Manfred Wimmer

(1944-1995) Austrian player who became the first Western professional in 1978, at the Kansai Ki-in. He reached 2 dan in 1978. Left Japan, purportedly after convictions for rape, brought Go to Kenya and Madagascar.

Author of two German language Go books: GO, Teil 1: Einführung and GO, Teil 2: Elementare Techniken. Both published by the Nihon Ki-in.

Invented the rarely used so-called "Wimmer Joseki":

European Champion in 1969 and 1974. A complete listing of European Champions is provided on the European Go Congress page.

(In December 1971,) European amateur Manfred Wimmer played taisha expert Yamabe Toshiro 9d in a three stone game. Wimmer, studying go in Japan, played quite creditably, in a game featured in Go Review, losing by three points.

-- article in the AGA E-Journal's 50 Years aGO series

For more information on Manfred Wimmer see my article at Pok's Go Space (now also available in English)

Pok (alias B. Scheid)