Professional
Table of contents |
Types
There might be at least the following types of Go professionals:
- members of professional Go guilds;
- playing professionals;
- teaching professionals;
- go writers (journalists, authors);
- professional Go scientists (including programmers).
A professional might belong to more than one type. Being professional often means 'earning money'. In practice one should recognise some degree of semi-professionalism.
Status & History of Members of Guilds
Professional organisations
The usual way of defining professionalism is in terms of membership of a professional organisation - a guild-like group of strong players. The major examples are
- the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in in Japan
- the Hankuk Kiwon in South Korea
- the Zhongguo Qiyuan in China.
These were all founded during the twentieth century. There are smaller groups in Japan, and a pro organisation in Taiwan. There is also some structure for professionals in North America. There may be other places with some recognised pros.
What is a professional?
If a professional is a person whose primary occupation is go, then concept of "professional" players has existed for centuries. The traditional term for such a go (or shogi) player in Japan is 棋士 (kishi).
Go teachers often make their primary income from teaching and writing about go. Unless they are affiliated with one of the Go associations, they are still considered 'amateurs', i.e. not pros. Kikuchi is one example of a very strong player who is not an accredited pro. Yasunaga had a pro diploma, but did not claim pro status or compete (he played in the WAGC).
Velobici: The primary source of income for the (vast?) majority of professional is teaching. Tournament play provides an income supplement for many professionals and is the primary source of income for a small number.
While both players often receive payment for each title match game, title match winners receive significantly more than the losers. Titles in China, Japan, and Korea are dominated by a small number of professionals. This is true at this time and since the inception of the title match system.
In Japan, the country with the largest title match awards, there are seven big titles. As of early 2005:
Cho Chikun has won 68 titles, Sakata Eio has won 64 titles, Kobayashi Koichi 59, Otake Hideo 48, Kato Masao 47, Rin Kaiho 35, Yoda Norimoto 34, Ishida Yoshio 24, Takemiya Masaki 24, Fujisawa Shuko 23, and O Rissei 22. [1]
The total is about 440 titles including minor titles. The dominance of a very small number of individuals is indisputable.
Historical vs. Contemporary Go
In Japan, prior to the Meiji Restoration, the four houses essentially controlled Go. They were sponsored by the shogunate, and indeed played their most important games before the shogun. These castle games, as they were known, were the central fixture of historical Japanese Go, and helped to establish the reputation of several players we study even now. Shusaku, for instance, is famous partially because he never lost in a castle game. After the eventual collapse of the four houses, the professional organizations as we know them today--the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in--arose.
There have been also some changes in ranking systems and titles. Historically, there could be only one Meijin, which is the equivalent of 9-dan professional, at a time. Today, there is no such distinction. There are many professionals who have attained a 9p rank, as determined by their respective Go associations. The title "Meijin" has become one of the Japanese big titles. Similarly, the last hereditary Honinbo, Shusai, allowed the title to be made into a tournament. None of the other four houses followed this route, however.
People
Notable Historical Pros
This list is extremely cursory; there are many more historical professionals, some of whom may be discussed elsewhere on Sensei's Library.
Notable Twentieth Century Pros (inactive or deceased)
- Cho Nam-ch'eol (Cho Namchul)
- Fujisawa Hideyuki
- Go Seigen
- Hashimoto Utaro
- Iwamoto Kaoru
- Kato Masao
- Kitani Minoru
- Fujisawa Hosai
- Maeda Nobuaki
- Ohira Shuzo
- Sakata Eio
- Shusai
- Takagawa Kaku
- Kageyama Toshiro
Notable Active Pros
- Japan
- Korea
- China
Notable Migrant Pros
- Ch'a Min-su (Jimmy Cha) From South-Korea to U.S.A.
- Chan Ka Yui From China to Hong Kong and then to Japan.
- Cheon Seu Wien From Taiwan to South-Korea and back (still goes to and fro).
- Cho Chikun From South-Korea to Japan.[2]
- Cho Nam-ch'eol From South-Korea to Japan and back.
- Cho Shoen From South-Korea to Japan.
- Cho Sonjin From South-Korea to Japan.
- Cho U From Taiwan To Japan.
- Fan Hui From China to France.
- Feng Yun From China to U.S.A.
- Go Seigen From China to Japan.
- Guo Juan From China to Netherlands.
- Ha Yeong Il From Japan to South-Korea.
- Huang Yan From China to South-Korea.
- Jiang Zhujiu From China to U.S.A. Then to Korea.
- Kim Hyeon-cheong From South-Korea to Japan.
- Ko Reibun From China to Japan.
- O Meien From Taiwan To Japan.
- O Rissei From Taiwan to Japan.
- Rin Kaiho From Taiwan To Japan.
- Rin Kanketsu From Taiwan to Japan.
- Rin Shien From Taiwan to Japan.
- Rui Naiwei From China to Japan, then from Japan to U.S.A. Now lives and plays in South-Korea.
- Ryu Shikun From South-Korea to Japan.
- Shigeno Yuki From Japan to Italy.
- Wu Songsheng From China to Australia to South-Korea to China (and then back to Australia?).
- Yang Yilun From China to the U.S.A.
Notable Western Pros
- Alexandre Dinerchtein (Russia)
- Diana Koszegi (Hungary)
- James Kerwin (USA)
- Janice Kim (USA)
- Joanne Missingham (Australia)
- Hans Pietsch (Germany, deceased)
- Michael Redmond (USA)
- Svetlana Shikshina (Russia)
- Catalin Taranu (Romania)
- Manfred Wimmer (Austria, deceased)
Other Pros
- Murakami Akihide (Japan)
- Jennie Shen (China)
Other Resources
- Difference between pros and amateurs
- Go4Go provides information and news regarding the professional Go scene. They also have a running series of games commented by Alexandre Dinerchtein, though these require a subscription fee.
- GoBase is a large collection of professional games, news, and other information managed by Jan van der Steen. Downloading the SGF files requires registration.
-
GoGameWorld.com has current pro news, photo galleries, player profiles, and a list of tournament titles. Commented pro games are also offered, for a subscription fee.
- GoGoD is a (commercial) database of professional games, historical and modern.
- Professional players' Go styles
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Rating of professional players
[1] Go World Summer 2005, issue number 104, page 6
[2] Cho Chikun is technically a migrant from Korea to Japan but since he left Korea at the age of 6 and did not return until he had won the Meijin title (age 24), he is Japanese both by go training and culturally.
See also: