2023 Samsung Cultivation begins round of 32 tournament on Nov. 16 at Goyang City Global Campus

European Champion Kravets Chodan competing as a Samsung Hwa Jae Crop Wildcard

The wild cards for the 2023 Samsung Flower Farming World Go Masters, which kicks off on April 16, have been announced.

Andrii Kravets, 32, the winner of the 2023 European Go Championship, has been selected as this year’s Samsung Hwa Jae Go wild card, the Korean Go Federation said on Wednesday.

Kravets, a native of Ukraine, won the European Go Championship in July, bringing joy to fans in his war-torn homeland.

It will be the first time in four years since 2019 that a player from a country other than South Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan will compete in the main event of the Samsung Hwajae Jae.

The open tournament moved to an online format in 2020 amid the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), abolishing the World Qualifier, which was open to amateur players from Europe and North America, and introducing a national quota system centered on Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan.

Kravets, who turned professional in 2017 through the European Go Federation Entry Competition, finished runner-up at the 2019-2020 European Championships before finally winning the title this year, defeating Israel’s Ali Javarin in the final.

Kravets went 2-1 in the 2019 Samsung Flower World Group qualifiers, but failed to advance to the main draw.

Drawing ceremony for pre-COVID-19 Samsung Flower Cultivation bracket

The 2023 Samsung Fireworks World Go Masters will begin the round of 32 tournament on Nov. 16 after the draw ceremony at the Samsung Fireworks Global Campus in Goyang City, Gyeonggi-do, on Nov. 15.

The first prize is 300 million won and the runner-up prize is 100 million won.

The time limit for the main round is two hours and five one-minute second reads.

2023 Samsung Flower Farming World Go Masters Round of 32 Roster

Korea (17 players) = Shin Shin-seo, Choi Jeong, Byun Sang-il, Kim Myung-hoon 9th dan (top electric seed), Lee Chang-ho, Park Jung-hwan, Shin Min-joon, Ahn Sung-joon 9th dan, Kang Woo-hyuk 7th dan (top national seed), Kang Dong-yoon, Hong Sung-ji, Kim Jung-hyun, Han Woong-kyu 9th dan, Jeong Dong-gi, Kim Eun-ji 7th dan, Kim Nuri, Kim Seung-jin 4th dan (top domestic seed)

China (9 players) = Guo Zhihao-Ding Hao 9th dan (top national seed), Lian Xiao-Huang Yunxiong-Shijia Yang-Wang Xinghao-Sheng Hao-Tan Xiao 9th dan, Zhou Hongyu 7th dan (top domestic seed)

Japan (4) = Yuta Iyama, Xu Zhaian 9th dan (top national seed), Norimoto Yoda 9th dan, Katsuya Motoki 8th dan (top domestic seed)

Taiwan (1 player) = Hsiu-Hao Hung 9th dan (national seed)

Europe (1) = Andriy Kravets (Ukraine – Wild Card) 19가이드03