John Lee Profile
John Lee Profile Born: March 6, 1976 Place: Seoul, Korea John and his family
moved to the United States in 1986. His parents ran a dry cleaning business.
He has one brother and one sister both older. John had never played go before
coming to the United States, but he was an avid Korean Chess player. He
was often pitted against adult neighbors from the time he was six years
old and he always beat them. In the US John developed many interests, playing
on the Chicago City Championship tennis team and competing in the State
Tennis Championship in singles and doubles play. In 1988 John saw an add
in a Chicago newspaper about a new go club which was opening. He managed
to wander into this club and asked to be taught go. Within about a year
he was amateur five or six dan. In 1990 he won the open section of the Illinois
Go Tournament and won a trip to the 1991 United States Go Congress, held
in Rochester, New York, where he competed as 6-Dan. It was here that Jiang
Zhu Jiu 9-Dan noticed him and began encouraging him to be a professional
player. In 1993, shortly after becoming a United States citizen, John represented
the United States in the Tenth World Youth Goe Championship held in Ottawa,
Canada. His third place finish surprised many of the visitors who did not
realize that the United States had developed such a strong young player.
He left that tournament, driving to Washington D.C., where he again competed
in the US Go Congress. This time he won the US Open section and the right
to represent the US in the World Amateur Championship in Japan. He also
was a member of the American Pairs Championship team that year. In 1994
John continued his strong play with a fifth place finish in the World Amateur
Championship. At the 1994 US Go Congress John won the first North American
Ing Cup. His pairs team won another US Pairs Championship at the 1994 US
Go Congress as well with another trip to Japan in the balance. In 1995 John
was invited to compete in the European Ing Cup. Because of a bomb threat
John's plane was delayed and he had to forfeit the first two rounds of the
tournament. He was undefeated in the next five rounds and ended in a three
way tie for first place. John has also twice competed in the American Fujitsu
play-off to determine the US representative to the Fujitsu. In September
of 1994 John enrolled in the University of San Francisco in the hopes of
studying go with visiting professionals. He entered a pre-law curriculum
and studied both Japanese and Chinese languages. His strong desire to become
a professional player convinced him that he must go to Japan if he is to
make his dream a reality.