12 Facts About Kong Jie

Kong Jie turned professional in 1994 at the age of 12.

Kong Jie was promoted to 7-dan after eight years in 2001.

Kong Jie is China's 29th professional 9-dan, doing so by being runner-up in the 13th Samsung Cup, and entering the finals of the Asian TV Cup for the first time.

Kong Jie's win marked the end of several years of poor personal international results.

Later in the year, Kong Jie followed up by reaching the semi-finals of the 14th Samsung Cup and won the title by defeating his two compatriots Gu Li and Qiu Jun.

In 2010, Kong Jie passed the preliminary rounds of the 14th LG Cup to face former champion Lee Chang-ho in the finals.

Later in the year, Kong Jie successfully defended his Asian TV Cup, defeating Korea's Lee Chang-ho and Japan's Yuki Satoshi.

Kong Jie followed that with another big win over a red hot Lee Sedol, to win the 23rd Fujitsu Cup.

Kong Jie arguably cemented his status as the 2010 world's strongest Go player.

In 2011, Kong overcame compatriot Meng Tailing to again reach the LG Cup Final, but was unable to defend his title against another compatriot, Piao Wenyao, thus allowing the latter to win his first world title and be promoted to 9-dan professional on the merit of winning a world championship.

The match, with Kong Jie playing Black, turned out to be a crucial "fight to the death" of both sides' dragons, but Kong Jie miscalculated a combination by Kim on move 150, and on move 202, resigned, thus failing to defend his crown.

Kong Jie is considered to be an expert at life and death problems.