[Yonhap News Photo]
Lee Sedol, known for his landmark match with Google's artificial intelligence in March, has embarrassed South Korea's Go community with a sudden and unprecedented move to quit a club of profession players.
Lee said his action was intended to reform the culture of South Korea's Go community, calling for a "complete" overhaul to get rid of unspecified irregularities that go against "common sense".
"I've submitted a letter of withdrawal after thinking that the Go community should be reborn to move in accordance with common sense," he told reporters on Friday, adding he found "many problems" in by-laws adopted by the association of South Korean Go players.
Describing his withdrawal as a shock therapy, Lee said it's not easy to change the association's operation and by-laws through dialogue.
Lee's eccentric move comes as the tournament between Google's program AlphaGo and Lee fueled public interest in artificial intelligence (AI). In a match shown live on the Internet, AlphaGo scored a 4-1 victory against Lee, one of the world's best players in the ancient Chinese board game.
The Go association held an emergency meeting Thursday only to say it has no quick solution because the rare case was related to voluntary cash donations from all 320 professional Go players for their welfare.
"In his letter, Lee Sedol mentioned the reason for his departure so simply that we need to confirm his true intention through dialogue," association leader Yang Gun said in a statement.
Yang said his association would try to talk Lee out of his withdrawal which could affect his life as a professional Go player. Non-members are not allowed to compete in any professional Go games.
No clear and official reason was given, but Yang mentioned the association's by-law requiring members to donate up to 15 percent of their prize money.
Lee said he was ready to talk with the association over its deep-rooted practices but said: "There are so many problems to be addressed".
Lee has won 48 titles in his career, including 18 international events. The 33-year-old reportedly wanted to implement a sliding percentage rate based on performance.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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