12-year-old Japanese girl to become youngest female professional

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Eleven-year-old Saki Yanagihara will become a professional Go player on April 1 next year, according to an announcement by The Nihon Ki-in, a Japanese association promoting the game of Go. Just 12 years 5 months old when she turns pro, the Tokyo-based Yanagihara will be the youngest active female professional at that time. Koharu Cho is currently the youngest professional Go player, and will be 13 years 4 months old on April 1 next year. The association’s special recommendation system for female Go players will be applied to Yanagihara’s promotion as a first-dan player. Under this system, the teacher of a competent student honing their Go skills at the association can recommend her as a professional hopeful, separately from the recruitment exam run by the association. Yanagihara was recommended after achieving certain promising results, such as being runner-up at the 37th world youth Go championship in the under 12 category. Her promotion was approved at a regular board meeting of the association on Tuesday. She is scheduled to participate in professional league matches in January as a probationary player even before becoming a first-dan player. “I was really surprised but happy,” Yanagihara said. “I’ll work hard so I can be a rival to second-dan holder Sumire Nakamura [the youngest woman ever to turn pro, then 10 years old]. I want to become an internationally successful Go player.”