Yi Yeong-ku
Yi Yeong-ku (Hangul: 이영구, Hanja: 李映九, also transliterated as Lee Yeongkyu , Lee Youngkyu, or Lee Younggu), born 23 August 1987 on Jeju Island, Korea), is a Korean 9 dan professional.
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Early life
His teacher was the late Kweon Kap-yong 9p at his Dojo.
Promotion history
He became a professional 1 dan in 2001, promoted to 3 dan in 2003, and promoted to 7 dan in 2007. On 2010-01-11 Lee was promoted 8 dan due his win against Yang Jaeho in the preliminaries of the 2nd Bccard and in 2011-09-29 to 9 dan, by winning the 7th Korean Prices Information Cup.
Achievements
He took second place in the 13th and 14th BC Card Cup (New Pro in 2003 and 2004), 5th Osram Cup (2005), 11th SK Gas Cup (2006), 40th Wangwi (2006) and 3rd Korean Prices Information Cup (2007).
Winner of the 2005 Baduk Masters Emperor and of the 7th Korean Prices Information Cup in 2011.
He is one of two players whom O Yujin 9p most admires; the other is her teacher Han Jongjin 8p.
Personal life
Biography by An Young Gil 8p. He is described as a very hard worker and skilled at lightning Go.
He married O Jeonga 5p on 3 Nov 2018 after dating for six years. They have one daughter born on 26 August 2021, just eight days after O Jeonga finished runner-up in the 1st IBK Cup.
In 2019, the new couple won the Korea-China-Japan Family Invitational Competition (pair go).
Videos
- TygemTV's 5-minute life&death challenge episode featuring Lee Younggu.
YouTube link
Links
Pictures

Yi Yeong-ku and his wife O Jeonga, after they won the Myeongin Family Invitational
(Image credit: baduk.or.kr)