I must almost point out, however, that Hwang made a few tiny mistakes in annotating this game (Hwang-Kim), which she corrected in a revised edition of her DCC publication, "The Seongeup Village vs. Douglaston Village Summit, 2005." I will not waste space by putting her full (corrected) move-by-move analysis here; the changes are cosmetic and her comments on the Q+2P versus Q remain unchanged. What did change, however, was the following:

After move 16 for White, Hwang proposed the following correction: "At this point the both of us had consumed about five minutes of our time. Perhaps my pawn nudge was superfluous but I did not want to see 16...Ng4. Now I get to double Rooks on the d-file, a possibility that was slowed down by my somewhat laborious 19. Qd4?!."

After move 19 for White, Hwang proposed the following correction: "This move lacked purpose and only invites Black's later Rook shift to c4. 19. Rd2 was decidedly superior."

After move 22 for Black, Hwang proposed the following correction: "I found this move rather astonishing. Kim is essentially saying “pass” but I don't think she is conveying her wish constructively. If she had played 22...Rc4, I probably would have gone for the draw with 23. Qa7 rather than sit tight with 23. Qd3. I guess I really was scared over what this Korean monster could conjure up!"

After move 24 for Black, Hwang proposed the following correction: "Black simply overlooked White's next move, but then again her d-pawn is no asset and I am not sure she wanted her entire army stuck defending it."

LOL...I lived in Seoul for two years. Word to the wise, don't bend over near the chess board or, DDONG CHIM baby!!!!

"White's maneuvers from moves 30 to 36 deserve careful study"

"Mr. West resigned. During the postmortem, he was very nice to me and he offered me candy."

this is titillating indeed! what kind of candy did you offer her? did she accept? was it because she was a woman? or Korean? or because she beat you? would you have offered her candy if you had won?

have you ever offered an opponent candy after the match before?

"In a clocked simultaneous exhibition against ten of Douglaston?s finest players (aside from Wong) in 1996, she was an hour late because she had been baking croissants for the players."

...

"Renown for her politeness, Hwang offers draws to opponents who appear tired or ill during tournaments, a courtesy she has extended to Wong on a few occasions. She always leaves the table after every move she makes to leave her opponents undistracted by her presence, usually returning with drinks or handmade sandwiches for her rivals."

"A consummate expert in etiquette, Hwang curtsies to anyone she sees and her tastes in fashion reflect nothing but baroque tendencies"

<59. Qe3 Qe6
Kim played this move immediately. As a matter of fact, Kim would only consume five minutes for her fifty-ninth through one-hundred-and-twentieth moves (!!). This was really not cool and I resented having to play against “Miss Endgame Perfection.”>

I guess the same reasoning went into the repetitive draw offers by Hwang in the opening as went into the failure by Kim to resign even when K+Q vs K.

After having read her bio, I think Lauren Hwang could easily become my favorite chess player.

One peripheral thing I found interesting was something mentioned in the introduction to the actual annotations:

<As anyone from the Korean chess school of thought will tell you, Korean chess players, especially girls, will only play “conventional openings” (i.e., the Ruy Lopez and not the Damiano Defense). It conforms to notions of Confucian duties and an adherence to principles of “virtuous obedience” as opposed to “innovative individualism.” I felt that the romantically inclined chess styles of Estrus, West, and Roberts had absolutely no chances against their respective opponents. The next day, the girls punctually arrived at the park. I was quite shocked! They emerged from a limousine, were extraordinarily well-dressed, and had personal servants, as if their stunning looks and ultra-trim figures weren't enough. Estrus, West, Roberts, and I crammed ourselves in a taxicab to save money (!). I was wondering whether these people really came from Seongeup Village, a tourist attraction in Korea renown for its thatched huts and villagers.>

I don't know if it's still true, but up to a couple years ago, I know Japan had no chess GM. This always seemed a little incongruous to me and I had no thought how to explain it. But here Hwang mentions <Confucian duties and an adherence to principles of “virtuous obedience” as opposed to “innovative individualism.”>

Thanks for your perspective on Japan. Often times personal obsevation is far more accurate than the media or even books for a variety of reasons.

So, it would be safer to say that games such as Go and Shogi are only more popular than Chess but still, as <zsystriker> put it, elitist.

The religion aspect is a little different, I think. Whether one (or no one or everyone) believes or follows the tenets of any particular religion doesn't necessarily affect that religion's cultural influence in a broader sense. If no one in America practiced or even truly believed in Christianity, America would still be a Christo-centric culture and the effects of Christianity would be strong even centuries from now. Religion is like a fianchettoed bishop, tucked away, almost unnoticed, controlling things from a distance.