Zhou Heyang

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Zhou Heyang
Full name Zhou Heyang
Chinese Trad. 周鶴洋 Simp. 周鹤洋
Pinyin Zhōu Hèyáng
Date of birth June 18, 1976 (1976-06-18) (age 31)
Place of birth Flag of the People's Republic of China Honan, China
Residence Flag of the People's Republic of China Shanghai, China
Turned pro 1988
Rank 9 dan
Affiliation Zhongguo Qiyuan

Zhou Heyang (Traditional: 周鶴洋; Simplified: 周鹤洋; Pinyin: Zhōu Hèyáng; born June 18, 1976) is a professional Go player.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Zhou Heyang was born in Luoyang, 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.

[edit] 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 progessed and got better fast. 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, Lui Jing, Chang Hao, Luo Xihe, Wang Lei, and Zhou himself. The problem Zhou had was that he wasn't like the other players. He didn't 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.

[edit] 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 could come back and win. This became true when he beat Lee in the 10th Fujitsu Cup before following up on beating him again in the 13th Fujitsu Cup. He isn't 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. He would then get entry into the next year's Fujitsu Cup, but he was blocked off by Kobayashi Koichi after beating Choi Myung-Hoon, Takemiya Masaki, and Lee Chang-ho.

[edit] Promotions

Year Rank
1988 1 dan
1989 2 dan
1990 3 dan
1992 4 dan
1994 5 dan
1995 6 dan
1997 7 dan
1999 8 dan
2001 9 dan

[edit] Titles & runners-up

Ranks #5 in total amount of titles in China.

Title Years Held
Current 9
Flag of the People's Republic of China Mingren 2002
Flag of the People's Republic of China Chang-ki Cup 2006
Flag of the People's Republic of China NEC Cup 1999
Flag of the People's Republic of China Ahan Tongshan Cup 2000, 2004
Flag of the People's Republic of China CCTV Cup 2003
Flag of the People's Republic of China Xinan Wang 2004
Flag of the People's Republic of China National Go Individual 1996, 1999
Defunct 1
Flag of the People's Republic of China Qisheng 2000
Continental 1
Flag of the People's Republic of China Flag of Japan China-Japan Agon Cup 2005
Title Years Lost
Current 8
Flag of the People's Republic of China Mingren 2003
Flag of the People's Republic of China Tianyuan 2005
Flag of the People's Republic of China NEC Cup (China) 2001, 2003
Flag of the People's Republic of China Ahan Tongshan Cup 1999
Flag of the People's Republic of China Liguang Cup 2001
Flag of the People's Republic of China National Go Individual 2001
Flag of the People's Republic of China National Sports Mass Meeting 2002
Continental 1
Flag of the People's Republic of China Flag of Japan China-Japan Agon Cup 2001
International 2
Flag of Japan Flag of South Korea Flag of the People's Republic of China Flag of the Republic of China Flag of Europe Flag of the United States Fujitsu Cup 2006
Flag of the People's Republic of China Flag of South Korea Flag of Japan Flag of the Republic of China Chunlan Cup 2005
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