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Little GolemMake your next move.

the youngest player at LG?

Public forum discussion.

General

#1 · Tim Shih

30 May 2004

Guess what, fellow players, can you believe that iceman(rtv_agd) is only about 10.5 years old? ( He has given me the permission to post this) And his Hex13 rating is already 1899.

I was, like, what???? really??? no kidding???

Is there any player younger than 10.5 at LG? :)

#2 · pitirre

30 May 2004

my emotional iq is like 8 years old.

#3 · BuilderQ

30 May 2004

At most of the sites I go to, I like to tell people that I am 0 years old. :)

#4 · javerberg

30 May 2004

Loco-ai is younger than a year. :)

#6 · Eduard

31 May 2004

I know that Rares is 6 y.o. He's playing Go and has a rank ~21 kyu

#7 · Corrin Lakeland

31 May 2004

On one of the other go servers I'm on, one of my opponents is an eight year old shodan, though he is somewhat weaker at slow games.

#8 · Tim Shih

31 May 2004

The observation that this 8-year-old child is weaker at slow games makes sense to me. At such a young age, children tend to exercise their sharp memory and quick intuition. Their rationalization and calculation ability usually is not as strong as adults'.

It is scary that he is already first dan in Go. amazing. :) On the other hand, it is gratifying to learn such a fact. Thanks for sharing.

#9 · Corrin Lakeland

31 May 2004

Kids don't tend to have the patience of adults. While he can read out sequences further than me, he rarely bothers.

His nick is 'edwin' on KGS if you're interested.

Oh, and as you probably already know, most of the go professionals became pro before they finished school.

#10 · Tim Shih

6 Jun 2004

Yes, Corrin, you are right. In China, pro Go, ping pong, and badminton players (and other sports, too) start their boarding-school training as young as less than 10 years old.

To my knowledge, most of them did not go through even regular junior high schooling. I used to have a Chinese ping pong coach. She seized once a European Open woman champion (or the 2nd place). She told me that she did not finish her junior high schooling. She sighed to me that her entire life was spent in this tiny ball.

Another 9-dan Go pro Rui4 Nai3 Wei3 also at a certain juncture in her life regretted that her entire life was spent on the Go board, and was about to quit from Go altogether. But eventually she stayed, and officially recognized Go Giant Wu Qing Yuan as her teacher. They held a kowtow ceremony. :)

And Wu himself went from China to Japan in his early teen. Immediately after his arrival, he plunged himself into rigorous learning of Go. I doubted if he had time to go through junior high schooling (and above) as other teenagers did.

You all have a nice weekend. :)

#11 · liso

8 Jun 2004

I am 37 or 8.5 depend on that me or my son is playing our moves :) (I am afraid (or be proud? ;-) his moves are more clever than mine :)

#12 · Nick Wedd

8 Jun 2004

The Chinese boy playing Go in this picture, taken four years ago, is Liao Xingwen. He was six years old at the time. The picture shows him beating a 4-dan.

#14 · Tim Shih

8 Jun 2004

Nick, thanks. The photo is really neat. So at age of 6, he was "abusing" a 4-dan adult (nice to know that children can revert the "child abuse" on a Go board)? Did he really win that game? :)

#15 · Nick Wedd

8 Jun 2004

Yes, he really won that game. The 4-dan in the picture is Francis Roads, and the results table is here. He beat another 4-dan, Des Cann, in the same event.

There are more pictures here, some of them also showing Liao Xingwen.

#16 · pitirre

8 Jun 2004

what impressed me was the concentration the lil boy expressed on his face...

i dont think i got that concentration even when im in the bathroom defecating.

#17 · Tim Shih

8 Jun 2004

Notice that the child folded his hands and rested them quite discipliningly on the table?

Ha, for novice players, FYI, if you do the same, you will improve at least one stone overnight. Why? because your hand will NOT fetch into the stone container casually, hence minimizing casual, impulsive, and careless moves. :) I am serious. at least one stone, guaranteed.

#18 · powerrade

10 Jun 2004

Hi my name is Hubert .I 18 years old . And you?

#19 · Tim Shih

11 Jun 2004

Hi, Hubert, 18 is a beautiful age.

Mine is also beautiful. It is a century divided by 2 plus 5. In the year I was born, Truman was thought to be defeated by Dewey.

I may be the youngest Bingo game player when I go to visit nursing homes, sometimes helping some of them to play the game. :)