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Pros

The Congress welcomes professionals who have mastered Go at the highest level and seek to help us become more skillful players. Please continue to check this page as more are added. (Full Asian names usually listed in Asian order, last name/first name, except for those living in the USA.)

Kim Jiseok, Professional 9 dan

Korean Baduk Association

He became a professional Go player at the age of 14 in 2003 and achieved 9D in 2013. In 2014, he won the Samsung World Championship, one of the most prestigious Go tournaments in the world. He also was the runner-up at the LG Cup in 2015, another major international competition. In 2018, he won the TV Asian Championship, which is a highly competitive world blitz competition. He also served as the captain of the Korean national Go team from 2014 to 2022.

Aside from Go, he enjoys playing golf and badminton.

Lee Donghoon, Professional 9 dan

Korean Baduk Association

He became a professional Go player at the age of 13 in 2011. He achieved 9D at the age of 19 in 2017. At the age of 17 in 2015, he defeated Park Jeonghwan 9D and won the first prize in the KBS Cup, one of the major Go tournaments in Korea. The following year, he added a second win in GS Cup, further cementing his reputation as a top Go player. He has also played an active role in the final stages of international Go competitions, showcasing his abilities on the global stage.

In addition to his passion for Go, he is also interested in economics and finance, and enjoys playing various sports such as soccer. He has a dream of promoting and distributing Go in the United States and has taken steps to make this a reality.

Yilun Yang, Professional 7 dan

Born in Shanghai in 1951, he became a professional Go player in 1966. He joined the Chinese National Go Team in 1973 and later coached the Shanghai professional Go team. Since moving to the United States in 1986, he has become a popular Go teacher. His many books include Fundamental Principles of Go, Whole Board Thinking in Joseki, and Ingenious Life and Death Puzzles. He has taught hundreds of students worldwide via the internet and teaches workshops across the country.

MingJiu Jiang, Professional 7 dan

Born in 1957, he became a professional 7 Dan in 1987. He moved to the United States in 2000 and has since then represented the United States and North America nearly annually in international tournaments. In 2004, he reached the top 16 in the 9th LG World Cup. And in 2007, he was the champion of the First North America Ing Masters Championship.

He has been teaching Go for more than 30 years to both children and adults, and many of his students have been North American representatives to the World Youth Go Championship. ZhuJiu Jiang (jujo), 9P is his younger brother.

Satoshi Yanagisawa, Professional 6 dan

Born in 1988, Nagano prefecture, Japan. He became a professional-Shodan in 2005, promoted to 6p in 2021. He was dispatched to the European Go Congress 2018 in Italy by the Nihon Kiin.

Since 2016, he has had own channel (https://www.youtube.com/@igoYanagi) with more than 1,100 videos to teach and promote Go. He is a well-known Go teacher throughout the Japan's Go community.

Hai Li, Professional 5 dan

Hai Li, is a 5-dan pro player originally from China. He has focused on teaching Go for almost 40 years. His students include the world Champion Yue Shi (9 dan) and dozens of pros. He served as the Henan Province and Tianjin Weiqi team coach from 1986. In 2005, he founded the Jin Hai Weiqi Academy in Tianjin, China.

In 2018, he moved to Orange County, CA, USA. He founded the Hai Li Go School to offer Go lessons and organize Go tournaments in the local area. Since then, he has been actively teaching Go and his students have spread to many US states.

Han Han, Professional 5 dan

Born in Beijing in 1989, he became a professional Go player at the age of 14 and achieved 5 dan in 2009. He used to play in the National Go League A and defeated more than a dozen world champions in tournaments. He has been teaching Go for more than 15 years and helped many kids become professionals. He also lectured Go courses many times at Tsinghua and Peking University since 2015, and is currently a columnist for the most popular Go magazine in China.

Outside of Go, he loves art and is zealous about classical music.

Ryan Li, Professional 4 dan

Ryan is a Canadian professional Go player. He achieved professional 1 dan in 2014 and 3 dan in 2021. Ryan won several games representing North America in world professional tournaments including the IMSA Elite Mind Games, Samsung Cup, MLILY Go Open, Ing Cup, and Chunlan Cup. He defeated world champion Chen Yaoye 9P and advanced to the world top 16 in 2017. Ryan runs the Random Opening Challenge series on the NYIG Go YouTube channel.

Outside Go, Ryan has a PhD from Yale University and several publications in scientific journals. Ryan and his wife, Stephanie Yin 1P, run the New York Institute of Go focused on Go teaching and outreach on the East Coast.

Eric Lui, Professional 2 dan

Born in Maryland, he started playing Go at age 5 and became shodan in less than a year. In 2010, he finished 2nd in the North American Ing Masters. Since becoming an AGA pro in 2016, he has played in over twenty major international tournaments, including the Samsung Cup, MLILY Cup, Ing Cup, Chunlan Cup, Tianfu Cup, Sankei Cup, World Student Go Oza, Pair Go World Cup, and the World Youth Go Championship. He twice represented the United States in the World Amateur Go Championship and Korea Prime Minister Cup International Baduk Championship, achieving the best-ever U.S. finish in both tournaments.

