Rui Naiwei (; born December 28, 1963) is a Chinese professional Go player, once active in South Korea. She is 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 title (the oldest and one of the most prestigious Go competitions in Korea), on the way beating Lee Chang-Ho and

Cho Hun-hyun Cho Hunhyun (; 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 professional title ...

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

Biography

Rui was born in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, 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 (board game), go, Contract bridge, bridge, chess and Xiangqi, Chinese chess affairs under the All-China Sports Federation of the People's Republic of China ...

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, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. 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 Guksu (the 43rd open Guksu title in South Korea, 1999) and the Maxim Cup (2004). She returned to China in 2011. Rui's style tends to be extremely aggressive, and often characterized by large scale semeai. Her husband is

Jiang Zhujiu Jiang Zhujiu (; born February 17, 1962, in Taiyuan) is a Chinese people, Chinese professional 9-dan Go (board game), Go Go players, player. Biography Jiang began playing Go when he was 6. In 1982, he was 5 dan, and in 1983 he entered the Go ...

, 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 Chinese female Go players 20th-century Go players People from Shanghai