In last week’s item on the Mingren title in China we incorrectly reported that winner Gu Li collected a $300,000 prize; the actual purse was $3,000 US. The error occurred during editing when an EJ editor mistakenly assumed the reported $3,000 prize for a major professional tournament must be a typo.
Westerners are more familiar with the huge prizes attached to the major Japanese tournaments: the Kisei pays out an impressive $400,000 US, and the Meijin winner receives about $350,000. With a bit of luck a Japanese pro can win over a million dollars ina single year. Things are different in other countries.
Besides the Mingren, in China the Tianyuan, another top event, provides $6,000 and the CCTVCup goes up to about $10,000. In Korea, the Kuksu, their oldest pro tournament pays out $28,000 and the Myungin about $26,000. Some of the international events come up to the level of the top Japanese events: the Ing Cup champion gets $400,000, and the winner of the Toyota-Denso World Oza Cup gets about $375,000, counting the value of the fancy car. The winner of the American Pro Ing Cup in 2004 received a prize of $5,000.
10 January 2005