Rui Naiwei

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Rui Naiwei

Full name	Rui Naiwei
Hangul	루이나이웨이
Hanja	芮乃偉
Chinese	Trad. 芮乃偉 Simp. 芮乃伟
Pinyin	Ruì Nǎiwěi
Date of birth	December 28, 1963 (1963-12-28) (age 44)
Place of birth	Shanghai, China
Residence	Seoul, South Korea
Turned pro	1985 (full time)
Rank	9 dan
Affiliation	Zhongguo Qiyuan (1985-19??) American Go Association (19??-1999) Hanguk Kiwon (1999-present)

Rui Naiwei (Traditional: 芮乃偉; Simplified: 芮乃伟; Pinyin: Ruì Nǎiwěi; born on December 28, 1963) is a Chinese professional go player, now active in South Korea. She is probably the strongest recorded female go player, and is the only woman to have won one of the major open go titles.

[edit] Biography

She was born in Shanghai, China, and as of 2005 lives in Seoul, South Korea, with her husband, Zhujiu Jiang, also a 9-dan professional. She and Mr. Jiang participate actively in Korean tournaments.

After starting to play around 1975 (at the age of 11--the age some other players go pro) she became a pro for the Zhongguo Qiyuan in 1985, being promoted all the way to 7-dan that year. She reached 9-dan in 1988, becoming the first woman ever to achieve that rank.

Leaving China in 1989, she moved to Japan. While the Nihon Ki-in did not allow her to play in any Japanese tournaments, she was able to make it to the semi-finals of the international Ing Cup in 1992. She spent several years in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, then they moved to Korea, where she has dominated the women's events and has won two open events, always previously won by men: the Guksu (the 43rd open Guksu title in South Korea, 1999) and the Maxim Cup (2004).

Naiwei's style tends to be extremely aggressive, and often characterized by large scale semeai.

[edit] Titles & runners-up

Ranks #6-t in total amount of titles in Korea.

Title	Years Held
Current	17
Guksu	1999
Maxim Cup	2004
Women's Myungin	2000 - 2002, 2004 - 2007
Women's Guksu	2000 - 2002, 2006, 2007
Women's Kisung	2006
National Women's Individual	1986 - 1989
International	7
Jeongganjang Cup	2003
Hungchang Cup	2000, 2001
Eastern Airlines Cup	2000
Bohae Cup	1994, 1996, 1997

Title	Years Lost
Current	4
Guksu	2000
Maxim Cup	2003
Women's Guksu	2003
Women's Myungin	2003
Defunct	4
LG Refined Oil Cup	2000
North American Masters Tournament	1996, 1999, 2000