The Chinese have a most peculiar epithet for Rui Naiwei, 9-dan, the strongest woman player in the world now challenging - with considerable success - the strongest men. They once described her as an "embroidery needle." Obviously there is meant to be a hint at the secret weapon of the old women's quarters. Nowadays Rui appears regularly on a much wider stage, and her exploits might rather qualify her as a female ninja assassin. Husband Jiang Zhujiu was once described as "master of the short sword." They may sound like a gruesome pair, but the truth is they have been immensely popular wherever they have been.
Rui Naiwei
They are currently in Korea, guests of the Korean Go Association (Hanguk Kiweon) and competing in some of the strongest tournaments in the world.
Rui in particular is having a field day. In her first year she registered an awesome 86% winning record, and won the Women's Kuksu title without hardly breaking into a sweat. At the time of writing she has just won her way to the final of what used to be regarded as the "Men's" Kuksu title by beating World No. 1, Yi Ch'ang-ho.
Rui was born in Shanghai on 28 December 1963. She did not learn go until 1975, but within four years she was part of the National Training Squad. In 1980 she was 4th in the National Women's Championship (then the premier event for women). In 1981 she was 3rd, and in the following two years she came second.
Success at this level brought her automatic selection for the visit to Japan in the 1982 Japan-China Go Exchange, where she put quite a few Japanese noses out of joint by recording a 7-0 clean sweep, including victory against the Japanese women's champion. 1982 was the year that China first awarded dan grades. Rui was made 4-dan, but immediately qualified as 5-dan in the same year. She reached 6-dan in 1984, and finally turned pro when she reached 7-dan in 1985.
She finally won the women's championship in 1986, also making 8-dan, and kept winning up to 1989, becoming the world's first female 9-dan in 1988. She then left China abruptly in June 1989, immediately after the Tian'an-men Square Incident.
There has never been any public clarification of what happened at this time, though the effects were clear - Rui lost the chance to play competitive go for several years. The earliest version of events was that Rui had given up go to attend university, not so much to study as to find a marriage partner - a traditional route in modern China. A later version was that she was involved in the democracy campaign with husband-to-be Jiang Zhujiu, and both had to flee China. Certainly subsequent relations with the Chinese government were frosty to say the least, especially for Jiang, but those who know the full story have so far kept it to themselves.
Jiang Zhujiu
Jiang made for California, while Rui headed for Japan. She made friends with Komatsu Hideki 8-dan and Yoda Norimoto 9-dan, players she had met in the annual Go Exchanges, and studied with them in the Shuko Study Group of the great Fujisawa Hideyuki. Fujisawa was a long-time friend of Chinese go players, and had suffered his share of abuse in Japan for helping the Chinese so much. Rui made a living easily enough by teaching go - she was the main instructor for a computer network - and by working in the international division of an insurance company.
Rui also studied with Go Seigen and Rin Kaiho, both fellow Chinese, who run a joint study group. Although this may have seemed her most natural home, there were indications that tempermentally she was not entirely at her ease with Go. Nevertheless, she took great interest in his theories on 21st century go, and is still a proponent of them.
The puzzling question was why she did not play in the Nihon Ki-in's events. The conspiracy theory was that the Nihon Ki-in did not want to antagonise the Chinese government. Traditionally the Nihon Ki-in has very close links with senior politicians, and at one time go was an instrument of national policy when Japan had pre-war ambitions in China.
However, a more mundane reason began to emerge. At least some Japanese female pros were vehemently against Rui scooping the cream off their rather cushy world. Maybe the Nihon Ki-in encouraged them to deflect attention from their own dilemma. We just don't know - you may thicken the plot to your own taste!
A breakthrough came for Rui in 1992. The Taiwanese entrepreneur Ing Chang-ki was hosting his quadrennial Ing Cup, and he decided he wanted Rui and Jiang to be part of it. The Chinese at first objected, but since the Koreans and Japanese sided with Ing, he got his way. Then the Chinese said they wanted the first three rounds to be held in Shanghai, but as they wouldn't allow Jiang into Shanghai (it was this that gave credence to the Tian'an-men rumours) Ing decided they would play in Seoul.
It was a memorable tournament for Rui in two ways. First she announced, at the opening reception, that she and Jiang had married. Then, despite having no competitive games for two years in Japan, she stormed through to the semi-finals (Jiang lost in Round 1). This was the best achievement by far of any woman in the go world, and when the time came for her best-of-three match with Otake Hideo 9-dan of Japan in Taipei, she was already the darling of the Taiwanese media.
