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When you think your opponent has made a mistake, that's when you should be the most cautious.

Well, now we know where there's an audience for an American professional system!

Has there ever been bigger news (for US Go players)? I'm so curious about all the little details.

Do you think it is big news?

I have this little cynical part of my brain that will wait and see because I don't want another WMSG

finally, They announced it. Lisa told me all the details 2 months ago I have kept it secret since.

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"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God." John 1:1

I think it is big news, and probably the most important part is that the Koreans are willing to finance the project, and allow our pros to go compete there. My biggest worry with a US pro system would be that it isn't really a legitimate kind of thing, there are no sponsors, huge titles, or a way to get paid for just playing. Professional implies you can get paid for it, and make a living off of it. That still won't be the case for us, but the fact that we can send our pros to Korea to compete goes a long way towards legitimizing it. In the historical perspective, the Koreans are now stepping in with the kind of funding we got for years, from both the Japanese and the Ing Foundation. Since those funds stopped a while back, it is great to see this new foreign assistance coming in. Kudos to Andy, Myung-Wan, and all involved in making it happen!

I think it's big news but not as an American Pro system. This is an organized system to allow students to study Go in Korea. This will help our players but is at best a start to a professional system.

I think the intention is for students to train and compete here. The ones who make our local pro grade can then compete in Korea. We actually already have a good number of pros teaching here, and they turn out very strong players. My hope is that the Chinese pros who are teaching here will also feed students into this system. I also think a lot of this action is going to take place online, although I don't know what safety protocols they will have in place against cheating.

i dont understand why US will agree to adopt pro system while it is about to fall apart in japan and korea.

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"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

They talked about this at least twice during congress. I don't think it was exactly secret.

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Decisions are made by those who show up.
and possibly those willing to attend secret meetings in ancient basements

It doesn't quite sound the way I read it, but ok.

A $30000 purse is not enough to have any real numbers of professional full time players. The real advantage comes from being able to compete in Korean professional tournaments which is nice.

Tygem is pretty cool, so I hope we support it more for donating to the system.

How so?

Having professional means that they will be paid regardless of what they do. Currently korean kiwon will produce 8+ pros per year. When they reach high dan in next 20 years where are they going to get money to pay them all? Same thing is happening in japan. Soon china will have same problem.

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"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

For a long time the strongest amateur players in the USA were Korean ex-yeongusaeng who failed to qualify as pros. I hope this system will be more than just a second chance for those unsuccessful pro students.

Re Magicwand's comments, the reason for the limits on how many people can qualify as pros each year is to keep the total number of pros low enough that the system can support them. It seems that policy has not been successful. "American" pros will have to find a way to support themselves in the US or Europe.

the $30000 is just from tygem




this would lead me to believe that the KBA is also donating money, although how much I don't know. It is also possible that they are just referring to training and ability to compete in Korean tournaments.

Yes, if the KBA was doing monetary support, I would expect to see some numbers. As far as I can tell the total available is $30000 annually. It's a great start over nothing but I would prefer to see a "US Open of Go" with a $30000 purse than a pro system that only has that.

Maybe these 30000 can be used to train top US players to "make them" the first official US pros, and build from there.

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

But is it actually "falling apart"? In terms of producing highly skilled players and fascinating matches, the pro systems are do as well as, if not better than, ever. (Right?) And even when the finances sour the basic financial stability of the systems is strong enough that small reorganizations gain lots of breathing space.

wasn't truly a secret, I did not know they talked about at congress, but I did know that if I posted it on here before it was announced it alot of people would be rude and skeptical.

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"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God." John 1:1

in my opinion, it is falling apart just like social security tax i will never see.
if sponsors can not pay professionals then what other options do they have?
are they any different than amature players? answer is no!
for old timers who can not win any match still get payed till they die.
that alone need to be reformed in order for pro system to survive.
but people who make those decisions are old timers who doesnt want to give up their money.
therefore i see no other way but fall apart.

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"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson