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Myung-wan Kim to Broadcast Live Commentary on Park-Pan Ing Cup Showdown Starting Friday Night

The first two games of the Ing Cup Final between Park Jung-hwan 9P and Fan Ting-yu 3P will be featured in the next installment of Myung-wan Kim 9P’s AGA/Tygem live commentary tonight, Friday, December 21, at 8:30p EST, and then Sunday, 12/23, at the same time. Many pros give a slight edge in the match to the 19-year-old Park (left), currently number two in Korea, but expect the match-up with the Chinese 16-year-old Fan (right) to be very difficult for both players. Park, once called “the future emperor,” has started to be called “the current emperor,” says Kim, adding that “Park has completed the perfect Korean style. He has assembled every good part of a strong Korean go player’s game. Lee Sedol's fighting spirit, Lee Chang-ho's endgame, Cho Hun-hyun's haengma.” Fan, meanwhile, has been called the future of China by many experts including the legendary Nie Weiping 9P. Fan started playing at age four, and in his short career -- including 2,000 games as a Tygem 9d in the last five years -- has put together an impressive record against professionals of all levels and a very stable game style. “He doesn’t readily collapse in any situation,” Kim said. Fan worships Lee Chang-ho. Click here for GoGameGuru's report on the two young contenders earlier this year: Prodigies prevail at the 7th Ing Cup.

The live commentary will be set up in Tygem’s World server, which is not expected to have the problems observers experienced during the recent Samsung final. Each player gets three hours and 30 minutes to play, along with up to three overtime periods of 35 minutes each costing a two-point penalty. In theory, along with the lunch hour, a game could last 11 hours. A second phase of the best-of-five final in Singapore will take place in January and will decide who gets the $400,000 first prize and the $100,000 runner-up prize.