Gu_Zihao
Gu Zihao
Chinese Go player
Gu Zihao (Chinese: 辜梓豪; pinyin: Gū Zǐháo; born 13 March 1998[1]) is a Chinese professional go player. He is the winner of two major international championships: the Samsung Cup in 2017 and the Quzhou Lanke Cup in 2023.
Gu Zihao was born in Xiantao, Hubei in 1998. He began to play go when he was 6 years old. To further study go, he moved to Wuhan at age 9,[1] and then to Beijing at age 11.[2] He earned professional 1 dan rank in 2010, when he was 12.[2][3] He began participating in the Chinese A League in 2012.[4] In 2015, he won China's National Go Individual tournament, and the Limin Cup, an under-20 international tournament.[5][4]
He won an international title at the Samsung Cup in 2017, defeating Tang Weixing in the finals. Gu, who was 5 dan at the time, was promoted to 9 dan for the victory.[6]
He won two domestic competitions in 2018, the Weifu Fangkai Cup and the Ahan Tongshan Cup, as well as the China-Japan Agon Cup playoff. In January 2020, while visiting family in his hometown Xiantao, he fell under the COVID-19 lockdown in Hubei; he continued to compete remotely while staying there until April.[7] He won the CCTV Cup later that year, followed by several championships in 2021: the Tianyuan, the Ahan Tongshan Cup and China–Japan playoff, and the Longxing.
He claimed his second major international title in the Quzhou Lanke Cup in June 2023, beating Shin Jin-seo.[8] In August 2023, he overtook Ke Jie to become the number one ranked Chinese player in the Chinese Weiqi Association's official rankings.[9]
Gu is sometimes nicknamed èbà 'evil tyrant' (Chinese: "恶霸"), derived from a username which he used for playing go online, Yìnchéng zhī bà 'Indianapolis tyrant' (Chinese: "印城之霸").[2] He originally chose the username because he was a fan of the Indiana Pacers in the NBA.[1]