For the first time in four years, South Korea’s No. 1 ranked player Shin Shin-seo (23) will face China’s up-and-coming powerhouse Wang Xing-hao (19) in a face-to-face matchup at the Samsung Flower Planting.

Shin Shin-seo, the winner of the last edition of the tournament, was drawn to face Wang Xing-hao in the round of 32 after the draw at Samsung Fire’s Glover Campus in Goyang City, Gyeonggi-do, on Friday.

Shin is the self-proclaimed strongest professional player in the world, while Wang Xinghao is a promising youngster who has been described as the future of Chinese Go.

They have yet to meet in an official tournament.

All eyes are now on the world of go in both countries to see what will happen in the first match between the world’s strongest player and the next big thing.

South Korea’s No. 1 women’s player Choi Jeong 9-dan, who was the runner-up at last year’s Samsung Hwa Jae Jae, will face China’s Seol Hao 9-dan in the round of 32.

It will also be the first meeting between Choi and Xie.

South Korea’s second-ranked player and 2021 Samsung Hwajaejae winner Park Jung-hwan 9-dan will face European wildcard Andriy Kravets (32-Ukraine).

In addition, South Korea’s third-ranked Byun Sang-il 9-dan will face Guo Zhihao 9-dan, who recently rose to the top of the Chinese rankings, for a ticket to the round of 16.

Byun leads their head-to-head record 3-1.

In the first round of the tournament, Korean 7-ranked Lee Dong-gi will face Chinese Taipei’s 9-ranked Hsiu Hao-hong, a gold medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Games, while Korean 8-ranked Kim Eun-ji (16), the youngest participant in the tournament, will play Chinese 9-ranked Huang Yun-sung in the round of 32.

There are 17 players from South Korea, nine from China, four from Japan, one from Taiwan and one from Europe in the tournament.

The round of 32 will be held over two days, on the 16th and 17th.

After the round of 32, there will be a one-day break, followed by the round of 16 on the 19th and 20th, the quarterfinals on the 21st and 22nd, and the semifinals on the 23rd and 24th.

The three final rounds to crown a winner will be played from the 25th to the 28th.

South Korea has the most wins with 14, followed by China with 11 and Japan with two.

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

The time limit is two hours and five one-minute second reads. 슬롯