This was posted a couple of minutes ago on GoDicussions.com

Kim Myungwan, 8p said: “I heard many times that I am “mymy”. I don’t know why people believe that I am “mymy”. I am NOT. Actually I played against mymy and won at KGS”. It’s a big hint.

I checked all games, played by “mymy” on KGS archive: http://www.gokgs.com/gameArchives.js…&oldAccounts=y
He lost only few of them. The only unknown person who beat “mymy” is “tartrate”! Here is that game:
http://gosensations.com/?id=2&server_id=1&new_id=53

~ Alexandre Dinerchtein [3p]

Soon after that, the theory was confirmed by DrStraw as follows

[...] Now that breakfast has revealed who Tartrate is, despite his wishes to remain anonymous I will confirm that he is right. I have know for several years that Kim Myungwan is, indeed, Tartrate.

He created the KGS account when he was only 6p and his English was not so good. He had a Korea student, resident in the USA, who would log in and chat as Tartrate and negotiate games. He would start the game, disconnect immediately, and the real Tartrate would log on and play. The two of them communicated with some other tool whenever Tartrate wanted to play a game. This is why there was a rumour that he lived in the upper midwest – his student did. Tartrate, himself was in Korea.

I was told this in confidence. I did not learn it because I was an admin. I did, however, use my admin privelges to confirm that the account was logged into from two different countries.

~ Steve Fawthrop [AGA 5d]

The legendary player that striked fear in the hearts of all KGS-players (even high-dan) was none other than Kim Myungwan [8p] from the Korean Hankuk Kiwon.

Kim Myungwan 8p

Update: For everyone who doesn’t know who tartrate is, he used to be the strongest player on KGS. At his peak tartrate managed to beat high ranking players, such as Alexandre Dinerchtein [3p], Svetlana Shikshin [1p] and KGS mymy [6p]. Due to these victories it was rumored that tartrate was no ordinary amateur, but a pro-player instead. Now this rumor has been confirmed.

However it seems kind of sad to finally know his identity. Everyone that has heard of him and seen his games, will agree that to some (or most) players he was something like “the Sai of KGS“.

The regular Baduk has now been around for quite a while. Now Korean software-developer Eplayon has come up with a new variant of it: Batoo. As you would expect, there have been some major adjustments in both appearance and rules. As for the appeal, the (internet only) game has been given the feel of a modern MMORPG. After installing the program, you need to choose one of the predesigned characters to create an account. Once you’ve done this you gain EXP by beating your opponents and rise in level (not rank). The interface is rather modern and pretty fancy, as you’d expect it from a modern online-game.

Now to the most important part, the rules. One thing beforehand: they’re nothing (well, almost nothing) like Baduk. There are only very few things that Batoo has in common with the traditional Baduk.

• You play on a 11×11 board
• There’s a scoreboard on top of the interface that keeps track of your points during the game. There are specific intersections that make you gain or lose points during the game.
• Every player places 3 stones at the beginning of the game (a base). If you and your opponent occupy the same spot, it will become empty once the game commences. Before the placement is finished, your opponent can’t see where you’re building your base.
• There is no komi. Players bet points before the game starts, whoever bets more gets to go first.
• Probably the most interesting concept are the “hidden”- and “scan”-feature. Each player can place a hidden stone on the board. It will remain invisible to the opponent until it causes some kind of effect (killing a stone, connecting a group that would die,…). The scan-feature allows you to (only once in a game) guess if the hidden stone is on a specific intersection you choose.

The game has reached a high degree of popularity in Korea. Even Baduk-Pros participate at the tournaments. It remains to be seen how exactly the development of Batoo will influence the status of Baduk. Enclosed you find a video of a Batoo-tournament.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Those kind of schools sure have been popping up lately. After the Inernational Baduk Academy there is now another center that offers guidance in the complicated ways of Go, the Kings Internation Baduk Training Center. After taking a look at their homepage, I found out that there four courses available

1. Course for vital improvement – (3, 6 or 12> months) basically helps you to improve your vitality through Baduk
2. Course of international leader of Baduk – (3 months) Well, as the name says. You become some kind of international leader. It’s not stated what kind of training you’re going to have.
3. Course of becoming professional – (3> years) is the course you should take if you intend to become a professinal Baduk player.
4. Course of college-entrance - (6 monts) will help you to enter universities or colleges with a Baduk-related degree program

Now let’s have a look at the pricing. The entrance-fee varies between 200 to 300 $ (for food, study-material and uniforms). However there are additional fees for the tution, these are 500 $ per month. For example a course of international Baduk leader will cost 200 + (3 x 500) = 1’700 $.

However there are some well-known names amongst the teachers of the school. Mr.Kim Sung Rae [4p] (wirter of “Korean Style of Baduk”), Mr.Kim Sung Ryong [9p], Diana Koszegi [1p] and other amateur players.