Li Jie (go player)

Infobox Go player
chinese = 李捷
pinyin = Lǐ Jié
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|5|31
cityofbirth = flagicon|China Nanjing
countryofbirth = China
residence = flagicon|USA Virginia, United States
rank = 9 dan (A)
affiliation = AGA

Jie Li (李捷, born May 31, 1981) is the strongest amateur Go player in the US. He is one of the strongest go players in the United States, playing at an equal level with many American professionals.

Biography

"Go is very hard. The more I learn about it, the less I know." -Jie"

Jie was born in Nanjing, China. He started to play Go at the age of 10, and blasted up to 1 dan strength just a year later. He became famous in 2001 at the North American Toyota Denso Oza, in which he beat 4 professional Go players. These players were Zhujiu Jiang 9P, Jimmy Cha, Mingjiu Jiang 7P, and Huiren Yang 1P. As a child, Jie won the Nanjing City Go tournament when he was 12, and came in fifth place at the China Youth Championship when he was 10. He moved to the U.S. in 1998, and won the US Open a year later at the age of 17. He has said he hopes to gain US citizenship in 2008 so he could become the first American player to win the World Amateur Go Championship. Currently, Jie is the highest ranked player at the American Go Association, with the rank of 9 dan amateur, which is loosely equivalent to a high dan professional.

The game record from the 3rd round of the 2001 Toyota Denso Oza tournament, when Li beat Zhujiu Jiang, may be found [http://www.hilltopgo.com/agej/2002/Toyota_2001_Oza_Jie_Li-ZhuJiu_Jiang_ver2.sgf here] .

On November 28th, 2004, Jie Li defeated Suzuki Ayumi 3p in the 5th Tokyo Seimitsu Cup finals, breaking the U.S. losing streak. Suzuki, the then current titleholder of "Strongest Woman" in Japan, was forced to resign in the game with Jie Li, who took black. After the game, a Japanese pro commented that black was "very strong".

In the 2005 go congress, Korean Player Kim MyungWan 7p, challenged Jie Li in a friendship match. Jie won the match.

In early 2006, Jie Li took second place in the World Student Oza in Japan, a feat unheard of in Western countries. Information about the 4th Student Oza can be found [http://www.intgofed.org/events/student4.htm here] .

During the 2006 go congress, Jie Li had a series of very disappointing performances. He participated in both the US Open and the Ing. He lost to Zhaonian (Michael) Chen in the Ing while losing to Zhi Yuan (Andy) Liu, Burzo Gheorghe Cornel, and Mingjiu Jiang in the open. He lost more games in the congress than the number of games he has lost in the past 5 years. His fans were worrying about his current form.

Fortunately, he started to pick up his form later on in 2006. He won the 2006 North American Masters Tournament, defeating Yilun Yang 7p, Mingjiu Jiang 7p, Xuefun Lin 1p, Huiren Yang 1p, Zhaonian (Michael) Chen (North America Ing Cup Titleholder-2006) in League stage and defeating Feng Yun 9P in the Final, 2 games to 1. He remained the strongest player in US.

He has an account on [http://www.gokgs.com KGS] with the name 'JLi' for the purpose of communicating about Go; it is not a playing account. Feel free to contact him with any questions you might have.

Past titles & Runner up's