Life In 19x19

Michael Redmond Reached 500 Wins
https://sports.sina.cn/others/qipai/201 ... l?from=wap

A great achievement by Michael! But as a reference point it may be of interest to compare Takao Shinji who has just recorded his 1,000th career win.

The reason for choosing him is that in 2003, when Takao reached 500 wins, he had the highest winning percentage ever at that mark (75.8%), and he reached it in just 12 years, having become a pro in 1991. Michael (56 next month) started in 1981.

Takao's winning rate fell a bit during his second 500 (appearing often in title matches, he had many tougher games, of course) but is still 68%.

But the article says "he reached that target 10 years ago".

And a reference point from Europe and (mostly) amateur tournaments. Watching the European Grand Slam this weekend I checked Lukas Podpera 7d's stats, he has played a whopping 1790 games, with 1161 wins (65%) and he's only been going since 2004! British veteran Francis Roads has 'only' 1320 (644 wins).

Congratulations, Michael.

macelee wrote:But the article says "he reached that target 10 years ago".

Indeed, his page at the Nihon Ki-in (http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/player/htm/ki000174.htm) says he reached 500 wins in 2009.

Yes, this article is sort of introducing Michael and is talking about how unique is he in the Asian go scene, being the only Westerner to ever have reached 9d and being the second Western person to ever have become pro in Japan (Not sure if this is actually correct). It starts out by saying "on this day 10 years ago, Michael won his 500th game". I also like how the article ends by saying that Michael is "one of the marvels/miracles of go in the 20th century whose success shows us that go is not just a game for the East".

Zenit wrote:Yes, this article is sort of introducing Michael and is talking about how unique is he in the Asian go scene, being the only Westerner to ever have reached 9d and being the second Western person to ever have become pro in Japan (Not sure if this is actually correct).

According to https://senseis.xmp.net/?WesternGoProfessionals his is actually the third western person to ever have become pro in Japan. People often forget about Manfred Wimmer.

SoDesuNe wrote:

Zenit wrote:Yes, this article is sort of introducing Michael and is talking about how unique is he in the Asian go scene, being the only Westerner to ever have reached 9d and being the second Western person to ever have become pro in Japan (Not sure if this is actually correct).

According to https://senseis.xmp.net/?WesternGoProfessionals his is actually the third western person to ever have become pro in Japan. People often forget about Manfred Wimmer.

Oh, I see, thanks for the info! The article mentions Manfred as the first, it seems like the author had missed James Kerwin in their research.

learn japanese and go at the same time
i guess the good food made up for it


woha 75% winning percentage is insane. i doubt anybody can keep those numbers up for good.