Society | Nakamura becomes youngest female third dan Go player

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:06 JST, October 14, 2022

Teenage professional Go player Sumire Nakamura was promoted to third dan at the age of 13 years and 7 months, the youngest female on record in the Nihon Ki-in, on Friday.

Within the Nihon Ki-in, an association promoting Go games to which Nakamura belongs, her record is second only to 66-year old South Korean national Cho Chi-hun, who was promoted at 13 years and 4 months and holds the title of the Honorary Meijin. She also overtook the previous female record owner Hsieh Yi-min, a seventh-dan player from Taiwan, at 16 years and 4 months.

Nakamura won two consecutive games against sixth-dan holder Yao Zhi-teng and second-dan holder Taishin Takei on Thursday in the preliminary round of the 2nd Teikei Cup Shunei Tournament held at Nihon Ki-in in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. She has achieved 40 wins in official tournaments since her promotion to second dan in March 2021, thus fulfilling the requirements to go up to the next rank. She was promoted to third dan only 1 year and 7 months after her previous promotion.

“Considering my ability, I feel that it’s very fast,” Nakamura said. “I need to win 50 more games to reach fourth dan, which I think will be very difficult. I would like to continue accumulating one win at a time.”