She lost the match, but not before registering one win against Otake, regarded as the pinnacle of female achievement thus far. She cried bitterly afterwards, not so much for her loss - she had already dreamt six times she had lost! - but because "there are no more games waiting for me."
With residence problems and the need to earn their livings, Jiang and Rui went separate ways after the Ing tournament, he back to California, she to Japan. But events in the go world were moving a little in their favour. It was the beginning of the growth in international events. In summer 1994, a Chinese jewellery company launched the short-lived Cui Bao (Kingfisher Treasure, i.e. jade) Cup as a Woman's World Championship. Rui won, in Beijing no less - so she at least was still perona grata in China.
In November of the same year, a Korean brewery company organised the longer lived Bohae Cup, with $30,000 first prize. This too was a woman's world championship, and since the Cui Bao Cup ended after one term, it could justifiably claim this status (it has since been replaced by the Hung Chang Cup). Rui won, as she was also to do in term 3 and 4.
Meanwhile, Jiang was establishing himself as a popular personality in North America, not least through the medium of the IGS go server, and Rui was able soon to join him. They both became founding members of the American Professional Go Association in 1996, and took part in (or rather, dominated) the annual North American Masters Tournament, which is still running.
A fellow member of the APGA and NAMT was Jimmy Cha, a Korean Go Association professional who spent most of his time in the USA. Partly through his influence, the KGA decided they would allow both Jiang and Rui to play in their events from 1999. It was not a novelty, because the KGA had previously allowed Chinese pros Wu Songsheng and Huang Yan to play there, but it was still a major step because Rui is so much stronger than any Korean female pro.
However, the KGA took the view that this was the best way to raise the level of their domestic players. It is an interesting contrast with the Japanese view, although it may be an unfair comparison. Even though Rui outranks every female Japanese pro, there are still several strong pros there and they certainly are stronger, on the whole, than the Korean women.
The rest, of course, is history in the making.
Looking at what makes this remarkable woman tick, everyone points to her high intelligence and her determination. In particular, she has an intense desire to be the best she can at whatever she turns her hand to. She is also noted for her handwriting and her cooking. Guo Juan, a Chinese pro now living in the Netherlands, knows her well and said this about her determination: "Somewhere in the north of China close to the coast, there is a holiday resort for athletes from the national teams. We used to go there by train for one or two weeks in the summertime. One year, some young boys decided to go back by bicycle, and Rui Naiwei joined them. It must have been hundreds of kilometres!"
Well, Rui has come a long way since then, and maybe the most rewarding parts of the journey are yet to come.
Here is a selection of Rui's games in sgf format, charting her progress over the last 20 or so years. Click on game to download.
Game 1: Rui v. Hua Xueming, a long-time rival, in the 6th Shanghai Games 1978-08 aged 14. She came joint 2nd with Shen Guangji in the Open Youth Championship behind Cao Dayuan, now 9-dan. This game is briefly commented.
Game 2: Rui v. Kusunoki Teruko during her first visit to Japan for the 1982 Japan-China Go Exchange on 1982-06-22.
Game 3: Rui v. Qian Yuping, a future National Champion, then 18, in the Guoshou on 1984-09-25. At this stage Rui was already competing with the men in the major title events.
Game 4: Rui v. Guo Juan in the National Women's Team Championships on 1985-05-02. A single loss, to show Rui is not infallible, and also how lucky we are in Europe to have Guo as a teacher!
Game 5: Rui v. Yang Hui in the National Women's Individual Championships on 1988-09-09. This was the game that secured Rui's promotion to 9-dan.
Game 6: Rui v. Yi Ch'ang-ho (before he was really famous) on 1992-07-15 in the 2nd Ing Cup.
Game 7: Rui v. Otake Hideo in the 2nd Ing Cup on 1992-11-25. This was the highest-level win by a woman in any go tournament.
Game 8: Rui v. Feng Yun on 1995-01-25. The game that secured the 1st Bohae Cup World Championship.
Game 9: Rui v. husband Jiang Zhujiu in the final of the North American Masters Tournament on 1996-07-13.
Game 10: Rui v. Yi Ch'ang-ho in the Challengers' Final of the 43rd Kuksu on 2000-01-04. This made Rui the first woman ever to challenge for a major open title.
