Wu Songsheng

    Keywords: People

Wu SongSheng (Chinese: 吴淞笙, 1945–2007) was born in Putian, Fujian Province, and raised in Shanghai. He was one of the strongest players in the pre-professional era in China (together with Chen Zude). He was given a 9 dan rank as soon as China gave professional ranks (1982). He was a teacher to many of the Chinese professionals who followed him. In his books 围棋教室 (WeiQiJiaoShi/ Go Classroom) there are pictures of him playing informal games with Nie WeiPing and Ma XiaoChun. Kong Xiangming became his pupil at the request of her father.

He migrated to Australia in 1985, because his mother had moved there. He was later invited by Korean professional 9 dan rank Cho Hun-hyun to South Korean Go Association as a guest, until his return to China in 1998 and subsequent return to Sydney, Australia. Wu Songsheng was the Honorary National Coach of the Australian Go Association. He attended several Australian tournaments in the capacity of teacher and/or tournament referee. He also occasionally visited New Zealand to give lectures and high-handicap teaching games.

In his lessons, Wu often emphasised the importance of finding the natural move in each position instead of playing “joseki rubbish”. He had the same view about two double kakari josekis as Sonoda Yuichi in "Good Points and Bad Points to Play".

He also stressed the importance of taking care of your own weaknesses instead of rushing around the board taking big points. He strongly believed that the philosophy of Go could inform us about life and often gave advice like “If you are in too much of a hurry you won’t notice danger coming until it hits you.” This, of course, is advice related to both playing Go and living life. He was reputed to play a Taiji Style (Tai Chi style) of Go.

On 23 December 2007, Wu Songsheng passed away suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage in a Sydney hospital. He had been in poor health since suffering a stroke sometime earlier. His passing wss a sad loss for the world of Go as well as the Australian Go playing community and those who knew him. He was survived by his wife Yuehong and daughter Yiyao.

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Wu Songsheng last edited by 2603:9001:6e0b:2694 on December 27, 2024 - 08:35
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