Catalin Taranu

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Catalin Taranu

Full name	Catalin Taranu
Kanji	タラヌ・カタリン
Date of birth	March 31, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth	, Romania
Teacher	Saijo Masataka
Rank	5 dan
Affiliation	Nihon Ki-in

Catalin Taranu (タラヌ・カタリン, born March 31, 1973) in Romania, is a professional Go player.

[edit] Biography

Catalin started learning Go when he was 16 in 1989 from Cristian Cobeli. His first tournament was a 10-4 kyu group in which he was a 6 kyu. He won all eight games. He moved up to 1 dan in a year, and just a year later moved up to 4 dan. He started winning small tournaments in Romania around this time. He was invited to Japan by Saijo Masataka in 1995. He quickly joined the Nagoya branch of the Nihon-Kiin and became an insei. It only took him two years to become a professional. It took Catalin just 4 years to reach 5p.