“I suppose I might have let my guard down a bit, seeing as my opponent was an amateur. It wasn’t intentional, of course… but the thought crossed my mind, which made me a bit too relaxed. But one thing is clear: our Chairman is at a professional level. I can confidently say that.”

“Oh, so you let your guard down?”

“When he opened with 33, I felt myself loosening up. I thought, ‘Ah, he must be nervous, playing defensively like that. Maybe I can be a bit more assertive.’ I figured that was the safe bet… but in hindsight, maybe that was the root of the problem.”

“Which moment took you most by surprise?”

“Well… when he cut off my move in the lower left early on, that caught me off guard.”

“Honestly, that’s not an easy move to spot, is it?”

“No, it’s not. Even if you do see it, reading through the sequence is incredibly meticulous. Even most professionals would choose to connect rather than cut. But he went ahead and made that bold move.”

“After that, Chairman Go Yeong-man launched a fierce offensive. What was going through your mind then?”

“Well… once the momentum’s shifted, coming up with a countermeasure becomes extremely tough. And then there’s this thought that keeps nagging: ‘Is this really happening?’ Since you’re facing an amateur, it’s hard to shake off the surprise.”

“Ah, so you couldn’t focus?”

“More like I got caught up in his smokescreen tactics… Haha. He’s hardly someone who should be considered an amateur.”@@novelbin@@

In a later interview, 9-dan Cho Ki-han shared his thoughts on the grandfather’s skill. He made some excuses about losing focus, but in truth, his words seemed less like excuses and more like an honest assessment.

No matter how legendary the Go master Han Gyeong-young was back in the day, a true icon of the Go world, it’s been fifty years. Defeating the current strongest player in a serious match would be no easy feat.

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