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JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI
Sumire Nakamura, 13, competes in a go match in Chiyoda ward, Tokyo.
TOKYO >> Junior high school student Sumire Nakamura has become the youngest professional go player to achieve 100 wins in an official match.
Nakamura defeated sixth-dan player Keiko Kato, 43, in June in the second round of the 41st Women’s Honinbo tournament at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo. The game’s professionals rankings, called dan, go from one (lowest) to nine (highest).
At 13 years and 3 months of age, Nakamura is the youngest professional go player in the history of the Nihon Ki-in, the Japanese association for the traditional board game, to reach 100 official wins. She broke the previous record held by Cho Chi Hun, 65, which he set at 15 years and 11 months.
Nakamura seemed unfazed by her accomplishment. “I’m not really conscious of my wins,” she said. “It was like, ‘Oh, I see.’”
The teen accumulated the 100 wins just three years and two months after going pro. To that, she said with a smile, “I don’t know, but it seems fast.”
A second-dan player, Nakamura steadily built up a lead from the beginning of the match and maintained her advantage.
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