After losing to the tournament winner-to-be Park Jaegeun in the second round, Taiwan’s Lin Shinwei was paired against unbeaten opponents from the lower McMahon group (from Luxembourg and Switzerland) in rounds three and four. Ranka talked with him shortly afterward.

Ranka: Please tell us about your game against the Korean player in round two.
Lin: I had a poor opening and fell behind by quite a bit. In the middle game I had a few chances to catch up and in fact I did catch up, but then I lost ground again just before the endgame started. I had no chances after that.

Ranka: And what about your other three games so far?
Lin: I had better luck in them. My opponents were pretty strong, but they all made major mistakes in the opening–played below their ranks–so it wasn’t too hard to win.

Ranka: You live in Kaohsiung in Taiwan, you went to Sendai in Japan for the World Amateur Championship last month, and here you are in Gumi for the Korea Prime Minister Cup. How would you compare these three cities?
Lin: Sendai was an exciting city. Here in Gumi the setting is more bucolic. But inside the playing room, the atmosphere is the same. Kaohsiung is a big city, like Sendai, and the food is good.

Ranka: We understand that you tied for first place in Taiwan’s insei league this year and are set to become one of Taiwan’s next professional players. When will that be?
Lin: Next year, on January 1st.

Ranka: Most of the professional players in Taiwan seem to be based in Taipei. Can you tell us a little more about the professional organization in Kaohsiung?
Lin: Counting both male and female, there are six pros from Kaohsiung. The top ranked is Liao Wen (5 dan). You could say that we are trying to catch up with Taipei.

Ranka: How do you study the game?
Lin: I study professional games, play online on Tygem, review my own games and other people’s games, and participate in professional study groups where we analyze professional matches.

Ranka: How do you find time to do all this and keep up with your school studies as well?
Lin: I concentrate and study hard at school during school hours, but after school, I devote most of my time to go. Well, go and baseball.

Ranka: How are you hoping to do in the next two rounds and in the final standings?
Lin: I’m hoping to win my next two games and finish 5-1. I’m less concerned with standings, because you have no control over your SOS points. I would like to play the Chinese player–he would be a tough opponent.

Ranka: Thank you.

Postscript: Lin won his next game against Juri Kuronen (Finland), but then lost to Ilya Shikshin (Russia) in the last round.