Rui Naiwei

Rui Naiwei

Medal record
Representing  China
Asian Games
	2010 Guangzhou	Women's Team

Rui Naiwei (simplified Chinese: 芮迺伟; traditional Chinese: 芮迺偉; pinyin: Ruì Nǎiwěi; born December 28, 1963) is a Chinese professional Go player, once active in South Korea. She is probably the strongest recorded female Go player, and is the only woman to have won one of the major open Go titles. She achieved this by winning the 1999 Guksu title (the oldest and one of the most prestigious Go competitions in Korea), on the way beating Lee Chang-Ho and Cho Hun-hyun, the two strongest players in the World at the time.

Biography[]

She was born in Shanghai, China, and lives in Seoul, South Korea, with her husband, Jiang Zhujiu, also a 9-dan professional. She and Jiang participate actively in Korean tournaments.

After starting to play around 1975 (at the age of 11—the age some other players go pro) she became a pro for the Zhongguo Qiyuan in 1985, being promoted all the way to 7-dan that year. She reached 9-dan in 1988, becoming the first woman ever to achieve that rank. After that, Chinese Feng Yun and Korean Pak Chi-eun became the second and third female go players to reach 9 dan, following Rui Naiwei.

Leaving China in 1989, she moved to Japan. While the Nihon Ki-in did not allow her to play in any Japanese tournaments, she was able to make it to the semi-finals of the international Ing Cup in 1992. She spent several years in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, then they moved to South Korea (with the help of Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan), where she has dominated the women's events and has won two open events, always previously won by men: the Guksu (the 43rd open Guksu title in South Korea, 1999) and the Maxim Cup (2004).

Rui's style tends to be extremely aggressive, and often characterized by large scale semeai.

Titles & runners-up[]

Ranks #6-t in total number of titles in Korea.

Title	Years Held
Current	17
Guksu	1999
Maxim Cup	2004
Women's Myungin	2000–2002, 2004–2007
	2000–2002, 2006, 2007
	2006
	1986–1989
International	7
Jeongganjang Cup	2003
	2000, 2001
	2000
	1994, 1996, 1997

Title	Years Lost
Current	4
Guksu	2000
Maxim Cup	2003
	2003
Women's Myungin	2003
Defunct	4
LG Refined Oil Cup	2000
North American Masters Tournament	1996, 1999, 2000

External links[]

• Go Base
• MSO World
• Rui Naiwei - Biographical link on Sensei's library.