Your interpretation was largely correct. I'd go so far as to bet large sums on the best 20 of these Chinese kids if they faced off against top-50 Japanese pros in a round-robin.

I'd remain very confident if the number were expanded to top 30 of these Chinese kids.

In fact, I'd be still somewhat confident if the best 50 among them were to face off against top-50 pros from Japan.

Well, as I prefer to watch Korean and Chinese games (though do follow Iyama and Ichiriki), and agree Japanese pros are weaker than Korean/Chinese ones (though probably not to the same extent as you), and have been to study Go in China and Korea but not Japan (yet, I'd like to go sometime), "Japan only fan" would seem an inappropriate moniker for me.

kimidori, the ranking you quoted was Chinese Weiqi Association's official ranking which only includes Chinese players. They are all variations of Elo ranking but the ranking points scales are different. Chen Hao has 2443 ranking points in nmcgw version and is ranked 80th among Chinese pros. But your claim is still valid assuming the accuracy of nmcgw ranking. Liu Yuhang's 2372 would land him at 107th in nmcgw ranking among Chinese pros and 20th among Japanese pros.

Uberdude, that "top pro" is somewhat ambiguous. Liu Yuhang(刘宇航) is the top rated new pro in nmgcw rating, but he actually went 9 and 4 and finished 8th in the tournament. One of those losses was to another new pro He Yang(何旸), who finished at 14th, but was only number 52 in rating with 2099 points.

The bottom new pro (finished at 20th) is Zhou Yuchuan(周玉川) who is 34th in rating with 2130 points. He is 1 point behind Takagi Shoichi 9p in nmgcw rating and would be number 142 in Japan. The 50th in rating is Chen Xinyuan(陈新元) with 2102 points and would be number 158 in Japan.

The lowest rated new pro is Yao Xiaotong(尧潇童) at number 66 with 2081 points and would be number 178 in Japan. At the other extreme is Chen Yichun(陈一纯), the highest rated player that did not qualify. He has 2256 rating points (5th in rating) but won only 8 games(1 less win than Liu Yuhang) out of 13 and finished 28th! He would be number 68 in Japan, 3 points behind Takemiya sensei. So there is a chance of Takemiya failing the pro exam, consider the brutal schedule of the tournament

I doubt takemiya would be able to become a pro in China right now. He's probably too old to have enough endurance to compete in such a cut throat environment playing over a dozen games with a bunch of kids.

by78, please calm down your tone.
You are free to express your opinion, back with facts, etc. But the aggressive language is not necessary and is not productive to the conversation. Your use of language is also not appropriate for the forum.

I am an admin on this forum, so please consider this your last warning.

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be immersed

If this is true for stamina reasons (as you say), then wouldn't it apply to any 65 year old professional, whether from Japan, China, or Korea? So what is your point in singling out one Japanese pro?

Um because I was responding to the guy who used takemiya as an example? In fact it'd be much harder for most 65+ Chinese pros to pass the pro exams today, because China was much weaker than Japan back in the day. There just weren't that many strong Chinese pros back then. The only guy who could've been considered strong is Nie Wieping who is "only" 63.

Ah - I completely missed the person you were responding to, and thought it was just a general statement supporting the "Japanese are weak" theme. Sorry.