Japan’s oldest professional player of the board game Go retired on Wednesday aged 98, saying that she can no longer handle “six hours without a break”.
Go is a strategy game considered to be even more complex than chess and involves players placing black and white stones at points on a square wooden table.
Kazuko Sugiuchi turned professional in 1948 and won her first title 11 years later, before going on to win the prestigious Women’s Meijin Championship four times in a row.
She became Japan’s oldest professional player in April last year, breaking the record previously held by her late husband Masao.
She is set to be promoted to the rank of ninth dan after retiring, becoming the first woman to reach that level.
She said the gruelling sessions at the board were the reason why she is calling it quits.
“I have always worked hard with the belief that Go is an art and a lifelong pursuit, but I have decided that playing six hours without a break is no longer possible,” she was reported as saying by national broadcaster NHK.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has shown me kindness over the 80 years since I first aspired to be a Go player.”
Go is especially popular in Japan, South Korea and China, and was played at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023.
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