Lee Se-dol passes Go, collects 670 million won

Korean Go master Lee Se-dol earned 670 million won in the first half of this year. /Yonhap

By Lee Jin-a

Korean Go master Lee Se-dol earned 670 million won ($570,000) in the first half of this year -- the highest among the nation’s professional players.

According to the Chosun Ilbo, the largest prize that the legendary Go player received was 260 million won in the Google DeepMind Challenge Match, followed by 120 million won in the 2016 Chinese City League B and 108 million won (second place) in the MLily Cup.

Lee, 33, earned 300 million won more than Kang Dong-yun, the nation’s only Go master, who has the world champion title, and 400 million won more than Park Jung-hwan, No. 1 in the Korean ranking system.

Lee will have a Go match against singer Kim Jang-hoon on the island of Dokdo on Thursday. The players decided to donate all proceeds to promote Go nationwide and other charities.

Kim, an amateur six-dan Go player, is an honorary ambassador of the Korea Baduk Association and was a commentator for the live broadcast of the historic matches between Lee and computer program AlphaGo earlier this year.