The Match (2025) Ending Explained – Who wins the final Go match?

The Review Geek

10-05-2025

The Match Plot Summary
The Match is based on a true story and revolves around the friendship and rivalry that grows between champion Go player, Cha Hun-hyun, and child prodigy Lee Chang-ho. As the film progresses, Hun-hyun helps nurture and grow Chang-ho's talent.
Hun-hyun becomes increasingly frustrated with Chang-ho's desire to forge his own path while playing, but in doing so, the pair form an unlikely bond that only grows with time.
How does Hun-hyun start mentoring Chang-ho?
After winning the Ying Shibei World Professional Go Championship, Cho Hun-hyun establishes himself as one of the greatest Go players out there. However, he soon comes across a short-tempered kid called Lee Chang-ho who is touted as a child prodigy. Amused, Chang-ho initially refuses to mentor the kid given his brash nature and reckless moves on the gameboard. Instead, Hun-hyun gives him an equation to solve to show his skills. shows his skills.
After convincing Hun-hyun, the pair have another match, and this time Chang-ho comes out on top. He shows he's really passionate about the game, encouraging Hun-hyun to take him under his wing. However, he's to call him 'seonsaengnim' which means teacher.
What lessons does Hun-hyun teach?
Hun-hyun gets into psychological mind games here, explaining the concept of going to battle and using the basic building blocks of Go to come out on top. He also encourages Chang-ho to learn stamina, patience, being graceful while playing and understanding to always use your right hand to place pieces down.
Chang-ho is grilled hard over the basics and Hun-hyun grows increasingly frustrated that the kid has his own experimental way of working, going against Hun-hyun tried and tested methods. The teacher kicks his student out… until he checks over the board and realizes the kid has a point. He changes his mind and brings him in.
What happens at the competition?
During the competition, Chang-ho beats Hun-hyun by half a point. It's shockingly close and it all comes from Chang-ho keeping his composure and turning the tide on his teacher. Hun-hyun is shocked and believes that he has 'nothing more to teach'. Hun-hyun concedes but he's spiralling and clearly wasn't expecting this.
Hun-hyun and Chang-ho continue to play each other over the span of different competitions. Their dynamic changes as Hun-hyun starts to slip and loses the composure he was initially famous for. He doesn't take losing well, and doesn't even extend his hand to thank Chang-ho after the games either.
The stress causes him to have nosebleeds and strike out with increasingly erratic behaviour. Chang-ho has taught the guy that he can lose at any time and as such, they go their separate ways. Just before they do, Hun-hyun finally says in private that he's proud of Chang-ho for everything he's accomplished.
Where does Hun-hyun get inspiration from?
Hun-hyun begins to act 'pathetically' prompting his wife to tell him, in no uncertain terms, to man up. Hun-hyun even forfeits games with Chang-ho too, drinking instead of showing up for the games. He does get some inspiration though, encouraged to continue on by Ki-Cheol, the fellow Go player whom he beat numerous times across his career.
This is also the same man who Chang-ho beat him in the semi-final of his first competition. Hun-hyun remembers the words he wrote on the Go board, reading: 'Go is a fight against yourself', which help to spur him on to try and do better.
How does Hun-hyun rise up again?
Fast forward a year and Hun-hyun is doing better. He's accepted that he's no longer top dog but he's embracing his position as challenger rather than a teacher now. He's even quit smoking and has nicotine gum instead.
During a pivotal game, Chang-ho and Hun-hyun change their tactics on the Go board, showing a very different style than what we're used to seeing. Tied 2-2, Hun-hyun makes a crazy play, goading Chang-ho into making a move that finally sees him on the backfoot after being on top all game long.
Chang-ho sees no way out and resigns, allowing Hun-hyun to find a way back to the top after 15 losses on the bounce. Although Chang-ho is disappointed, the respect between him and Hun-hyun has never been stronger. Hun-hyun even hands over his old Go board too to signify a passing of the torch.
How does The Match end?
Hun-hyun and Chang-ho continue to duke it out but this time, they're both entering the arena as men, on equal footing, despite Chang-ho still calling him seonsaengnim. We don't see the final match as they play out in the snow because, well, it doesn't matter.
We already know that Go is a battle of the minds, along with a battle with oneself. The real war was perhaps fought by both men trying to overcome their own demons and become better people in the process. In that respect, you could argue that they've both already won.
However, the real history here continues, and we learn at the end that Hun-hyun took back his Guksu championship title in November 1998 after 5 long years. Chang-ho ruled at the top though for 15 years, and is considered one of the strongest players of all time. He and Hun-hyun are both still playing though and duking it out after all these years.