I like the juxtaposition of Chan (kghin) and Hirata in the upper right corner of the player table - date of birth 1997 and 1926 respectively. Hirata is more than 71 years older than Chan. I wonder if that is a WAGC record. Anyone know?

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

I am even more interested in what this one tells us about the meaning of "amateur"

Woo Soo CHOI
Date of birth : 1990.3.4
Strength : 7-dan
Occupation : Amateur Go player

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Well, Japan is ought to win. Superior strength and experience! =D

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

The 1949 Japanese rules are strictly no longer in force, but there are elements in there that have (I think) not been treated in later revisions, and so I would expect them to be regarded as being in force on the basis of precedent or faute de mieux.

They define the differences between professional and amateur (Clauses 64 to 70):

Clause 64.1: A person who receives money or other emoluments, who makes go his profession by teaching go to other persons or who trains other persons by playing go with them shall be regarded as a professional go player regardless of any ranking".

Clause 64.2: A person who is currently studying go with a view to becoming a professional go player in accordance with the preceding paragraph shall also be regarded as a professional go player as regards the applicability of these rules.

Clause 65: A person other than persons described by the previous clause who simply loves go and who competes shall be regarded as an amateur.

Clause 66.1: Where a person who has amateur status participates in a competition with a view to obtaining emoluments other than the specified trophies which are awarded in the competition, he shall lose his amateur status as regards that competition.

Clause 66.2: Where a person covered by the preceding paragraph participates in an amateur competition and the situation described in the preceding paragraph becomes evident during the competition, he shall be excluded from the competition.

Clause 66.3: Where the situation described in the first paragraph becomes evident during the competition described in the preceding paragraph or after completion of the competition, the results in the competition of said person but only said person shall be erased and it shall be allowed to revise the results of the competition on the basis of the results of the other participants.

I omit Clauses 66.4 to 70 in detail, but up to 69 they cover being able to consult the Nihon Ki-in on amateur status and the ability of a professional who gives up his profession to revert to amateur status. However, Clause 70 says that where, in future, an organisation for international go competitions is formed and where said organisation makes stipulations on participatory status and distinctions between professional and amateur, in competitions endorsed by said organisation its provisions shall apply irrespective of the Nihon Ki-in rules.

This makes it plain that the usual distinction we would make between pro and amateur has been clearly recognised also in Japan, and on that basis they would definitely exclude people like Cornel Burzo. They would probably exclude the Korean on the basis he was working to become a pro. They would also exclude several previous winners on that basis, possibly including Japanese ones.

However, Clause 70 gives them more than enough wiggle room, so unless you get the see the specific rules of the WAGC it's pointless complaining.

Wow:

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Better change that to "a realistic view" or an awful lot of Western players might be disqualified.

As for Hirata, I do believe he was the first Japanese amateur 6d back in the 60s, that he's been the representative to the WAGC 8 times, and won once in the past. He certainly has a great deal of longevity.

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Occupy Babel!

Earlier. It was in 1955. He was a high school teacher of mathematics then (from 1968) assistant professor at Showa Pharmaceutical College, but only after training as an insei along with Yamabe Toshiro. Seeing Yamabe's progress, he decided he was too weak at go and so abandoned the idea of becoming a professional. He won the world amateur championship in 1995 after surviving cancer. Last year he became the oldest qualifier for the WAGC at age 84.

There have been old and young participants in the past but to set a record they have to play in the same tournament. I recall that Yasunaga and Kikuchi were fairly old when they played and there were some rather young Chinese(?) players but I don't have access to who played when.