Rui Naiwei (; born December 28, 1963) is a Chinese professional Go player, once active in South Korea. She is probably the strongest recorded female

Go player This article gives an overview of well-known professional and amateur players of the board game Go throughout the ages. The page has been divided into sections based on the era in which the Go players played and the country in which they play ...

, and is the only woman to have won one of the major open Go titles. She achieved this by winning the 1999

Guksu The Guksu (Korean: 국수전, Hanja: 國手戰) was a Go competition in South Korea. It was held 59 times beginning in 1956, and was discontinued in 2016. Outline The Guksu was a Go competition held by the Hanguk Kiwon, and sponsored by ''The D ...

title (the oldest and one of the most prestigious Go competitions in Korea), on the way beating

Lee Chang-Ho Lee Chang-ho ( ko, 이창호; born 29 July 1975 in Jeonju, North Jeolla) is a South Korean professional Go player of 9-dan rank. He is regarded by many as the best Go player of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was a student of Cho Hu ...

and

Cho Hun-hyun Cho Hunhyun ( ko, 조훈현; born 10 March 1953) is a South Korean professional Go player and politician. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Cho reached professional level in Korea in 1962. Since then, Cho has amassed 150 profe ...

, the two strongest players in the world at the time.

Biography

Rui was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China. After starting to play around 1975 (at the age of 11—the age some other players go pro) she became a pro for the

Zhongguo Qiyuan China Qiyuan () is an official agency responsible for board games and card games such as go, bridge, chess and Chinese chess affairs under the All-China Sports Federation of the People's Republic of China. It oversees the Chinese Weiqi Associatio ...

in 1985, being promoted all the way to 7-dan that year. She reached 9-dan in 1988, becoming the first woman ever to achieve that rank. After that, Chinese Feng Yun and Korean Park Jieun became the second and third female go players to reach 9 dan, following Rui Naiwei. Leaving China in 1989, she moved to Japan. While the

Nihon Ki-in The Nihon Ki-in (), also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main organizational body for Go in Japan, overseeing Japan's professional system and issuing diplomas for amateur dan rankings. It is based in Tokyo. The other major Go associat ...

did not allow her to play in any Japanese tournaments, she was able to make it to the semi-finals of the international Ing Cup in 1992. She spent several years in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. She then moved to South Korea (with the help of Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan). She participated actively in Korean tournaments. She dominated the women's events and won two open events, always previously won by men: the

(the 43rd open Guksu title in South Korea, 1999) and the

Maxim Cup The Maxim Cup (맥심커피배) is a South Korean Go competition. Outline The Maxim Cup is sponsored by Dong Suh Foods. The players are selected with any active 9p's and they are pitted against each other. Each player has 10 minutes of time ...

(2004). She returned to China in 2011. Rui's style tends to be extremely aggressive, and often characterized by large scale

semeai In the board game Go, a is a tactical situation created in positions when both players have groups striving to capture each other, in some closely delimited area of the board. Typically it is not possible for each side to create a safe group wit ...

. Her husband is

Jiang Zhujiu Jiang Zhujiu (; born February 17, 1962 in Taiyuan) is a Chinese professional Go player. Biography Jiang began playing Go when he was 6. In 1982, he was 5 dan, and 1987 he was promoted to 7 dan. Earlier in his career, he competed in some of ...

, also a 9-dan professional.

Titles & runners-up

Ranks #6-t in total number of titles in Korea.

References

External links

Go BaseRui Naiwei
- Biographical link on Sensei's library
Korea Baduk Association profile
(in Korean) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rui, Naiwei 1963 births Living people Go players from Shanghai Asian Games medalists in go Go players at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Female Go players