
Next day:
Fourth game against old rivals – England. A nice game, went back a forth, unfortunately….
Fifth game against Indonesia – 4 point game – what more can I say.
Ahhh, and then there was Argentina. Fairly bad from the start, lots dead on the board, about to resign but decided to battle on- and then it was there- the light at the end of the tunnel, found the crucial cut .Yes!!! Cú Chulainn was with me in spirit that game.
Final result – 2 out of 6. Rest of the time was spent; eating Kimchee, rice and other fancy Korean food, visiting a palace, playing a 9P and another professional at the Baduk festival (1004 simultaneous games at once), getting ripped off in touristville and doing some Swing dancing. All in all – fair craic.
