Vancouver, BC – May 22, 2025
After six rounds of intense play at the 2025 World Amateur Go Championship, Japan’s Minoru Ozeki 7d stands alone at the top of the leaderboard with a perfect 6–0 record, defeating New Zealand’s Chahine Soyaume Curpen Koleejan in Round 5 and Korea’s Sawoo Kim 5d in a dramatic Round 6 game between the two 5-0 players. Ozeki has demonstrated steady, strategic dominance throughout the tournament and now holds the inside track as the event enters the final two rounds.
Click here to see Michael Redmond 9P’s incisive and thorough commentary on the Round 4 and 5 matches by both Japan and Korea, as well as the exciting Round 6 showdown between the two undefeated players.
Just behind him, five strong contenders are tied at 5–1, including:
- 🇰🇷 Sawoo Kim 5d (Korea)
- 🇹🇼 Yu-Cheng Lai 7d (Chinese Taipei)
- 🇨🇳 Tianfang Ma 8d (China)
- 🇭🇰 Nai San Chan 6d (Hong Kong)
- 🇫🇷 Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 7d (France)
This closely packed group ensures a dramatic finish, especially with head-to-head matchups likely in Rounds 7 and 8 on Wednesday.
🔥 Notable Performances
- 🇺🇸 Alan Huang 7d sits at 4–2, still in striking distance of a top finish.
- 🇳🇿 Chahine Soyaume Curpen Koleejan 5d and 🇩🇪 Lukas Krämer 6d are among a strong cohort also at 4–2, tied with players from Romania, Canada, Czechia, Vietnam, Singapore, and more.
- 🇹🇭 Wichrich Karuehawanit 6d, who pulled off an upset in Round 3, is now at 3–3, looking to rebound in the final rounds.
🇺🇸 North American Recap
- 🇺🇸 Alan Huang (USA): 4–2
- 🇨🇦 Brady Bei Ming Zhang (Canada): 4–2
📉 Tough Tournament So Far
Several players are still fighting for their first or second wins in a competitive field of dozens of nations. Notably:
- 🇮🇪 Henry Williams 18k (Ireland) remains winless at 0–6 but has shown resilience as the tournament's lowest-ranked player.
- 🇬T Mario Gomez Flores 5k and 🇰G Adelina Abdybekova 5k have each notched a win against higher-ranked opponents.
📅 Coming Up
Rounds 7 (9:30a PST and 8 (2p PST) on Wednesday will determine the final standings. With several players still in contention and high-stakes pairings on the horizon, the finish promises to be a nail-biter.
📺 Watch live on YouTube and Twitch
👉 Follow our socials for updates on X and Facebook.
👉 Check out all the player bios here.
photos: (top right) Korea’s Sawoo Kim 5d vs Japan’s Minoru Ozeki 7d; (bottom left) Chief Referee Michael Redmond reviews a player's game before Round 6 commences; photos/report by Chris Garlock