Go Professional - Reaching Professional Level

Reaching Professional Level

Professional dan rankings are normally awarded in Japan, China, South Korea or Taiwan, through one of the professional Go associations, most notably the Hanguk Kiwon (Korea) or Nihon Ki-in (Japan).

The attainment of professional qualification differs in different countries:

• In China a few amateurs are given the 1p grade as probationers, on the basis of success in amateur tournaments.
• In Japan student professionals are called insei, and have to play in internal insei competitions to qualify; mostly they are adolescents, and must decide whether to continue based on their chances of a career in Go, or go to university. Insei rarely take part in amateur events, but some of the top amateurs are ex-insei.
• In South Korea four amateurs become professional every year, at the top of a ferocious league system of 80 aspiring pros. Once within the professional system, promotion is based on game results.

Most professional players begin studying Go seriously when they are children, commonly reaching professional status in their mid to late teens. Some rare students achieve professional status at a much earlier age, such as Cho Chikun.

In order to qualify as a first dan professional (1p), one must have deep resources of game experience and study. In local positions, professionals are often on close ground with each other, understanding good shape, tesuji, life and death, fuseki and joseki patterns. However, in global positions they often differ in positional judgement--the global impact and interaction of josekis and differing importance of various parts of the board during the opening and middle game.