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Are you looking for information about professional Go players? Have a look at these articles about some of the worlds top pros.
This is the second last article in our series about the top 20 Go players of 2010. Park Junghwan (9p) was ranked number 3 and Choi Cheolhan (9p) was ranked number 4, according to Dr Bae Taeil in early 2011. Park Junghwan was born in 1993, and became a pro in 2006. Choi Cheolhan was born in 1985, and became a pro when he was only 12 years old. He was the 4th youngest player to do so in Korea at the time.
Let’s start wrapping up our series about the Top 20 Go players. The next two players are Kang Dongyun and Heo Youngho. Kang Dongyun became a pro when he was 13 years old. He was regarded as a prodigy along with Kim Jiseok. Heo Youngho became a pro when he was 15 years old, but for first few years his performance wasn’t very impressive. He was not regarded as a prodigy, but he studies Go very hard when he’s alone.
Today I’d like to introduce two more of the top 20 Go players of 2010. In early 2011, Gu Li was ranked number 7, and Xie He was ranked number 8, according to Dr Bae Taeil. Gu Li is regarded as one of the best three Go players in the world, along with Lee Sedol and Kong Jie. Xie He is currently ranked number 2 in China, just behind Zhou Ruiyang 5p.
I’d like to introduce some more of the top 20 Go players of 2010. Won Seongjin (9p) of Korea and Li Zhe (6p) of China are both currently ranked number 9 according to Dr Bae Taeil. Won Seongjin became a pro in 1998 when he was only 13 years old. Li Zhe became a pro in 2000, when he was only 11. Let’s talk a bit about these two players.
Cho Insun is the first Go player who qualified as a professional under the Korean Baduk Association’s new rules for amateur players. To qualify this way, Cho had to earn 100 points, by defeating professional players in open tournaments. It’s very difficult to do, but Cho Insun did it! This is very exciting news for amateur players. I’ve written a little about Cho Insun and how he qualified, as well as my thoughts on this new system.
This article is part of the series: Top 20 Go Players of 2010. Today I’d like to introduce the only two players in the top 20 whom An Younggil (8p), who has been covering this series, hasn’t met or played personally. At number 11, we have China’s Zhou Ruiyang (5p) and at number 12, we have Zhou’s fellow countryman, Tuo Jiaxi (3p). Zhou and Tuo are both young promising players, rapidly climbing the ranks and carving out a name for themselves on the world stage.
For those who are new to Go, you may not have heard of Go Seigen yet. However, you don’t need to play for very long before hearing about this great master. Go Seigen is a legend in the Go world. In fact, he is one of the first professional Go players many people learn about, along with Lee Changho. He is also well known by the Chinese reading of his name, Wu Qingyuan (吴清源).
The next two players in the Top 20 Go Players of 2010 are Lee Changho (9p) and Qiu Jun (8p). Lee Changho is the most well-known player in the Go world today, and his career is extraordinary. Qiu Jun became a pro when he was 12 in 1994. He won the Mingren (Master – Chinese equivalent of Meijin) in 2003. He has become one of the top players in China.
Kim Jiseok was born in 1989, and is considered one of rising stars in Korea. He has been known as a Baduk genius since he was very young and he became a pro at the age of fourteen. Wang Xi was in his prime between 2004-2007. During that time it seemed he was stronger than anybody else and it looked as if he didn’t even need to fight to win.
The next players I’d like to introduce from the Top 20 Go Players of 2010 are Cho HanSeung 9p and Chen Yaoye 9p. Cho was born in 1982, and has recently completed his military service in Korea. Chen Yaoye was born in 1989, and is one of the best players in China.
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