Go professional

A Go professional is a professional player of the game of Go. The minimum standard to acquire a professional certification through one of the major Go organisations is very high. The competition is tremendous, and prize incentives for champion players are very large. For example, the Honinbo Tournament has a grand prize of about $350,000. Almost all professional players are from China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. This is because until recently, only China (China Qiyuan), Japan (Nihon Ki-in, Kansai Ki-in), South Korea (Korea Baduk Association (Hanguk Gi-Won)), and Taiwan (Taiwan Chi Yuan Culture Foundation) had professional Go organizations. In 2012, the AGA Professional System was established in the United States. In 2014, the EGF professional system was established in Europe. Profess...