Chou defeated his Chinese opponent Hu Yaoyu by the smallest margin, at move 198, in the third game of the run-off to claim the first-place prize of about US$266,000. The LG Cup is the top international competition for the strategy board game, especially popular in East Asia.
The tense competition between Chou and Hu made the success even more satisfying. On March 19, Chou had defeated Hu easily in the first game. In the second game March 21, with less than 10 of his pieces left in play, Chou made a crucial mistake at move 172, giving Hu the chance to make a comeback.
Unlike most top Taiwanese Go players who have moved abroad to play the board game in Japan and South Korea, Chou remains in Taiwan and has represented his country for the past 10 years at international Go events. Chou was crowned national champion at the age of 12. In 1993, at age 13, he became the youngest player at the time to go professional. He later advanced to seventh dan rank in 1997. Chou reached ninth dan, representing the highest level of skill in Go, in 1998.
The LG Cup is Chou's first world title, and the first one for Taiwan. Two other Taiwan-born Go players, Wang Li-cheng and Chang Hsu, won the title in 1997 and 2005 respectively but both were representing Japan in that competition.
Chou's journey has not been a smooth ascent to the top. Mocked by his classmates since his first day at school for the birthmark that covered half of his face, Chou found comfort in Go, which he started learning by playing against his father, beginning at the age of six. He buried himself in the board game to avoid ridicule from other children, playing for 10 hours a day. Chou's father was a strict coach, punishing him if he lost by having him run around a 400-meter track at his school, professional Go player and longtime friend Huang Siang-ren told the Chinese-language newspaper Liberty Times March 23.
Chou recalled that his father suffered a stroke about 10 years ago, when he was in junior high school. His mother became the sole breadwinner for the family of seven. To relieve the feelings of frustration in his formative years, "I ran for three hours every day, circling the school's sports ground about 70 times, covering some 28 kilometers," Chou told the Liberty Times. Incidentally, the exercise gave him the stamina to endure Go competitions, with games sometimes lasting up to eight hours.
To perfect his skill, Chou went to China to study the game under renowned Chinese master Song Xueling when he was 12. He was sponsored by CMC Magnetics Corp. Chairman Bob Wong, founder of the Taiwan Chi Yuan Culture Foundation, also known as the Taiwan Go Association. After becoming a professional Go player in 1993, Chou encountered a slump, in which he won only six games out of over 50 competitions that year. Yet he managed to overcome it and emerge victorious in the latest event. "There is no going back. I can only go forward," he was quoted as saying.
Chou noted that there are not many incentives for Go players in Taiwan, as there are not enough competitions, and prizes are relatively low. Taiwan currently has about 2 million Go players, but only 45 out of them are professional, a staff member of the TCYCF told the Liberty Times, adding that making a living from playing Go was not easy in Taiwan, unlike other East Asian countries.
At the award ceremony, Chou said that he planned to use part of his winnings to organize amateur Go tournaments in Taiwan and help increase the country's ability in the game. Chou hoped that his victory could inspire Taiwanese Go players to win more world championships.
Education Minister Tu Cheng-sheng announced he would confer a commendation on Chou and that the Education Ministry would consider overhauling the existing special education system. The current program for gifted children focuses more on developing athletes and musicians. Talents in other fields, such as the game of Go, have been relatively ignored. Tu has ordered the agency's special education task force to design elementary and junior-high curricula catering to the needs of those with special gifts in more diverse areas, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported March 24.
Write to June Tsai at june@mail.gio.gov.tw