Chin Shih, Professional 2 dan - Taiwan
Chinese Taipei Weichi Association

Born in Changhua in 1987 , he became a professional player in Taiwan in 2002 at the age of 14.

In 2008, he won the Championship of Taiwan Yu-De Cup Judan Title and was promoted to a professional 2-dan.

He teaches Go (Weiqi) on/off line.

Mateusz Surma, Professional 2 dan - Poland

Mateusz has been a professional Go player since 2015. He is the founder and CEO of www.polgote.com (a platform which connects students with freelance Go teachers).

He was the first European to win four games in a row in the Chinese C League. Throughout his career, he has authored nine Go books.

Married since 2018, he's the father of two kids.

Stephanie Yin, Professional 1 dan

Stephanie became a professional Go Player through the Chinese Weiqi Association in 2007. She has represented the United States in a number of international tournaments, including the Bingsheng Cup and the MLILY World Go Open. She was a main commentator in the Google Deepmind team for the Ke Jie vs. AlphaGo matches in the Future of Go Summit. Stephanie and her husband, Ryan Li 4P, run the New York Institute of Go focusing on Go teaching and outreach on the east coast.

Do Eunkyo, Professional 1 dan
Korean Baduk Association

Eunkyo started learning Go at the age of 10 and was considered a promising prospect for the future. However, she failed to become a professional player at the age of 16 and decided to switch to studies instead. After majoring in mathematics and working at a financial company for 4 years, with a gap of 15 years, she returned to the world of Go. She resumed studying Go and eventually made her professional debut in 2018.

Now, she is challenging her dream of becoming a prominent English Go teacher. She has opened an English YouTube channel and is taking steps towards realizing her dream.

Taylor Shu, Professional 1 dan - Taiwan
Chinese Taipei Weichi Association

Born in California in 2005 and relocated to Taiwan in 2010, Taylor has been studying Go since the age of 5. By the time she was 8 years old, Taylor had become an amateur 6 Dan player. She won top prizes in many Go competitions, including the U16 Girls championship at the 2016 AGA Go Congress. In 2019, she successfully turned professional through Taiwan's rigorous Professional Go Player selection process. Despite the demands of her studies at Taipei Municipal First Girls High School, Taylor continued playing Go.

Looking ahead, she is thrilled to commence her undergraduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Fall 2023.

Inseong Hwang, Amateur 8 dan

Inseong is a strong 8 dan amateur who teaches Go for a living and who's online Go School is very popular in the U.S. and Europe.

He was a Korean Yunguseng (Insei) from 1996 to 2001. He joined the Myoung-ji University Baduk Department in 2002 and also worked as a Baduk television commentator. He came to Europe in 2005 and since then, has been teaching Go for western Go players for over 15 years. While living in Europe, he was the top-ranked player for 5 years (2013-2018), and for the last ten years he has been the Official Go Instructor of the French and Swiss Go Associations. His four-lecture series has been a popular feature of recent Congresses.

He has run an online Go academy, American Yunguseng Dojang, for over 10 years.

Professional Events

Lectures

Professionals will provide lectures targeted to different skill levels throughout the week. Look for the daily schedule posted in various places.

Game Analysis

The Congress provides a great opportunity to have your games reviewed by a professional. Game reviews are group events in which a professional will go over the major good and bad points of your game as you play it out alone or with your opponent on a demonstration board. Please take care in recording your games!

Private Lessons: many pros offer private or group lessons, if pre-arranged directly with them before Congress.

Simuls

Simultaneous games give you an opportunity to play against a professional. Professionals play three or six games at a time. Please sign up for simultaneous games and arrive on time. If you are not seated within five minutes of the appointed time, you will forfeit your place to an alternate. You may not save a seat for a late player. Priority will be given to first-time Congress attendees.

Simul Game Etiquette

When the professional player approaches your board for the first move, it is customary to greet them.
Do not delay your move. When the pro comes around to your board, make your move.
Do not play your move before the pro arrives. It is rude to make the pro find your move.
Do show respect for the pro by not discussing your game (or anything else) with bystanders.
Do resign when the game is lost. Please resist the temptation to play the game out until the bitter end.
Quietly thank the professional, and clear off the board before you leave. In three-game simuls, pros will often do brief analyses after all three games are finished.
The event director reserves the right to terminate any games that are clearly lost.

Please do not sign up for more than one simultaneous game until Thursday so that all attendees will have an opportunity to play one. If you have not played a game by Thursday and would like one, please let the staff know and we will give you priority.

Pros

Professional Events

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Simuls

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