Zhou Heyang (
Traditional
A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...
: 周鶴洋;
Simplified: 周鹤洋;
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
: Zhōu Hèyáng; born June 18, 1976) is a Chinese
professional Go player.
Biography
Zhou Heyang was born in
Luoyang
Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...
, Henan, China. He is a Chinese professional Go player. He turned professional in 1988, and advanced to 9 dan in 2001. He started learning how to play Go at the age of 8. When he was 11, he joined the National Wei-qi Youth Team.
As A Child
Zhou was described as being a mischievous, boisterous, opinionated and pugnacious child. He learnt
Go because his father thought he'd change his behavior. He quickly progressed and improved quickly. He hated losing, and it could be seen. At the age of 10, he already achieved 4th place at the National Youth Championships. Since he was 4th in the tournament, he left home and joined the National Youth Squad in Beijing. Now he could learn about the deeper facts of Go. The team was an outstanding squad of
Shao Weigang
Shao Weigang (, born February 21, 1973) is a Chinese professional Go player.
Biography
Shao started to learn Go at the age of 8. By 1986, when he was 13, Shao turned professional. Over 12 years, he was promoted to 9 dan. He currently resid ...
,
Lui Jing,
Chang Hao,
Luo Xihe
Luo Xihe (; born November 23, 1977) is a Chinese professional Go player.[ Play ...]
,
Wang Lei, and Zhou himself. The problem Zhou had was that he was not like the other players. He did not go through the normal system of city or province squads. He never had those training methods. He slowly matured up after joining the team. It took him a long 18 months to finally reach the average strength of the group. He was still a very unconfident player. There was harsh criticism in the training system the team used. This is the one part Zhou had an advantage, and that was his stubbornness. Zhou was very lucky because the squad teacher,
Wu Yulin, kept him with the team even though he was progressing much slower than the other teammates. Zhou would gain patience from the criticism. Now he could count a game accurately.
Growing Up
Zhou was getting much stronger now. It was said that if he ever got ahead in a game, not even
Lee Chang-ho
Lee Chang-ho (; born 29 July 1975) is a South Korean professional Go player of 9-dan rank. Considered to be one of the greatest Go players of all time, Lee was ranked #1 in the world in Go ELO rankings from 1991 to 2006.
Biography
He ...
could come back and win. This became true when he beat Lee in the 10th
Fujitsu Cup The Fujitsu Cup (富士通杯) was an international Go competition that ran from 1988 to 2011.
Outline
The Fujitsu Cup was an international Go competition hosted by Fujitsu and Yomiuri Shimbun. The players were selected as follows:
* The top 3 ...
before following up on beating him again in the 13th Fujitsu Cup. He is not like Lee, but he claims that both their abilities to count in the yose (end game) is above others.
Zhou finally won his first major tournament when he won the 1996
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 ...
. He would then get entry into the next year's Fujitsu Cup, but he was blocked off by
Kobayashi Koichi
is a Japanese Go player. He is one of the 'Six Supers' who championed Japanese Go in the last three decades of Japanese Go.
Biography
Koichi Kobayashi was born in Asahikawa, Japan. In 1965, he came to Tokyo to be a disciple of Minoru Kitani. ...
after beating
Choi Myung-Hoon,
Takemiya Masaki
is a professional Go player.
Biography
Masaki Takemiya was born in Japan. He became one of the many disciples of the Minoru Kitani school. His rise to fame began when he was only 15 years old. He earned the nickname "9 dan killer" because he ...
, and Lee Chang-ho.
Promotion record
Titles & Runners-up
Ranks ninth in the
total number of titles in China.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Heyang
1976 births
Living people
Chinese Go players
Sportspeople from Luoyang
People from Luoyang