Biography
Kong Jie turned professional in 1994 at the age of 12. He was promoted to 7-dan after 8-years in 2001. In 2004 he was sent into the Teda Cup as China's representative against Lee Chang-ho and Yoda Norimoto. Kong Jie is China's 29th professional 9-dan, doing so by being runner's up in the 13th Samsung Cup, and entering the finals of the Asian TV Cup for the first time.
In 2009, Kong Jie achieved a major international breakthrough by winning the Asian TV Cup—defeating Korea's top three players of Lee Sedol, Lee Chang-ho and Kang Dongyun respectively. His win marked the end of several years of poor personal international results. Later in the year, Kong Jie followed-up by reaching the semi-finals of the 14th Samsung Cup and proceeded to win the title by defeating his two compatriots Gu Li and Qiu Jun.
In 2010, Kong Jie passed the preliminary rounds of the 14th LG Cup to face former champion Lee Chang-ho in the finals. Kong won the match 2-0 and also the tournament. Later in the year, Kong Jie successfully defended his Asian TV Cup, defeating Korea's Lee Chang-ho and Japan's Yuki Satoshi. He followed this up with another big win over a red hot Lee Sedol, to win the 23rd Fujitsu Cup. With an incredible year, he arguably cemented his status as the 2010 world's strongest Go player. During the 15th Samsung Cup ， Kong managed to defeat a soon to be wedded Lee Chang-Ho before succumbing to Kim Ji-Seok in the Quarterfinals. The match, with Kong playing Black, turned out to be a crucial "fight to the death" of both side's dragons, but Kong, miscalculated a combination by Kim on move 150, and on move 202, resigned, thus failing to defend his crown.
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