Earlier in the game 1 held on Jan. 13th, Rui 9p lost on a foul because she got flustered by the challenger Cho Hyeyeon 8p's strong chase and captured a Pae without playing a Pae threat.

The theme of the game 2 of the final held on Jan. 26th was also ¡®Pae." Dominating the general situation on the board in the beginning by managing it thickly, Cho Hyeyeon 8p picked a Pae fight. Using this Pae, Rui 9p turned around the atmosphere that overshadowed the game and won the game. She sublimated the ¡®nightmare' of the Pae fight in the game 1 of the final by putting up the Pae fight to win the losing game. There was one big Pae fight in the game 2 of the final.

In the game 2 of the 11th STX Cup Women's Myungin Title Final held in the SKY Baduk Studio in Seogyo-dong, Seoul on Jan. 26th, Rui 9p (B) defeated Cho Hyeyeon 8p by resignation after 239 moves and tied the best-of-3 final at 1:1.

Lee Hyeonook 7p predicted ¡®Rui 9p's win' before the game. "Watching her from right next to her, she appears to be in very good condition. It is more fun when a match is tied at 1:1. In the game 1 of the final, Rui 9p has committed a foul, but she was so flustered that even if she hasn't committed a foul, she must have allowed Cho Hyeyeon to turn around the game by more than a half point. The thing is, she was distracted because she had already turned the game around and then the game was being turned around again."

It might have been the effect of the game 1 of the final that Rui 9p seemed to pay careful attention to ¡®time allotment.' It might have been because she played black and paid too much attention to the compensation and profits that she missed points to go with the flow in the beginning and handed over the leadership on the board to Cho Hyeyeon 9p. The Pae fight on the lower side was where Rui 9p found the clue to turn the game around. It did not happen to be Rui but the challenger Cho Hyeyeon 8p who chose to have the Pae fight.

Lee Hyeonook 7p, the commentator, gave a general review after the game, saying, "The Pae fight (on the lower side) became the turning point in the game that determined the winner. Particularly, Rui 9p captured the two stones on the lower left corner and the gap widened too much in terms of profits. The chase of the group Cho Hyeyeon 8p was forced to take up didn't end up very well either. Rui 9p's group lived too well. It was a great breakthrough."

Rui 9p won the title for 8 times in her career and for 5 consecutive years so far until the 10th Tournament. Her rival, Cho Hyeyeon 8p, met only Rui 9p for 6 times in the Women's Myungin Tournament finals until the 10th Tournament and won the 2nd prize for 5 times including the 2nd prize of the 10th Tournament. Cho Hyeyeon 9p defeated Rui 9p in 2003 and stood at the top but challenged by Rui 9p in 2004, she had to step down from the title after 1 year. The 11th Women's Myungin Title Best-of-3 Final between Rui 9p and Cho Hyeyeon is their 7th final match in this tournament.

Women's Myungin Tournament is the only title tournament for women in Korea. Women's Myungin Tournament is organized by the Maeil Shinmun, sponsored by the STX Group and supervised by the Korea Baduk Association. All games in the tournament with 16 players (with parallel losers' tournament) are held in the SKY baduk Studio. The champion and runner-up prize are 12 million Won and 5 million Won. Each player is given 1 hour and 40 seconds' overtime counting for 3 times for the time control.

- Byungjun Choi, Cyberoro.com

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