11-year-old girl becomes China's youngest professional Go player

An 11-year-old girl from Wuxi city in China's eastern Zhejiang province has made history by becoming the country's youngest professional Go player. The QianJiang Evening NEWS reports that the 11-year-old, surnamed Wu, put on a strong performance, winning 10 out of 11 matches to pass during the annual professional Go player's verification test.

Wu plays at a Go amateur open championship in Zhejiang province on May 30 2018. [Photo:VCG]

While kids her age were preparing for their senior high school entrance examinations, Wu decided to go for the verification test for professional Go players. Her outstanding performance impressed many as she became the youngest professional player at the "Gao Kao" for Go players in China. During the test, which is held annually in China, out of 500 players that were competing only 30 were selected as professionals.

According to Wu's mom, her only intentions were to calm Wu's mind as a naughty kid when she sent her to learn the Go game, an abstract strategy board game, in kindergarten. Wu's talents were instantly noticed by her teacher on the training courses. And after a year of training, Wu obtained an amateur 5 dan grading rank in Go.

The path to Wu's great achievement was not easy as her mom had to make a lot of sacrifices. In 2015, she quit her job where she had worked for 23 years in order to accompany her daughter to Go classes in Hangzhou. She says she spent more than 120-thousand Yuan on rent,tuition and traffic fees last year. But Wu's mom always found comfort in her impressive progress in the game.

Wu said she will win prizes and buy candy, which is her favorite.

She also says she wants to become a world champion like Yu Zhiying, a Chinese professional Go player.