Sun Zhe

Sun Zhe (孫喆; Son Makoto, born February 21, 1996) is a Nihon Ki-in professional. Shodan in 2011, 2 dan from 2012-02-01, 3 dan from 2014, currently 7d (2021).

Career record:

• 2011: 16 games, 10-4
• 2012: 26 games, 15-11
• 2013: 33 games, 24-9

Results:

• 2012: Runner up in the 9th Nakano Cup
• 2017: Runner up in the 42nd Shinjin O
• 2019: Winner of the 44th Shinjin O
• 2019: Winner of the New Star Kido Prize
• 2020: Runner up in the 15th Wakagoi

Weblinks

• Nihon Ki-in player profile

JohnF On the available evidence, we should probably stick with Son Makoto. I have already discussed this on L19, viz:. He was born in Japan (Yokohama). He is registered with the Nihon Ki-in as Son Makoto. He himself uses the twitter account Twi_mako. Son is an old and well established surname in Japan, though no doubt of Chinese origin. It is true that the character 喆 is disconcerting for many Japanese, but they get round that by writing out his name as ﾏｺﾄ (Makoto), and names often used weird characters so there is nothing novel in that. Even if there is a Chinese link somewhere in his history (could be centuries ago), most other players with such histories, and we, are happy to use the Japanese readings (Go Seigen, Rin Kaiho, O Rissei, O Mein, Kyo Kagen etc.). A couple get shirty about it. Chin Kaei is one. He was born in China and likes to be known by his Chinese name, but the problem there is that people use two: Mandarin Chen Jiarui, Cantonese Chan Ka Yui. However, on his business card he writes his surname as Chien. Son Makoto, however, is clearly not getting shirty.