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EJ Profile: YKNOT Winner Zhanbo Sun 2P

Young Kwon National Online Tournament winner Zhanbo Sun 2P (l) is something of a mystery man to the North American go community, never having appeared previously in an AGA tournament. The 24-year-old Sun hails from Daqing in Heilongjiang Province, which borders Jilin in the south, Inner Mongolia to the west, and Russia to the north and east. Sun began playing go when he was six years old and became a professional in 2000. He has trained with Wenyao Piao 9P, who’s currently ranked 12th in China, and Jiaxi Tuo 6P, who’s ranked 7th. He captained Tsinghua University’s go team from 2005 to 2009 and is now a Ph.D. candidate in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, majoring in Transportation Engineering. Sun’s hobbies include music and snooker. His favorite thing about go is “Its complexity,” and his advice to amateurs who want to get stronger is simple: “Respect your opponents.” To the relief – or disappointment -- of other top North American players, Sun tells the EJ that due to time conflicts he’s unlikely to enter more North American tourneys at this point.