9-Year-Old Fujita Reo Becomes Youngest Professional Go Player to Win a Game

On Monday, Fujita Reo became the youngest professional Go player in history to win a game. At just nine years and nine months old, Fujita defeated O Rissei, an 8-dan professional Go player who is more than three times his age. The match was held at the Nihon Kiin in Tokyo and lasted for two hours and fifteen minutes. Fujita began playing Go at the age of five after being inspired by his father, who is also a professional Go player. He quickly rose through the ranks and was accepted into the Nihon Kiin as a professional last year at the age of eight. He has since won several amateur tournaments but this victory marks his first win as a professional. Fujita’s victory has been met with widespread praise from both within and outside of the Go community. His opponent O Rissei congratulated him on his achievement saying “It was an honor to play against such a talented young man” while other professionals have commented that they are “amazed by his skill” and “look forward to seeing what he can do in future matches”. Fujita himself said that he was “very happy” with his win but also acknowledged that there is still much for him to learn about the game before he can reach even higher levels of success. He thanked everyone who had supported him throughout his journey so far and promised to continue working hard towards becoming one of Japan’s top players someday soon.