Last year a new force appeared in Korean amateur go. Wei Taewoong, who had just turned twenty, came out of essentially nowhere to finish as runner-up in the Lee Changho Cup and the Nosacho Cup. Then at the end of the year he won the Guksu, Korea’s top amateur tournament, and earned the right to represent Korea in the 2014 World Amateur Go Championship. Shortly after taking second place in the WAGC, he competed in an eight-player knockout to decide who would represent Korea in the upcoming Korea Prime Minister Cup, and he won that too, beating last year’s KPMC champion Park Jaegeun.
Ranka interviewed Wei shortly after he won the 2014 KPMC.

Ranka: Please tell us how you got started and about your playing career up to now.
Wei: There was a baduk academy in my neighborhood and I started going there when I was seven years old. That’s how I learned to play, although I don’t remember the name of my first teacher. Later I went to another baduk academy for ten years, but I wasn’t making very good progress there, so a year and a half ago I switched over to the Choongam Baduk Academy. I now train at Choongam from morning to evening five days a week, preparing for what I hope will be a professional career. Often I don’t get home until midnight. On weekends I study at home or take part in other tournaments.

Ranka: How have your parents reacted to your decision to try to make pro?
Wei: They haven’t come out clearly for or against it. They’ve just said, ‘If you think you can keep it up then go ahead.’

Ranka: Had you played in other international tournaments before the World Amateur Go Championship in Gyeongju this summer?
Wei: No, that was my first international tournament.

Ranka: Did it make a deep impression on you?
Wei: Yes it did, because I lost to the player from Chinese Taipei and ended up in second place by one SOS point. That loss left a deeper impression on me than anything else in my career so far.

Ranka: How would you compare Chan Yi-tien, the player who beat you in Gyeongju, with Juang Cheng-jiun, the player from Chinese Taipei you beat here?
Wei: After losing to Chan, I was worried about Juang because he was so young, but he turned out to be a little weaker than Chan.

Ranka: Had you played Benjamin Lockhart, the American player, at Choongam?
Wei: No, but I had heard that he was at about the same level as a few other trainees I knew there, so I had some idea of what to expect.

Ranka: Does that mean you were able to relax when you played him in the last round?
Wei: Actually I relaxed too much.

Ranka: How would you describe your style of play?
Wei: I seem to have a reputation for liking to fight.

Ranka: But your game against the Chinese player in the fifth round appeared rather peaceful.
Wei: It may have looked that way, but there was a lot of invisible fighting going on.

Ranka: Is there any professional player that you particularly admire?
Wei: Lee Changho.

Ranka: How do you feel about winning the KPMC?
Wei: After finishing a sad second in Gyeongju I was pretty uneasy about how I might end up here, but now that it’s over and I’ve managed to come in first, I feel very happy.

Ranka: What will your next tournament be?
Wei: I’m not sure whether it will be my next or not, but I plan to compete in the new Jeongseon Arirang Cup in early October.

Ranka: Thank you and good luck.