List of Go players
This article gives an overview of well-known professional and amateur players of the board game Go throughout the ages. The page has been divided into sections based on the era in which the Go players played and the country in which they played. As this was not necessarily their country of birth, a flag of that country precedes every player's name. For a complete list of player articles, see :Category:Go players.
The important dates that this separation is based on are:
- The establishment of the Four go houses at the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
- The demise of the houses in the Meiji Period followed by their replacement by the Nihon Kiin in 1924.
- The start of international tournament Go in 1989
Prior to 17th century
Wei Qi was recorded throughout the history of China. The first record of Wei Qi player was by Mencius.China
17th through 19th centuries
In the 17th, 18th and 19th century, Go was popular in both Japan and China. In Korea, a Go variant called Sunjang baduk was played.Japan
At the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate, four Go academies were established. This table lists all heads of these houses, as well as some that were appointed heir but died before they became head of the house. Tokugawa also established the post of Godokoro, which was awarded to the strongest player of a generation. Such players were dubbed Meijin, which was considered equal to a 9 dan professional grade. Over the 300-year period covered here, only ten players received the title of Meijin. Several other players received the title of Jun-Meijin, which is considered to equal an 8 dan professional grade and listed as such below. In some houses it was the custom that the head of the house was always named the same according to the iemoto system. All heads of the house Inoue were named Inseki, heads of the house Yasui were named Senkaku from the 4th head onward, and heads of the house Hayashi were named Monnyu from the second head onward. To distinguish between these players, the names listed below are the names they had before becoming head of their house, or after their retirement. The house Honinbo had no such tradition, although heads would often take one character from the name of their predecessor into their own name, notably the character Shu from the 14th head onward.| Origin | Name | DOB–DOD | Peak rank* | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 China
Note that both Guoshou and Qisheng were not tournament winner titles; instead they were honorific titles used by Wei Qi players and historians respectively to refer to the best players who were invincible in highest graded tournaments. Guoshou was the normal term used to refer to the promo player while he was alive, whereas Qisheng was used more as posthumous fame. The ranking of players began in West Han dynasty and formally recognized by the Governments during the North and South Dynasties Period. There were 9 ranks called pin 品 in the system, the same as the ranking system for government officials. The lowest rank was 9 pin, then 8 pin, etc. up to 1 pin. The difference of the lower 5 pin was about 1 zi, and the difference between the top 4 pin was half zi. 20th centuryJapan
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