On March 5, the Korea Chess Academy announced the latest ranking at the end of February 2022, and Shin Jin-chan scored 28 points higher than the previous month, once again breaking its own record for the highest score. From January 2020, the number one consecutive ranking increased to 27 months, and the 35th time topped the list.
In February 2022, the prize list was won by Shin Jin-hyun, Lee Dong-hoon, Choi Jing, Bian Sang-il, Kim Ji-seok, Park Young-hwan, Kang Dong-yun, Shin Min-ho, Lee Chang-ho and Han Seung-joo who won the LG Cup.
Shin Jin-hyun Kudan started with the 26th LG Cup winner and appeared as Korea's last sticker at the 23rd Nongshim Shin Ramen Cup World Go Strongest Tournament, helping South Korea win the championship with a 4-game winning streak and being very active on the world stage. Although he maintained an unbeaten record in the World Series, he suffered 2 losses in domestic competitions, and in a month in February, he won 10 and lost 2, with 10,346 points.
More importantly, the world rankings announced in March 2022 are the first criteria for selecting two male and female chess players to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, so they are of far-reaching significance. According to the March rankings released by the Korea Chess Academy on the 5th, the four players who will participate in the Asian Games are Shin Jin-hyun 9-dan, Park Ting-hwan 9-dan, women's first and second-ranked Choi Seung-jin and Oh Yoo-jin 9-dan.
Shin Jin-chan, Park Young-hwan, Choi Kyung-jin and Oh Yoo-jin ranked the same as in early February. Bian Xiangyi Jiudan (9 wins and 3 losses) who ranked third in the whole and Jin Caiying's seventh dan (4 wins and 6 losses) who ranked third in the women's ranking once tried desperately to catch up, but the gap was further widened. It is worth mentioning that Choi Jing beat Park Tinghuan in the Korean League on March 5, and his skills were shocking.
Delegates to the Asian Games consist of 6 men and 4 women. In addition to the representatives elected by the ranking, the Standing Army Selection Competition (2 men and 1 women) and the all-round selection competition (2 men and 1 women) jointly form the Korean representative team.
In the top 10, the rankings of Shin Jin-hyun, Park Young-hwan, Bian Sang-il, Lee Dong-hoon, and Kim Ji-seok remain unchanged, remaining 1 to 5. In the March rankings, Yuan Shengqin's nine dan (12 wins and 3 losses) rose 5 places to rank 6th, and Jiang Dongrun's ninth dan (14 wins) rose 7 places to rank 7th, with a maximum of 98 points. In contrast, Lee Chang-seok's eight dan (6 wins and 5 losses), Shin Min's nine dan (6 wins and 4 losses), and Han Shengzhou's nine dan (5 wins and 3 losses) each dropped 2 places and ranked 8th to 10th.
Red = Shin Jin-chan, Blue = Park Young-hwan
In addition, Park Yong-yong-yong, who defeated Park Young-hwan 9-dan in the 5th Korea Dragon Star Battle Round of 32, rose 27 places to 83rd, the largest increase.
In the ranking of female chess players, Cui Jing ranked first for 100 consecutive months. This ranking has been running for 8 years since December 2013. Cui Jing rose five points in February with 3 wins and 3 losses, a 270-point difference from second-place Wu Youzhen Jiudan (3 wins and 2 losses). In the comprehensive ranking of men and women, Cui Jingjiudan rose 4 places to rank 25th, and Wu Youzhen lost one place in the ninth dan to rank 81st.
The female players are Kim Chae-young (4 wins and 6 losses), Cho Seung-ya (4 wins and 2 losses), Kim Eun-joo (9 wins and 1 loss), Kim Lun-young (2 losses), Cho Hye-lian, Oh Jeong-eun, Park Ji-juan (1 win and 1 loss), and Lee Hyun-jin (1 win and 1 loss).
The Korea rankings were first implemented in August 2005 and improved in February 2020, becoming the basis for calculating the qualifications for the World Series. Newcomers officially enter the list in 30 innings, and if there is no match in 1 year, they will be out of the list. At present, the number of first times to the top of the list is: Park Tinghuan (59 consecutive lists 74 times), Lee Sedol (27 consecutive lists 67 times), Shin Jin-chan (27 consecutive lists 35 times), Lee Chang-ho (12 consecutive lists 22 times), Choi Chul-han (2 times).
(Compiled by Li Xinzhou)