On 14 June 2010 Yi Se-tol recorded his 800th win in official games. His career began on 2 July 1995. He was fastest to 100 wins (March 1998) but his time of 14 years 11 months to 800 wins is still behind Yi Ch'ang-ho (11 years). Se-tol is also significantly behind Yi Ch'ang-ho on winning percentage (see table below), but he is certainly the one in form this year. His 2010 score is 91% (30-3).

This year's score includes a 24-game winning streak, but that is not his best, which is 32 (though that is still behind streaks by Yi Ch'ang-ho (41) and Kim In (40).

Of course Korean pros now play many more games a year because of vastly reduced time limits, so speed records are deceptive, but recall that for a time Yi Se-tol opted out of the promotion tournament and some other events, and in 2009 he was forced to take an 18-month break.

Some of the players in the table below spent their early careers in Japan (figures not included here). All bar Kim In are still active. Kim's retirement was recently marked by a (very incomplete) Collected Games.

MOST WINS IN KOREA WITH WIN-LOSS SCORES
1. Cho Hun-hyeon 1822-758 = 70.6%
2. Yi Ch'ang-ho 1515-471 = 76.3%
3. Seo Pong-su 1463-836 = 63.6%
4. Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 118-581 = 65.8%
5. Seo Neung-uk 948-667 = 58.7%
6. Yang Chae-ho 938-544 = 63.3%
7. Kang Hun 879-636 = 58.0%
8. Kim In 848-662 = 56.2%
9. Ha Ch'an-seok 832-753 = 52.5%
10. Chang Su-yeong 818-637 = 56.2%
11. Yi Se-tol 800-321 = 71.4%

Yi Se-tol's go strength runs in the family. Elder brother Yi Sang-hun is a top pro, though less active because of family responsibilities after early death of their father, and sister Yi Se-na is amateur 6-dan.

An entry on Kim In's collected games can be found at my blog here.

_________________
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.