As I write, Zhou Heyang 8-dan is duffing up holder Chang Hao 9-dan in the final of the 2000 Qisheng. He leads 3-0 but claims he is still not satisfied with his play.

Unlike their Japanese (or Japanese-trained) counterparts, Chinese pros rarely go in for the "I was lucky" remarks. Anything they say they tend to mean. Zhou's remark makes perfect sense if you know his background: he is only satisfied if he really understands what he is doing. If it takes him longer to reach his goal, that doesn't matter. And it has taken him longer to emerge at the top than the others in the famous Year of 86 squad. But he's a plodder, he's stubborn, he teases out every strand, and that means, once he's attained understanding, he's unlikely to slip back. We predict Zhou Heyang is going to be around at the top for a long time to come.

He learnt go for an unusual reason. He was a mischievous, boisterous, opinionated and pugnacious child. His father taught him the game in the hope it would change his behaviour a little. The idea probably came from the fact that a go training squad met nearby. That turned out to be a stroke of fortune, but another was that his school, in Loyang City in Henan Province, offered go lessons twice a week. That as unusual in China at the time. Zhou was then eight years old, having been born in the Dragon Year, 1976, on 18th June. Zhou Heyang

It took a long time. That squad, the Year of 86, was extra special. In age order it included Shao Weigang, Liu Jing, Zhou Heyang, Chang Hao, Luo Xihe, Wang Lei - a roll call to match anything the Kitani School could put out. Zhou was about amateur 5-dan at this time, which meant he found the going very, very hard. He found it hard for another reason. The rest of the group had come up through the normal system of city or province squads and so were used to the training methods. Zhou lacked that background, and to this day stands out from this system, for in team events he represents the Locomotive team rather than his city.

It took him about 18 months to work his way up to the average strength of the group, but a good three or four years before he acquired any confidence in his play. Being part of the training squad system meant being prepared to withstand constant harsh criticism. This is where his stubbornness came in handy. He was also lucky that the squad teacher, Wu Yulin 6-dan, saw through his slow progress and allowed him to stay on. Normally he could have expected to be sent packing.

This experience taught Zhou to add patience and coolness to his obstinacy. In particular he learnt to count a game accurately. He learnt what it meant to win a game the pro way, playing the percentages. It has been said of him that once he gets ahead, not even Yi Ch'ang-ho can overtake him. Indeed, one of the results that first brought Zhou to prominence was his victory over Yi in the 10th Fujitsu Cup - and to show it was no fluke he followed up with another victory in the 13th Fujitsu.

He disclaims any real similarity with Yi, except that they both come into their own in the latter part of the game where the ability to count is a golden asset.

His first major tournament victory was winning the 1996 Individual Championship. That gave him the entree to the following year's Fujitsu Cup where, apart from Yi, he beat Ch'oe Myeong-hun of Korea and Takemiya Masaki of Japan to finish fourth (it was Kobayashi Koichi who blocked his progress).

He repeated his success in the Individual Championship in 1999 with a crushing 10-1 score, and has started the year 2000 (a good year for him - another Dragon year) breathing fire over everyone. There is a famous saying from the Analects of Confucius - great talents mature late. In Chinese go at present, which is becoming rather like tennis, gymnastics and skating in producing a conveyor belt of teenybopper prodigies, it is refreshing to see an oldie of 24 prove Confucius right.

Promotion record:

1d: 1988
2d: 1989
3d: 1990
4d: 1992
5d: 1994
6d: 1995
7d: 1997
8d: 1999

Here is a sample of Zhou's games in downloadable sgf format.

• Game 1: Against Shao Weigang in the 1992 Chinese Individual Championship.
• Game 2: Against Yu Bin in the 1996 Chinese Individual Championship.
• Game 3: Against Wang Lei in 10th Tianyuan (1997)
• Game 4: Against Yi Ch'ang-ho in the 10th Fujitsu Cup (1997)
• Game 5: Against Yo Kagen in the 12th Japan-China Supergo, NEC Shun'ei Cup (1997)

There are other recent games by Zhou in the news reports elsewhere on this site (e.g. Qisheng).