Go Seigen, the father of modern go, dies aged 100

Wu Qingyuan, the legendary go master commonly known as Go Seigen, died aged 100 at a hospital in Odawara, Japan, on Sunday.

Go Seigen was born in 1914 in Fuzhou, Fujian province, and started to learn the game of go when he was 9, a relatively late age for a professional, but he quickly became a prodigy and reached professional status at 12.

He went to Japan when he was 14 and was awarded three dan - a third level master ranking - in 1929 by Japan's go institution, the Nihon Ki-in. He subsequently became popular in Japan and soon jumped to the top of the professional go world.