Life In 19x19

Obviously Iyama won all the big titles in Japan in 2017, and so tops the annual money list. But it makes the old joke about second place is nowhere seem tragic.

With figures rounded, He made 160 million yen. Ichiriki Ryo, in danger of becoming a perpetual runner-up, made second place with a just 25 million yen, a few sen ahead of Takao Shinji. There is then a close cluster of players down to tenth place with Mutsuura on 17 million yen.

Fujisawa Rina is 4th on 24m and Xie Yimin 8th on 20m, so all round the men are having a frugal time. The male teenyboppers are also having a tough time making a showing compared to their youthful counterparts in other countries.

taxes, fees, "net" pockets.

What's that in bitcoin?

On a more serious note, what's the best source for finding what other professionals (I.e. Chinese, Korean) are making?

Another question, is there a general pattern for prize money distribution in title tournaments?
For example
1st : 1/2 prize fund
2nd : 1/8 prize fund
3rd & 4th: 1/32 prize fund
...

I don't know what's typical for Japanese titles (it's probably in GoGoD), but the prizes for the Lee Sedol vs Gu Li match were rather more lopsided than normal: 5,000,000-yuan for the winner and 200,000-yuan for the loser. I seem to recall Lee wanted a big difference. But 2nd here is also last so maybe you shouldn't compare it to 1st and 2nd in an event with many players.

Edit: I looked in GoGoD: 2nd place of Japanese big titles was about one fifth of first (or a little more with the less asymmetric game fees), surprised me how small a fraction.