Pro Review

Current US Men Professionals
September 13, 2004

- YILUN YANG 7p moved from China to the US in 1986. He was an active pro in China, winning several national championships and participating in the China-Japan go competitions. He does frequent workshops in the US and has taught hundreds of players worldwide by mail and via the Internet and has many devoted, long-time students. Yang took second place in the 2004 American Ing Pro Cup. His finals match with Feng Yun 9p in that tournament is commented by Feng Yun in the E-Journal for August 3, 2004. Yang has published many go books in English, most recently Fundamental Principles of Go (Slate & Shell). Other books include Whole Board Thinking in Joseki, vols 1 and 2 (Fourth Line Press), Ingenious Life and Death Puzzles, vols 1 and 2 (Yutopian), Rescue and Capture (Yutopian), Mistakes in Joseki (Yutopian), and Yilun Yang’s Go Puzzles, vols 1 and 2 (Slate & Shell). Yang regularly does game commentaries for the E-Journal and has created many life and death problems for AGA journals.

- MINGJIU JIANG 7p came to the US from China in 2000 and lives in the San Francisco area, where he runs a large go school and gives lessons over the Internet (see http://www.gomasters.com/index.php?id=238 for pictures). Jiang was active as a pro in China, twice playing in the China-Japan competitions in Japan. He has published several books in Chinese and one in English: Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes (Slate & Shell). Jiang won the western Toyota-Denso Oza in the US in 2004, losing to Yoda Norimoto 9p in the first round in Japan. He also represented the US in the 2002 LG Cup. Jiang was second in the 2003 American Ing Pro Cup and third in 2004. His game with Feng Yun 9p in the latter is commented by Feng Yun in the E-Journal for August 2, 2004, and his game with Yilun Yang 7p is commented by Yilun Yang in the issue for August 4, 2004. He and Guo Juan 5p run a continuing lecture series on KGS.

- HUIREN YANG 1p came to the US in 1994 and has lived in the Boston area since 1995. He is an active go teacher and lecturer and represented the US in the 17th Fujitsu Cup in 2004, losing to Wang Lei 8p of China. His commentary on the game was published in the E-Journal for June 14, 2004. Yang took fourth place in the American Ing Pro Cup at the Congress in Rochester, NY, in 2004. His game with Yilun Yang in that tournament is commented by Yilun Yang in the E-Journal for August 1, 2004. Yang placed third in the Ing Pro Cup at the 2003 US Go Congress. He was also an active teacher in China where many of his students became professionals.

- JAMES KERWIN 1p is the first Westerner to win pro status at the Nihon Kiin (in 1978). He went to Japan after finishing college and because a professional shodan four years later. Before returning to the US he won the 1 dan division of the 4th Kisei preliminary tournaments. Kerwin has been a major force in the development of go in the US, offering many workshops around the country over the years, writing articles in the AGA journals, teaching lessons via the Internet, and participating in US Go Congresses. He published a commentary on a 9x9 game in the E-Journal for December 29, 2003, and an analysis of the taisha joseki in the issue for January 5, 2004. Kerwin lives in Minneapolis and has many devoted students among US players.

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