Updated with details on tourney prep.
BILL LIN is a 27-year-old Institutional Sales Trader who lives in Vancouver, BC Canada. He's played Go 22 years but notes he "went on hiatus since Covid, only playing once a month online via AGA City League, just came back to play IRL tournaments in 2023." His favorite thing about the game "is that every game is completely different, the unpredictability of this game, at least to humans, makes it so fun to play." Favorite kind of food: Chinese and Japanese. Recent favorite show: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Interesting fact: "I attended the first two Pro qualifiers, early exit in the first one, and was runner-up in the second and missed my chance, after that I didn't think I would want to try again but this year I want to try again."
How he prepares for big events like the ProQual: “Study pro games online, play some blitz games, and review tournament games with AI."
GUANYU SONG is a 23-year-old student and AI engineer who currently lives in Vancouver. He’s been playing Go for 17 years and his favorite thing about the game is that “Go is elegant in the way that infinite variations evolve from simple settings and rules.” Favorite food: Asian food, especially Sichuan food and Japanese food. Hobbies/interests: climbing, guitar, gym, traveling. Favorite art/culture: “Oppenheimer is definitely a gem.”
Training regimen: No response.
MICHAEL GUYUE XU is a 10-year-old student who lives in Springwater, Ontario, Canada. He’s been playing Go for 7 years – “I got interested when I saw my brother play Go with my parent” – and his favorite thing is “Catching up when I was behind.” He loves pingpong, soccer, dumplings and Hikaru no Go (and, apparently, the lollipops and gummi bears which have accompanied him to the board at the ProQual.)
Asked if he has a training regimen for big Go events like the ProQual, he replied “No.”
SEN ZHAN is 30 years old, self-employed and lives in Toronto. Sen has played for 25 years and likes that one must “Keep judging the situation and make the correct decision.” Sen likes pho, gaming and Marvel movies.
Training regimen: No response.