"Can't Accept Korean Rules... Chinese Baduk Player Claims Title Was Taken, Why?"

Defeat Brought by Repeating the Same Mistake in Both Game 2 and Game 3

Regarding the resignation loss of China's Ke Jie 9-dan in the final match of the LG Cup, the Chinese Weiqi Association expressed its refusal to accept the match result. Chinese fans are sending support to Ke Jie, the 'flagship star' of the Chinese Go community.

Yonhap News reported on the 24th, citing local Chinese media, that critical articles poured out over the chaotic results of this tournament, which saw unprecedented disqualification losses and resignation losses in a world competition.

In the final of the 29th LG Cup Chosun Ilbo Ki Championship held on the 23rd, Chinese Go star Ke Jie was warned for failing to manage private conversations and protested. Screenshot from Baduk TV YouTube.

In the final third game of the best-of-three final of the 29th LG Cup Chosun Ilbo King of Kings Tournament held the previous day, Ke Jie received a warning and a 2-point penalty from the referee for violations including 'dead stone (captured stones) management.' In protest, he forfeited the match, handing the championship to Korea's Byeon Sang-il 9-dan. Ke Jie had also received two warnings for dead stone violations in the second game held on the 22nd, resulting in a disqualification loss.

Ke Jie's Go colleague, Lian Xiao 9-dan, said the previous day, "Ke Jie will not attend the awards ceremony, and I feel like crying." In fact, the Chinese Go team did not attend the awards ceremony held that morning. He added, "This matter cannot just be ended like this."

Ke Jie, who holds the record for 'youngest to win 8 world championships,' updated his Weibo profile to '9-time world champion' despite not winning this tournament, prompting netizens to defend him. They viewed that the championship was effectively stolen due to the disqualification loss and supported his self-acknowledgment of the number of world titles in his record.

On China's social media platform Weibo (the Chinese version of X), netizens flocked to Ke Jie's Weibo page, leaving comments calling him a '9-time champion' and cheering him on.

The two white stones of Byeon Sang-il 9-dan, taken by Ke Jie 9-dan, are placed on the table instead of the designated Go stone container lid according to the rules. Capture from BadukTV YouTube.

Earlier, Ke Jie's incident occurred less than 10 minutes into the second game. After making a move, Ke Jie failed to place the captured stones (dead stones) into the designated dead stone container, resulting in one warning and a 2-point penalty. Later in the same game, at move 80, he repeated the same mistake, leading to a disqualification loss according to the match rules (which apply after two accumulated warnings).

According to Article 18 of Chapter 4 (Penalties) of the Korean Go match regulations, a warning is issued for 'not storing dead stones in the Go container lid,' and Article 19 stipulates disqualification if 'two warnings accumulate.' This regulation was introduced due to the characteristics of Korean Go matches, where scoring is done using dead stones after the game ends. Even during the match, players are required to keep accurate ongoing counts, so the opponent's dead stones must be placed in a clearly visible position.

This match regulation, adopted since November last year, applies to all tournaments organized by the Korea Baduk Association. Prior notice was given to all players participating in this LG Cup King of Kings Tournament. Such a regulation does not exist in Chinese Go. Players may hold dead stones in their hands or place them anywhere other than the designated spot.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.