Sumire Nakamura (仲邑菫, 15), a Japanese “baduk prodigy,” said at a press conference held at the Korea Foundation in Seongdong-gu, Seoul on the 4th, how he felt about starting his career in Korea. Han Jong-jin, chairman of the Korea Professional Engineers Association, also attended the press conference, with a large number of Korean and Japanese media reporters attending.
Nakamura learned Go from his father, Shinya Nakamura, a Japanese professional Go player, and his mother, an amateur Go powerhouse, when he was three years old. He moved to Korea in 2017 and studied at Han Jong-jin Go Dojang until 2019. As Nakamura came to prominence early on, the Japan Foundation hired him as a special player for gifted students in 2019. At 10 years and 30 days, he is the youngest player in the history of the Japanese Go community.
Since joining the team, Nakamura has been on a roll. In February last year, he won the title at the age of 13 years and 11 months, breaking the record of becoming the youngest player to win the title in Japan. “I want to become a stronger professional Go player in a new environment,” he said, creating a stir in the Japanese Baduk community when he submitted an application to the KIOST in July the same year. It was the first time for a Japanese professional Go player to move to Korea, and starting this month, Sumiré will serve as a KIOST guest player.
Nakamura was defeated by Lee Chang-seok in 220 attempts in four games in the first round of the 5th Sopalcosanol’s top knight-decision at the K Baduk Studio in Pangyo, Gyeonggi-do, on the 3rd.
“I realized that I started my career in Korea yesterday as I played a match for the first time,” Nakamura said when asked about his unfortunate loss at his first official match after moving to Korea. “My ultimate goal is to rank second among female golfers. I am thinking of achieving my goal within five years for now,” Nakamura said in Korean. “I will continue to do my best,” expressing his bold ambition.
Asked by reporters why he targeted No. 2, Nakamura replied, “I think No. 1 would be practically impossible. As Korean baduk players are highly skilled, ranking second has improved enough.” “There is an atmosphere in the Korean baduk community where trivial matters are considered more important. Since I am also weak in trivial matters, I will strengthen my skills by learning a lot from the Korean Baduk Association. I will cherish every day and achieve my goal of ranking second.”
“There will be positive changes in the Baduk community through Smirre,” Chairman Han Jong-jin said. “In the past, Korean Baduk grew while learning Japanese Baduk. It will serve as an opportunity for the two countries to exchange and grow through Smirre. It is humbling to say that Smirre aims for the second place. I think he will definitely aim for the first place.”
Nakamura celebrated his birthday two days ago. When asked about his birthday, he said, “I ate kimchi stew.” “I didn’t study Korean especially. I learned it naturally because I have lived in Korea since I was young,” he said.
Although he is a guest driver, he can participate in all the mechanisms held in Korea. Asked if there is a mechanism that she is greedy for, she said, “I don’t want to make a particular one because there are so many games. I want to win one win first with my close goal.”
They chose Park Jeong-hwan, Choi Jeong-dan, and Oh Yoo-jin as their respective Korean knights. “All three of them are good at playing Go, have good personalities, and are kind.” When asked how he wants to live in Korea other than Go, he gave a girly 15-year-old answer, saying, “I want to play with my friends.” “I like K-pop and singer IU. I want to go to karaoke after watching a movie,” he said.
Nakamura will start his first win against Park Jung-hwan in the first round of the second round of the final round of the 5th Sopalcosanol’s top knight competition on the 11th. “I’m very happy to be able to play against Park Jung-hwan. I’m nervous to play against him because he’s the world’s top knight, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
BY: 릴게임사이트