Gu Li is a Chinese go player. He became a pro in 1995 when he was only 12. In 2006, he won the 10th LG Cup and became the youngest Chinese player to ever win a major international title; as a result, he was also promoted to 9 dan. In March 2007, he defeated Chang Hao 2-0 to win the Chunlan Cup. In mid-2007, Gu Li experienced a playing slump, even losing many matches against lower dan players. However, he soon came back stronger than ever, winning many major titles both domestic and international, including the 2007 Changqi Cup and the 2008 Fujitsu Cup; the greatest factors in this turnaround was his improvement in the endgame, and territory skills, which many people had previously considered his biggest weaknesses. In 2009 Gu defeated Lee Sedol to win the 13thLG Cup. In July 2010, Gu Li became the "Meijin of Meijins" by defeating Lee Changho and Iyama Yuta in a special tournament which pitted the domestic title-holders from China, Korea and Japan against each other. In October 2010, Gu Li defeated Han Sanghoon and Lee Sedol in the round of sixteen and quarter-finals respectively to reach the semi-finals of the 15thSamsung Cup, whilst the defending Champion Kong Jie was knocked out by Kim Jiseok. Gu won the 2010 Samsung Cup, defeating Heo Youngho of Korea, and moves on towards the 2012 Ing Cup to become the second player to win all major international titles. In 2014, Gu Li was defeated in a jubango against Lee Sedol. The games took place on each last Sunday of the month.
Style
His given name Li, literally meaning strength, is also a Go term roughly meaning the ability of reading. Li also encompasses the meaning of the ability to discover strong moves and the ability to fight. Gu has a nickname "Gu Da Li". Da literally means large, big or huge. This refers to Gu's incredible ability at playing really strong moves that require sharp instinct as well as immaculate reading. One of his main weaknesses is his inaccurate endgame.
Promotion record
Career record
Year
Won
Lost
Win %
1995
1
0
100%
1996
1
1
50.0%
1997
4
3
57.1%
1998
4
5
44.4%
1999
13
11
54.2%
2000
27
15
64.3%
2001
47
16
74.6%
2002
38
22
63.3%
2003
54
15
78.3%
2004
56
21
72.7%
2005
49
29
62.8%
2006
58
25
69.9%
2007
42
26
61.8%
2008
67
22
75.3%
2009
55
30
64.7%
2010
55
41
57.3%
2011
56
30
65.1%
2012
39
29
57.4%
2013
52
30
63.4%
2014
36
23
61.0%
2015
28
27
50.9%
2016
28
25
52.8%
2017
21
25
45.7%
2018
6
14
30.0%
Total
837
485
63.3%
Note: 2012 and 2013 also include one game with no result.
