Gu Li

Infobox Go player
playername=Gu Li
fullname=Gu Li
chinese=古力
pinyin=Gǔ Lì
dateofbirth=birth date and age|1982|2|3
cityofbirth=
countryofbirth= China
residence=flagicon|China China
teacher=Nie Weiping
turnedpro=1994
rank=9 dan
affiliation=Zhongguo Qiyuan

Gu Li (Chinese: 古力; Pinyin: Gǔ Lì; born February 3, 1982) is a Chinese professional Go player.

Biography

Gu Li is currently the #1 ranked Chinese player by the Zhongguo Qiyuan, and is considered one of the top 3 players in the world along with Lee Sedol and Lee Chang-ho. He became a pro in 1994 when he was only 12. He's already won many titles, including all of China's biggest titles. He also won the 10th LG Cup in 2006 and became the youngest Chinese player to ever win a major international title; as a consequence, he was also promoted to 9 dan. In March 2007, he defeated Chang Hao 2-0 to win the Chunlan Cup. In mid 2007, Gu Li experienced a playing slump, even losing many matches against lower dan players. Some people believed that he was mentally burdened by the recent death of his father. However, he soon came back stronger than ever, winning many major titles both domestic and international, including the 2007 Chang-ki Cup and the 2008 Fujitsu Cup; the greatest factor in this turnaround was his improvement in the endgame, which many people had previously considered his biggest weakness.

His given name Li, literally meaning strength, is also a Go term roughly meaning the ability of reading. Li also encompasses the meaning of the ability to discover strong moves and the ability to fight. Gu has a nickname called Gu Da Li. Da literally means large, big or huge. This refers to Gu's incredible ability at playing really strong moves that require sharp instinct as well immaculate reading.

Go style

Gu is best known for his fighting ability. In China, his style is regarded as "li qi", which means a style based on fighting. Also in China, Gu and Lee Sedol's style is known as violence qi (bao li qi). Endgame (yose) is regarded as Gu's main weakness. Gu's main strength is his attacking ability. In earlier years, he fought with little regard or consideration of territory implications. In recent years, especially after his half point wins over Choi of Korea, his style is leaning towards fighting but with high sensitivity towards territory.

Titles & runners-up

Ranks #2 equal in total amount of titles in China.

External links

* [http://www.gogame.info/samples/3/index.html Interview with Gu Li]

Template group
title = Current titles
list =