Gu Zihao (; born 13 March 1998) 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 Xiantao ( zh, s= , p=Xiāntáo) is a sub-prefecture-level city in the east of Hubei province, China. Located at the Jianghan Plain in the middle of Hubei province and spanning 112°55' – 113°49' east longitude and 30°04' – 30°32' north la ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

in 1998. He began to play go when he was 6 years old. To further study go, he moved to

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

at age 9, and then to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

at age 11. He earned professional 1 dan rank in 2010, when he was 12. He began participating in the Chinese A League in 2012. In 2015, he won China's

National Go Individual The Chinese Go Championship is a Go competition which determines the national champion of China. Outline The Chinese Go Championship is held with the Swiss system where there are many players who play through 11 rounds. The final two are chosen ...

tournament, and the Limin Cup, an under-20 international tournament. He won an international title at the Samsung Cup in 2017, defeating

Tang Weixing Tang Weixing (; born 15 January 1993) is a Chinese Go professional, professional go (game), go player. He has won three international titles, with two championships in the Samsung Fire Cup, Samsung Cup (2013, 2019) and one in the Ing Cup (2016). ...

in the finals. Gu, who was 5 dan at the time, was promoted to 9 dan for the victory. He won two domestic competitions in 2018, the Weifu Fangkai Cup and the

Ahan Tongshan Cup The Ahan Tongshan Cup () is a Chinese Go competition. Outline The Ahan Tongshan Cup is a Go tournament played with fast time controls: Each player has 30 seconds per move, along with 10 one-minute periods of extra thinking time. The format is s ...

, as well as the

China-Japan Agon Cup The China-Japan Agon Cup is a Go competition. Outline The China-Japan Agon Cup is a single-game match held each year between the winner of the Agon Kiriyama Cup in Japan and the Ahan Tongshan Cup in China. It is sponsored by Agon Shu. As of 2024 ...

playoff. In January 2020, while visiting family in his hometown Xiantao, he fell under the

COVID-19 lockdown in Hubei On 23 January 2020, the central government of China imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei in an effort to quarantine the center of an outbreak of COVID-19; this action was commonly referred to as the Wuhan lockdown (). The Worl ...

; he continued to compete remotely while staying there until April. He won the

CCTV Cup The CCTV Cup is a Chinese Go competition. Outline The CCTV Cup is the longest running fast game tournament in China and the sponsor is the Chinese CCTV station. The winner and the runner-up qualify for the Asian TV Cup, where they compete against ...

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 Shin Jin-seo (; born 17 March 2000) is a South Korean professional Go player. He has won eight major international championships: the LG Cup in 2020, 2022 and 2024; the Chunlan Cup in 2021; the Samsung Cup in 2022; the Ing Cup in 2023; the ...

. In August 2023, he overtook

Ke Jie Ke Jie () is a Chinese professional Go player of 9 dan rank. He was born on August 2, 1997, in Liandu District, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province. Career 2008–15: Early Career and Bailing Cup Breakthrough Ke Jie started to learn how to pla ...

to become the number one ranked Chinese player in the Chinese Weiqi Association's official rankings. Gu is sometimes nicknamed ''èbà'' 'evil tyrant' (), derived from a username which he used for playing go online, ''Yìnchéng zhī bà'' '

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

tyrant' (). He originally chose the username because he was a fan of the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Titles

International: * Limin Cup 2015 (under-20 tournament) * Samsung Cup 2017 *

2018 and 2021 * Quzhou Lanke Cup 2023 Chinese: *

2015 * Weifu Fangkai Cup 2018 *

2018 and 2021 *

2020 * Tianyuan 2021 * Longxing 2021 * South-West Qiwang 2025

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gu, Zihao 1998 births Living people Chinese Go players Sportspeople from Hubei