Prodigy

Keywords: People

A Go prodigy is a young child with enormous talent for Go.

Some examples in approximate order of reaching professional 1-dan are listed below.

N.B. Any help in improving or clarifying the following would be appreciated:

The ages given are often approximate, usually because only year was given.

It appears that in most countries at most times becoming a professional is equivalent to reaching professional 1-dan – but apparently not for Cho Hun-Hyeon!

Go Prodigies
Player	Dates	Nationality	Pro aged	1p aged	9p aged	Remarks
Yang Dingxin	1998–	Chinese		9y 9m	20y 3m	Was youngest (?) Chinese 1 dan. In 2010 he qualified for the 3rd round of the Lanke (the richest Chinese title), defeating Chen Yaoye Tianyuan and in 2011-04-24, at 12 and 6 months, won his first title (the 5th Xinxiu).
Nakamura Sumire	2009–	Japanese	10	10		Set records for youngest professional 1 dan and youngest pro 2 dan in Japanese history. Father is 9p, mother 6d amateur Go instructor with a sister who is 3p.
Shin Jinseo	2000–	Korean	12	12	18	Highest ranked Go player in the world for years. Father is 5d amateur and mother 3d amateur. Largely taught via Internet.
Kim Eunji	2007–	Korean	12	12	16	Youngest professional 9 dan in history. Excelled in children’s baduk competitions since 2012, when she was 5 years old.
Wu Yiming	2006–	Chinese	11	11		Youngest female professional in Chinese history.
Cho Hyeyeon	1985–	Korean	11	11	25	became professional when 11 years and 11 months, then the third youngest to become pro in Korea (after Cho Hunhyun and Lee Changho).
Yi Ch'ang-ho	1975–	Korean	9/10	10/11	20y 11m
Wei Haoting	1993–	Taiwanese		10y 3m		Youngest Taiwanese 1 dan.
Shusaku	1829–1862	Japanese		10y 6m		Go sage, who won all 19 castle games. His games are models for modern professionals to study.
Cho Chikun	1956–	Korean	11	11	24	Formerly youngest person to become professional in Japan. 1,000 wins by age 43.
Fujisawa Rina	1998–	Japanese	11y 6m			Youngest Japanese professional at 11 years and 6 months, the first after the 15 year age limit for females was lifted. Granddaughter of Fujisawa Hideyuki
Murakawa Daisuke	1990–	Japanese	11	11y 10m	28/29	Third youngest Japanese professional aged 11.
Yuki Satoshi	1972–	Japanese	11	11/12	25/26	Youngest Japanese to reach 1,000 wins (age 38/39)
Iyama Yuta	1989–	Japanese		12/13	19/20	First Japanese professional born in the Heisei era. Youngest to hold an open title. Youngest big title holder.
Hashimoto Shoji	1935–2009	Japanese	11/12		22/23	Was in his time the youngest to reach 9-dan.
Lee Sedol	1983–	Korean	12	12	20	Last(?) human player to win an even game against the top AI of the time, AlphaGo.
Liao Xingwen	1994–	Chinese	12
Chen Xiaonan	1986–	Chinese		13/14		2p by age 13.
Go Seigen	1914–2014	Chinese^[2]	14^[2]	14^[2]	35/36	[2] Best player in the world by a wide margin in the mid 20th century. Moved to Japan at age 14 and was immediately ranked 3 dan pro.
Cho Hun-Hyeon	1953–	Korean	9	14	28/29	Youngest person to become professional
Ogawa Doteki	1669–1690					6 dan at age 13, Honinbo heir aged 15.
Honinbo Shuwa	1820–1873	Japanese				Jump promotion to 3p in 1834. 7 dan aged 20 (very rare in edo period), crushed Gennan Inseki dream to become meijin.
Honinbo Dochi	1690–1727	Japanese				7 dan aged about 17, youngest hereditary meijin aged 31.
Akaboshi Intetsu	1810–1835	Japanese				7 dan at about 24, at a time when 7 dan was rarer than 9 dan now.
Wu Shuhao	1992–	Chinese				Qualified as amateur 5d aged 12 for the 2004 Mingren preliminary tournament. Went on to beat Zhou Bo, 5p, Liu Jing, 8p and Wang Yao, 5p and reached (at least) the second round of the final knockout tournament.
Mi Yuting	1996–	Chinese	11y 6m	11y 6m	17y 11m	Winner of the 3rd Xinxiu (2009-01-16): aged 13y 0m, youngest winner of a title in China

[edit]

Prodigy

See also