These questions were asked at the opening ceremonies.

Samsung Cup interviews

Q: Lee Sedol, may I ask what your objective is for this tournament?
Lee Sedol: All the players participating in this tournament seek to become the champion, of course. However, as I have said in other interviews, playing excellent Go is my current consideration.

Q: Zheng Xiaojun (chairman and general manager of Samsung China), may I ask why Samsung changed the name of the tournament?

Zheng Xiaojun: From the first part of this year year the Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Company name has become more famous. "Destructive fire" (火灾) is a word that was translated directly into Chinese, and it has caused some misunderstandings. When the tournament was called 三星火灾杯, people thought we were manufacturing fire engines. The current name, property insurance (财产保险), is better aligned to Chinese naming customs. The Korean name, "fire insurance" (火灾保险) just did not translate well.

Q: This Samsung Cup is holding the round of 32 in China. Why?
Zheng Xiaojun: Go has always been a popular mental sport in China, and especially so in recent years when Chinese players have performed well on the world stage. Also, last year, the Samsung Cup champion was Chinese. Therefore, we decided to hold the opening ceremony in China. This way we could get closer to the Chinese Go fans and better publicize the tournament. The Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Company is keenly interested in the Chinese market, as this market is very important for a company trying to become one of the ten largest insurance companies in the world.

Q: The current Samsung Cup cancelled lunch breaks. Will this be a permanent change?

Zheng Xiaojun: The Samsung Cup makes changes every year. Whether this change stays will depend on the conditions next year. In the past, tournament games started at 10:00am, followed by a lunch break. This reduced the intensity of the tournament. This year we started the games later and cancelled the lunch break. This schedule is better for Go fans and makes the games more exciting.

Q: Gu Li, you are the only Chinese or Korean player here who has not won this tournament. Recently your condition has not been good, but you just defeated Chang Hao in the Chinese City League. Do you have confidence going into this tournament?
Gu Li: Recently my condition has not been good, winning few games and losing many. However, after defeating Chang Hao, I think my state has improved, and I hope this improvement continues. My goal here is, to say the least, to advance to the next round. (Last year Gu Li reached the semifinals but lost to Kong Jie, and finished in third place.)

Q: Lee Changho, what do you expect from this tournament?
Lee Changho: I feel that my condition is better than before. In domestic matches I often learn from Lee Sedol, forging refinements to my game from the pounding of his hammer. I hope this year I have a good result.

Q: Yamashita Keigo, what do you expect from this tournament?
Yamashita Keigo: Recently I have done well in domestic matches, but I have played very few international matches. I will make all efforts to get a good result.

Q: Kong Jie, can you win this tournament for the second straight year?
Kong Jie: I am happy to be playing this match in Suzhou. I had not been playing well, but I won my two most recent league games, so I am getting back into form. Coming to Suzhou I enjoyed the beautiful scenery, so I am in a pleasant mood. Regarding repeating as champion, I will make every effort to do so, because my opponents are all very strong.

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I am Tartuffe from GoDiscussions.com

so, everybody's in good condition

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长考出臭棋.

Actually why don't samsung make it more world-wide. give 2 places to eu and us players. Because it doesn't have any business in eu or us?

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长考出臭棋.

Perhaps Go gets good publicity in Europe, but in the US I expect that they would rather host a golf or tennis tournament--something that would attract more media attention.

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I am Tartuffe from GoDiscussions.com

i believe it is open for anyone who is intrested.
but they have to go through open division and win against other professionals which is impossible to win.
i certainly dont wish to see one from Europe, one from US just because they represent other continent.
it is bad enough to see oldtimers and ladies and japanese players who will be knockout in first round.

note: there is one japanese player who deserve to be there because he went through everything and won the seat. i dont have anything against that.

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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 the many games they just played, i only watched Kong Jie vs Lee Sedol. So I don't really care if there are other weaker players in other Groups. At the end, only strong player left, so it won't affect my enjoyment of this tournament.

Considering they spare spaces for senior and women ( which i found quite nice), I think it's not that toally non-sense to have international players. Of course, I'm not suggesting them to do so. I think Samsung as the sponsor will choose whatever structure that they feel is good for the company advertisement.

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长考出臭棋.

Q: Lee Changho, what do you expect from this tournament?
Lee Changho: I feel that my condition is better than before. In domestic matches I often learn from Lee Sedol, forging refinements to my game from the pounding of his hammer. I hope this year I have a good result.


Wow, a big lol.

Errr... that connotation is added in translation.

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I am Tartuffe from GoDiscussions.com