Catalin Taranu
Catalin Taranu is a professional 5 dan, born March 31, 1973, at Gura Humorului, Romania. He is one of the few Western go professionals.
Taranu Started playing Go in 1989 at age 16, and reached 1 dan in after 1 year. Another year later he reached 4 dan amateur level. In 1996, at age 23, he went to Japan to become an insei. His teacher was Saijo Masataka. Two years later he reached professional 1 dan at the Nihon Kiin. As of June 2001 he is a 5 dan professional. He has since returned to Romania where he has opened his own school and founded the
Saijo Club. He became President of the Romanian Go Federation in 2008.
Publications
Author of Top European Players Training
Further reading
Interview with Catalin Taranu, by Pieter Mioch.