The Insei League – new concept and rule changes ( posted on Feb, 2012)

The major difference between the KGS and Korean insei league used to be the age of players – we worked generally with adults and the Korean schools focus on children under 18. This result primarily occurred due to a large fee and the absence of discounts for children.

Nowadays, when the American Go Association and the European Go Federation proclaimed their first steps towards creating their professional systems in Go, the development of youth Go becomes particularly vital.

Go ceases to be just a hobby, we call for young players who are ready to devote themselves to the game and to compete later with Asian professionals.

Since 2012 we have changed our pricing policy leading to extreme simplicity of entering and participation in the League for any promising children. 

The first three prizewinners of the European and the US Youth Go Championships under 12 and 18 (totally 12 people) get the free places at the Insei League.

Go Champions under 12 and 18 of any country get 3 month at the League instead of 1 for $95.

The young players who took 2-5 places during the last youth Go championship of their country can play for 2 months instead of 1 for $95 (is equal to 50% discount).

The rest of young Go players under 18 (stronger than 10 kyu) get the 15% discount.

There are still a lot of adult players in the League so to avoid misunderstanding between players of different ages we ask to put the real photo of every player in his KGS profile (not a mandatory requirement)

We set up a special jackpot that will be monthly increased by $250. What can you do to get it?

-         Be a current member of the Insei League

-         Take 1-3 places at the World Youth Go Championship under 12 and 18 or 1-3 places at the World Amateur Go Championship or 1-3 places at the Korean Prime Minister Cup.

Every year the League will store about $3000 and we hope that this jackpot helps to develop a more serious approach to Go studies.

In December 2011 during the last session of the Insei League we noticed the lack of people who are ready to review their games with the teachers. In order to increase the amount of people who wish to get their games reviewed we decline all offline reviews that have lost any notable popularity. It is still profitable to play as much as possible to get the maximum amount of game reviews, but all the games can be commented only on KGS in real time.

As in December 2011 Alexandre Dinerchtein will conduct 50% of all simultaneous games. The rest of the simuls will be conducted under KGS nickname “sabom”. Some simuls will be held by roln111, solaris, aguilar, Wichmaster, Karnesun, HappyLook and other 5-8 dan players.

Like in December the prize money will be available only for top-group players.

The major innovation of the League:

Every day we will spend several hours watching the Korean Baduk TV with live translation provided by Alexandre Dinerchtein. Part of the programs will be translated into English, part – into Russian.

The live action on the screen will be transmitted to KGS. During commercial breaks on TV Alexandre will answer your questions.

Any people who wish to watch lectures and Baduk TV broadcasts without playing in the League can get the room access for $25.

As you may know, Korean inseis are very good at Go and there are lots of 1-dan professionals in Korea, who start to fight for big titles just after few months since having become pros. The main problem is that the door is too narrow and I saw lot of unhappy ex-inseis, who were not able to become pro and also were not able to find a good job, because they studied only Go for a lot of years straight. 

I know that there are lots of foreigners who want to become professionals in Korea or Japan. Some of them already missed this chance because of the age limits they have in Asian Insei Leagues. Others are not sure if they have enough talent or not. Till now the only way to check it was to quit everything and fly to Asia. And after months or years you could see your chances.

Now there is another option! You can take part in our project called "Korean-style Insei League on KGS", created in January, 2010. It's the full copy of the League they have in Korean Baduk Association and also has some additional features, which I met in Korean Go schools when I was an insei myself in 1997-2002.

You can get 8 games with Go teachers, up to 11 SGF reviews and 30-40 audio Go lectures by the best Korean professionals, former Hankuk Kiwon inseis, and top European/US amateurs at our Insei League for only $95 per month! You can try your strength by playing other inseis of the Korean-style League (most of them also want to become professionals) and see how big your talent in Go is.

Our strongest members are KGS 6-8 dan semiprofessionals, but we also accept members up to 10-kyu on KGS. Of course, they don't play against each other, because they are in different groups, but sometimes we have a handicap division or friendship simultaneous matches for such games.

If you feel that you are the strongest in our League, and you can prove it by your results, we advice you to think seriously of the Go professional career!

Alexander Dinerchtein, 7-time European Go Champion 
3-dan professional of the Korean Baduk Association

For private Go lessons, please check the website of Alexander Dinerchtein, 3p (breakfast on KGS): 

http://breakfast.go4go.net/