Nakayama Noriyuki
Nakayama Noriyuki (中山 典之), born 1932/09/03, is a Nihon Ki-in pro 6 dan. Author, reporter and go writer. He has ghost written books for many top professionals and authored several for himself.
His teacher was Suzuki Goro. Nakayama also studied with Kajiwara Takeo. Nakayama began playing go with his maternal grandfather in Nagano Prefecture at age 15 (1945) at nine stone handicap. By the end of the summer, Nakayama held white. His strength continued to increase till he was the strongest player in Nagano. He moved to Tokyo to continue his go studies. Each year he took the professional examination, passing just before his 30th birthday (1962). Since then he has defied the common perception that professionals reach their peak strength early in life. Each decade he has gained a rank reaching 6-dan in the 1990's.
Nakayama is currently living in Kamogawa City in Chiba prefecture, Japan.
Trivia
There is a picture on his Nihon-Ki-in webpage.
He was awarded the Okura Prize (for speading and promotion of go) in 2004.
Nakayama is well known for his skill at composing ladder problems.
A second edition of his popular book The Treasure Chest Enigma was published by Slate and Shell late in 2005. One of the amazing essays of that book suggests that Nakayama's memorization ability is not really extraordinary for a pro.
This book is now also available in German ("Die Schatztruhe" publsihed by Brett und Stein Verlag).
Nakayama is well known as one of the professionals that most toured the West to spread and teach Go. A delightful person, he's always ready to play amateurs. He's never hard-spoken when confronted with our stupid mistakes, but always says something encouraging, like: "Ah! New Joseki, neh?!", or: "Oohh! Stroong move! But maybe... this (playing his move...) better!!!"
At the 2006 US Go Congress, Nakayama announced that he would not be returning next year due to family health considerations. Nakayama taught, lectured and entertained at each US Go Congress. He will be sorely missed in coming years.