1. Lee Sedol, W701,731,400 Won Samsung cup, Chunlan cup, GS Caltex cup, Myoungin.
2. Baek Hongseok, W462,545,800 Won BC card cup, TV Asia cup.
3. Choi Chulhan, W404,533,000 Won Sipdan, Sports Accord games(Indivisual and pair).
4. Park Junghwan, W256,480,000 Won KBS Baduk wang, Maxim cup
5. Lee Changho, W207,271,500
6. Kim Jiseok, W200,064,000 Won Korea League
7. Kang Dongyoon, W176,630,000
8. Cho Hanseung, W143,477,800 Won Kuksu
9. Yoon Junsang, W122,090,000
10. Park Younghoon, W121,520,600
Current exchange rate 1.00 US Dollar = 1,070.6 Korean Won

PGA winner of 1 game can earn more than top earner.

True, but then they'd be playing golf.

I am very sure that Cho Hanseung is the current Kuksu.

And... are you Korean? or have you had chance to learn this language? I know your posts come from Tygem and Oro articles, cuz I also check those websites every day. Anyway you should be fluent in Korean to understand the articles... So?

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Amsterdam, soon.

Updated. Missed one.

As someone not totally familiar with this area, one thing I wonder about...Top PGA earners (and other athletes in general) have opportunities to supplement their winnings (or sometime even earn more than they do for their sport) with endorsements and sponsorships...Are there any such endorsement contracts for top baduk players?

I am very sure, that, not at all.

(edit) They sure can do commentaries, write books, teach inseis, or so.

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Amsterdam, soon.

Sure, of course that. I was more curious if, for instance, they would appear in advertisements in a baduk magazine or on Baduk TV trying to help sell a product. From the sound of your reply it would seem the answer is not often, if ever.

Answer is not often? Asks are not often. I am sure Korean go pros will always be happy if there's so comfortable way to earn a lot of money.

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Amsterdam, soon.

Golf has more of a global audience and is in many more markets than baduk is. I think Lee Sedol has been in a public service announcement TV spot, although I am not sure if he was ever paid for it.

I really hope that Lee Sedol will make some money off his excellent book of self-commented games. He might be encouraged to write more books if this one sells well.

In $ because America:
1. Lee Sedol $659,832
2. Baek Hongseok $434,928
3. Choi Chulhan $380,379
4. Park Junghwan $241,166
5. Lee Changho $194,896
6. Kim Jiseok $188,118
7. Kang Dongyoon $166,084
8. Cho Hanseung $134,911
9. Yoon Junsang $114,800
10. Park Younghoon $114,265

In comparison with top 2012 Starcraft 2 pro earnings:
1. Won "PartinG" Lee Sak $171,599
2. Park "DongRaeGu" Soo Ho $134,908
3. Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri $133,955
4. Jang "MC" Min Chul $121,153
5. Lee "Life" Seung Hyun $115,500
6. Lee "Leenock" Dong Nyoung $112,079
7. Song "HerO" Hyun Deok $105,279
8. Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong $88,950
9. Kim "viOlet" Dong Hwan $79,795
10. Jang "Creator" Hyun Woo $78,639

That book was written when he had 6 months rest. The book was really successful. He just don't have enough time to write more books now.


Starcraft 2 is not a successful game now in Korea. I am sure Lim Yohwan (SlayerS_BoxeR) earned much more than that ten years ago.

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Amsterdam, soon.

It's true that compared to popular sports, the salaries of top pro go players is a little disappointing. If you instead consider them artists, and not sport players, it is much more impressive

Umm, but your quote is about Starcraft 2...? You mean Starcraft is a form of art?

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Amsterdam, soon.

I meant go is a form of art, not starcraft. I was responding to your point that although top go players make more money now then top starcraft players, when strarcraft was popular, top starcraft players made much more money.

I don't know about endorsement contracts, but some top pros probably get some compensation for signing the bottom of expensive baduk boards. I don't know how or how much they are compensated though. There is an example being sold by Go Game Guru at this link: http://shop.gogameguru.com/lee-changho- ... -board-83/

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

That's too bad. I guess we will have to wait a long time.
If we are just talking about prize money from tournaments, then SlayerS_Boxer never made much more than $200,000/year in his best years. So he didn't make much more in prize money than the current Starcraft 2 players. He did make an additional $200,000/year in salaries from his pro team, as well as more money from his endorsement deals (He appeared in TV ads for Intel). However, SlayerS_BoxeR was a very marketable star, so he had much more value than other players who had comparable results. As lovelove states, Starcraft 2 has not achieved as much popularity. The salaries that pro gamers receive from their teams have dropped dramatically (perhaps by 50% or more), which means that they have to rely more on prize money from tournaments.

I am almost certain that the table that trout posted does not include the players' earnings from the Chinese leagues, which are not insignificant (probably five figures). The pros also receive "game fees" just for playing, which don't count toward the prize earnings. Even pros who do not earn any prize money scrape by somehow on game fees and teaching. So the go players' numbers are probably better than they look.

Now, what's interesting to me is that, in 2011, Cho U made more than $1 million in prize money to lead everyone in the world. Cho U is a strong player (an international title winner), but he is generally not considered a top 10 player in the world. In sports (soccer, baseball, football, etc.), the strongest players generally make the most money. The cultural, historical, and economical reasons for this sort of oddity may be interesting.

What I find depressing is that even No. 10 is already close to a middle class salary in my part of the world (Switzerland). Well, not that this isn't sufficient, but how does this leave No. 50, No. 100, No. 200? (If you compare this to artists make sure to compare to top earners among them not to the average artist who struggles. There are simply too many artists and no artist exam = entrance barrier.) On the other hand there is probably a lot of private endorsement - as in paying several hundred $ for a teaching game.

Close to a middle class salary? What is a "middle class" salary? If so, that still sounds very high, are things more expensive in Switzerland?

The average salary in the UK is, IIRC, more like $45,000 ..

Wow, that is an incredibly beautiful Go board. If only I had 50,000 lying around.

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Slava Ukraini!

Medium income in switzerland is about 70'000 CHF a year (75'000 USD).
And yes, switzerland is an expensive country