Janice Kim

Janice Kim is a 3-dan professional Go player.

Kim is a United States citizen who was born to Korean immigrants in Illinois on 21 Oct 1969. In 1987 she became a Korean professional shodan. Janice lives in California with her husband Bruce and their two teenage children, including their son Malachi.

Janice Kim is one of only five western-born female go players to become professional (with Joanne Missingham, Svetlana Shikshina, Diana Koszegi and Mariya Zakharchenko).

Janice owned the now defunct Samarkand online store(web archive link) and Good Move Press publishing company, and she is a popular go lecturer. She once defeated the Handtalk computer program at a handicap of 25 stones.

She has done very well in a number of tournaments, the North American Masters Tournament seems to be her nemesis.

• 2003 3 Dan promotion Hanguk Kiwon^[1]
• 1994 EBS Cpu, third place
• 1987 Shodan promotion Hanguk Kiwon
• 1985 World Youth Championship, second place
• 1984 Fuji Women's Champion

Ms. Kim is a co-author, with Jeong Soo-hyun 9 dan, of the Learn To Play Go Series.

In 2024 she published Vital Endgame: The Shape of Things to Come, ISBN 979-8871821121 which is available on Amazon or SmartgoBooks

Janice Kim had a Learn to Play Go Blog(web archive link), begun 27 December 2011.

The AGA has a brief biography of Janice Kim.

Her columns are published in many publications, including the United States Shonen Jump (a manga magazine that serializes many Japanese comics, including Hikaru no Go.)

She has also been playing poker for 5 years and has placed 4th in the World Poker Tour Ladies Championship in 2008.

On her LinkedIn page, Janice Kim writes:

"I have a great love of teaching, particularly math to my two teenaged children, and have done a number of Go workshops internationally, and mentor Go students privately. I took a decade-long hiatus due to a brain tumor, and am currently studying neuropsychology to research using games as a rehabilitation protocol for traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's disease."

[1] From AGA e-journal, 2003 June 9th issue.

JANICE KIM WINS MAJOR PROMOTION: Janice Kim has just been promoted to 3 dan by Korea's Hanguk Kiwon, the highest rank they've ever awarded to a woman player. "Unfortunately," reports Janice. "I have never concurrently been the same rank as a world champion, as they promoted Lee Se dol to 6 dan at the same time."

This was true for only a very brief time: Cho Hyeyeon was promoted to 4 dan the same month. Park Jieun was also promoted to 4 dan that year. Both eventually became 9 dan.