On November 9, the main stage of the 2026 Samsung Cup World Go Masters kicked off at the Samsung Fire International Training Center in South Korea. Dai Bing (戴兵), China's ambassador to South Korea, attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks. Remarks by Dai Bing (戴兵), Chinese Ambassador to South Korea In the Samsung Cup open qualifiers held this August, the Chinese team performed superbly, sweeping all 12 qualifying spots in the open division plus one each in the women's and U20 divisions, earning 14 main-draw berths in one stroke. Add to that the champion and runner-up of the previous edition, both from China, along with the national seeded players, and China fielded a star-studded 19-player lineup. The remaining players in the round of 32 are 9 from South Korea, 2 from Japan, 1 from Chinese Taipei, and 1 from Singapore. The Samsung Cup World Baduk Masters is sponsored by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and jointly hosted by the JoongAng Ilbo and the Korea Baduk Association. The event uses Korean rules, with each side given 2 hours of thinking time plus five 1-minute byo-yomi periods. This year's tournament uses a random draw format, and in the draw for the round of 32, the Chinese team ended up with six matches against each other. Chung Tae-soon (郑泰淳), President of the Korea Baduk Association Shin Yong-ho (申容浩), Managing Director of Korea's JoongAng Ilbo Lee Jun-gu (李俊九), Managing Director of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Round of 32 pairings are as follows: Tuesday, November 10, 11:00 Beijing time Wang Xinghao (王星昊) 9-dan (China) VS Xu Xiaofan (徐晓凡) 5-dan (Singapore) Shi Yue (时越) 9-dan (China) VS Shin Min-jun (申旻埈) 9-dan (Korea) Wang Shuo (王硕) 8-dan (China) vs. Byun Sangil (卞相壹) 9-dan (Korea) Fan Yin (范胤) 9P (China) VS Zhao Chenyu (赵晨宇) 9P (China) Gu Zihao (辜梓豪) 9-dan (China) vs. Jiang Weijie (江维杰) 9-dan (China) Lian Xiao (连笑) 9p (China) VS Fukuoka Kotaro (福冈航太朗) 8p (Japan) Xia Chenkun (夏晨琨) 9-dan (China) vs. An Sungjoon (安成浚) 9-dan (Korea) Mok Jin-seok (睦镇硕) 9-dan (South Korea) vs. Han Seung-joo (韩昇周) 9-dan (South Korea) Wednesday, November 11, 11:00 Beijing time Zhou Hongyu (周泓余) 7p (China) VS Li Qincheng (李钦诚) 9p (China) Dang Yifei (党毅飞) 9-dan (China) vs. Kim Myung-hoon (金明训) 9-dan (Korea) Yang Kaiwen (杨楷文) 9P (China) vs. Hsu Hao-hung (许皓鋐) 9P (Chinese Taipei) Liao Yuanhe (廖元赫) 9-dan (China) VS Xie Ke (谢科) 9-dan (China) Yang Dingxin (杨鼎新) 9P (China) vs. Tan Xiao (檀啸) 9P (China) Tu Jikang (涂季康) 6p (China) vs. Ding Hao (丁浩) 9p (China) Kang Dongyun (강동윤) 9p (Korea) vs. Park Jeonghwan (박정환) 9p (Korea) Shin Jinseo (신진서) 9p (Korea) vs. Shibano Toramaru (芝野虎丸) 9p (Japan) The Samsung Cup's Round of 32 through the semifinals will be played from November 10 to 17, with the best-of-three final scheduled for November 18 to 20. The champion will receive a prize of 300 million won (about 1.49 million RMB), and the runner-up will receive 100 million won (about 490,000 RMB). Round of 32 Bracket
