April 4 is the traditional Qingming Festival, and on this morning, sad news came from the Korean chess community. The second generation of Korean Go overlords, Kim Yin Jiudan, who has the reputation of "Qingshan", died of liver cancer at the age of seventy-eight.
Jin Yin, who was active in front of the chessboard at different times.
Born on November 23, 1943 in Kangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do, South Korea, Kim In was influenced by his family to play Go at the age of 11, embarked on a solo journey to Seoul at the age of 12, and became a professional chess player at the Korean Chess Academy at the age of 15 in 1958. In the year when he was still a child, Kim Yin was evaluated by the Korean chess community as "a thick chess style and an abyss".
Kim In, who won all the honors of Korean Go in his youth, has been sinking like water for decades.
In 1962, at the age of 19, Kim In took the stage of the most important national hand battle challenge at that time, losing 1-3 to Cho Nam-chol, the godfather of modern Go in South Korea. After that, Kim In decided to study in Japan, and like Cho Nam-chul, he worshiped under Kitani Shimon, and although his time in the Japanese chess world was only a short period of one year and eight months, he left a good name in the history of Korean Go as the "Golden Bamboo Forest Era". Heroes Otake and Lin Haifeng, who are similar to Kim Yin's age, have since emerged in the Japanese chess world, and coincidentally, three highly respected seniors were born in South Korea, Japan, and China, which should be the precursor to the internationalization of Go.
From left, Jin Yin, Zhao Zhixun, and Zhao Xiangyan (Zhao Zhixun's brother).
Kim In, who returned to Korea from Japan, began his heyday, and in 1966 successfully challenged Cho Nam-chul in the 10th National Hand War, ending the "Cho Nam-chol Era" represented by the Nine Consecutive Hegemons of the National Hand. With this as a starting point, Jin Yin set a record of six consecutive national players (1966-1971), seven consecutive kings on the throne (1966-1972), and seven consecutive hegemons (1965-1977), and the record of forty consecutive victories in 1968 remains to this day. For a decade or so from the mid-1960s onwards, it was known as the "Kim In Era" of Korean Go.
The scene of cho nam-chul and Kim In's "hegemonic handover" has remained in Korean history forever.
In South Korea, the "Cho Nam-cheol Era" is the construction year when Yanlu Lanyi created the foundation, the "Cho Hwan-hyun Era" is the era of iron blood to open up the iron horse of Jinge, and the "Kim Yin Era" between the two era tycoons, but the theme is the romanticism accompanied by chess and wine. Unlike the Chinese Go formed by the athletes of the sports project and the Japanese Go constructed by the spirit of the monks and samurai, Korean Go has been soaked with the atmosphere of gambling and indulgence from the beginning of its inception, and the alcoholic Jin Yin and the literati and journalists who were around the Korean chess academy at that time fell in love, lingering in the liquor store, being generous and hospitable, enjoying life, and jointly creating a "guan tie dong era" with a strong literary atmosphere.
In the standard 1970s and 1980s style matchroom, Kim In and Cho Hyun Hyun each light a cigarette and start the game, which is a classic picture of the Korean Go struggle period.
Kim Yin himself has an indifferent sense of victory and defeat, and Cho Kwan-hyun, who is known as the "Winner and Loser", crushed the era that belonged to Kim Yin as soon as he returned to China. But Jin Yin is a standard idealist personality, once believing that "fast chess violates the essence of Go", so he refused to participate in fast chess matches, which seemed out of place in the era when Go entered the competitive era. However, Jin Yin was not far away from Go, and in his later years he said in an interview, "Of course, I should retire if I don't play, but I just want to be closer to Go." In 1985, in Los Angeles, Kim In had a friendly match with Liu Xiaoguang, a Chinese chess player who visited the United States, and was one of the first Korean chess players to communicate with Chinese mainland professional players. In 1997, at the age of 54, Jin Yin defeated Liu Jing, one of China's "Seven Little Dragons", to advance to the 2nd Samsung Cup World Masters Tournament.
In 2014, Kim Yin's hometown of Jeolla Nam Province founded the Kokute Mountain Cup, and Kim Yin and his former friends Lin Haifeng and Mumiya Masaki took a souvenir in front of the Korean-style building.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Kim In, after stomach cancer surgery, took over the banner of Cho Nam Chul and served as a director of the Korean Chess Academy from 2004 until the last moment of his life. In the past seventeen years, there have been frequent turmoil in the Korean chess industry, and the two presidents of Han Hejia and Hong Seok-hyun have gone away, and it is Kim Yin who presides over the situation with his seniority and popularity to complete a smooth transition. At the end of 2014, the 71-year-old Kim In lost to a generation king, Lee Chang-ho, in the second round after defeating Jang Doo-hyun (deceased) in the first round of the 20th GS Plus Knights Cup qualifier in South Korea. Probably feeling that ending his career with this was a complete career, Jin Yin did not participate in the game again, and regarded this game of chess as his "life's last game".
In 2016, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Cho Nam-chol's death, Kim In, Gao Jae-hee, Han Sang-yeol, Choi Gyu-bing, Choo Young-sook and other disciples of Cho Nam-jeol came to the tomb to jointly set up a sacrifice.
In his later years, Jin Yin appeared as a messenger of Go exchanges, and he was the unchanged leader of the Korean regiment in more than 20 Nongshim Cup Three Kingdoms Tournament, and the "Jin Yin Cup" international amateur elderly tournament named after him promoted his ideal of helping the spiritual life of the elderly. The nickname "Qingshan" was originally used to describe Jin Yin's thick chess style, and then evolved into a character that praised his tough and down-to-earth character, even if the wind and clouds changed and the stars flowed, Qingshan was still there.
Jin Yin delivered a speech at the International Amateur Elders Tournament banquet.
Luo Jianwen of China is the same age as Jin Yin, and is equally devoted to artistic interests and the true taste of wine. In his later years, Luo Jianwen quit drinking due to illness, and Jin Yin felt lonely, and when he came to China, he often said: "Luo Lao doesn't drink anymore, what does it mean for me to drink." "Loneliness is palpable.
In the 2019 Jeollanam-do Newly Founded International Professional Elders Competition, Jin Yin came to the table of the Chinese delegation to toast one by one, and the style of the predecessors is still unforgettable.
As a respected elder in the Korean chess industry, although Kim Yin often led the team to participate in the competition abroad in his later years, he almost never discussed with young people at the same table, but played chess alone, silently paying attention to the peak competition in today's chess world. More than half a century has passed since the peak years of Jin Yin, and the top chess players have aged from generation to generation, and it is not an exaggeration to say that there has been a fundamental change in Go technology. But in this half century, Jin Yin's figure has never disappeared from the side of the chessboard, and the heartfelt love of chess and wine has run through Jin Yin's life, which is also the great shore power of "Qingshan".
In December 2020, Kim In attended the Awards Ceremony of the Korean Elderly League, and his thin face seemed to have shown ominous signs. On January 15, 2021, when the Nongshim Cup Legendary Invitation Tournament began, Jin Yin made his last public appearance as the chief referee. Like Wu Qingyuan as the referee of the Ying Cup for life, Jin Yin also guarded the Nongshim Cup to the end of his life.
Seventy-eight years of life, sixty-three years of career, Jin Yin Jiudan left a chess record of 1568 games, 860 wins, 5 and 703 losses.