Liu Xiaoguang

Liu Xiaoguang (刘小光, nicknames: 天煞星, 大力神, b. 20 March 1960 in Henan, Kaifeng, China) is a professional Chinese 9-dan. He is known for his fierce fighting style and ability to rescue games which appear on the verge of disaster; and was one of the strongest Chinese players from the late 80s to the turn of the millennium. As a result, he earned the nickname Hercules (大力神) and the acrobat. He is married to Chinese professional Hua Xueming.

Liu began go at the relatively late age of 13. A local tournament victory encouraged him to further his studies in go. So he enrolled as part of the national youth training squad and advanced rapidly under the tutelage of local masters Huang Jinxian & Chen Ximing?. Through several tournaments and results he was able to make contact with other top players, such as Chen Zude, Nie Weiping, Wu Songsheng and Hua Yigang. Coupled with his recent tournament results and increasing network of go peers he was invited to participate in the Japan-China Goodwill Matches from 1977-79. Although only facing the lower ranks of Japanese professionals and amateurs, he managed to score an astonishing 11-wins and 2-draws. Unsurprisingly, in 1980 and '81 he was invited to the World Amateur Go Championship in Tokyo. However, his results were less successful than previous Chinese results, and so he began special efforts into rebuilding his game. His model was Kato Masao -- the Assassin.

Liu's game soon took to developing stable bases from which to jump off into his strong attacking style, and overall deepening his global understanding of fighting. In the 1980 (Chinese) National Go Individual he defeated a wide range of opponents, including Chen Zude and Nie Weiping, to finish with a 9-2 record and take the title. At this point he had been playing for only seven years. His new style quickly gained admirers, with some even noting the large 80% of his games that ended in killing large groups and less than 30% entering byo-yomi. Also of note became his ability to reverse lost middle games.^[1]

Liu became one of the first professionals once China began their professional system. He was awarded 6-dan in 1982, became a full professional in '85 and advanced to 9-dan by '88.

Titles

• 1980: 13th (Chinese) National Go Individual
• 1986: 6th Guoshou Tournament
• 1988: 1st Mingren
• 1988: 2nd Tianyuan
• 1989: 3rd Tianyuan
• 1990: 4th Tianyuan
• 1990: 23rd (Chinese) National Go Individual
• 1993: 7th Tianyuan
• 1994: 1st Wangwei Tournament?
• 1995: 1st Friendship Cup
• 1996: 1st Hitachi Pair Go?
• 1998: 8th Baosheng Wire & Cable Cup?
• 2000: Nanfang Securities Cup?

Runners-Up

• 1988: 21st (Chinese) National Go Individual
• 1988: 2nd Ten Strongest Tournament?
• 1989: 2nd Mingren
• 1990: 2nd CCTV Cup
• 1991: 5th Tianyuan
• 1994: 8th Tianyuan
• 1995: 8th Mingren
• 1996: 9th Mingren
• 1996: 10th Tianyuan
• 1997: 2nd Hitachi Pair Go?
• 1998: 3rd Hitachi Pair Go?
• 1998: 11th Mingren
• 1999: 13th Tianyuan

English Commentaries

Notes

• ^[1] Information from GoGoD.
• Indepth article (Chinese): http://baike.soso.com/v52732095.htm
• Gobase page: http://gobase.org/information/players/?pp=Liu%20Xiaoguang
• In 1999 he set a record for most simultaneous games at 139.