The first woman to receive the ninth Dan withdraws, at 98, from the professional activity of one of the most popular strategy games in Japan
Go strategy game, originally from China. The Japan Festival, from the Urania Cultural Center, on January 26, 2019, in Berlin. Photo: Gregor Fischer / DPA / Profimedia
Kazuko Sugiuchi, a 98 -year -old professional Go player, announced on Wednesday that he will withdraw from the activity, explaining that he can no longer “play six hours without a break,” writes AFP.
Go is a very popular strategy game in Japan, South Korea and China, in which two players place in a row black and white pieces at the intersections between the lines of a table, the objective being to take control of the playing field.
Kazuko Sugiuchi became a professional player in 1948 and obtained his first title 11 years later. The prestigious Meijin female tournament, won after four consecutive halves, according to Agerpres.
“I have always been convinced that the game of Go is an art and a search throughout the life, but I decided that it is no longer possible to play six consecutive hours without break,” she explained, quoted by the public television station NHK.
In April 2024, it became the veteran of the Japanese professional players of this society game, lowering the record previously held by her deceased husband.
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who have treated me kindly during the 80 years of my career,” she said, after becoming, with an honorary title, the first woman to receive the ninth of Dan.
