Go Champion Lee Se-dol Loses 2:1 Against Korean AI

Published on 2019/12/29 | Source

Lee Se-dol (left) smiles as his mother gives him flowers at a press conference in Sinan, South Jeolla Province on Saturday. /Yonhap

Go or baduk champion Lee Se-dol lost his match against a Korean-made computer program on Saturday.

He lost the third game of a three-round match against artificial intelligence-assisted HanDol developed by IT company NHN in his hometown of Sinan, South Jeolla Province after 181 stones.

"I enjoyed the match", said Lee, who retired last year, fighting back tears. "As I look back, the old days were all meaningful and happy times".

Lee's mother made a surprise appearance toward the end of the press conference to present him with flowers. Park Yang-rye (71) lives on an island off the coast of South Jeolla Province and made her way to the venue by ferry and bus.

Lee turned pro at the age of 12 in 1995 and played for the next 24 years. His achievements are many, but perhaps most famously he played against Google DeepMind's proto-AI AlphaGo in the first-ever baduk match between human and machine.

He has won 50 matches including 18 international titles and, according to the Korea Baduk Association, pocketed a total of W9.8 billion during his illustrious career (US$1=W1,161).

He was paid W200 million for this farewell match against Handol and has yet to decide on his post-retirement plans.