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Finland's Antti Törmänen Newest Nihon Ki-in Pro, First Westerner in Nearly 20 Years

Finland's Antti Törmänen has just been accepted as the newest Nihon Ki-in professional, the first westerner to qualify since the late Hans Pietsch, 18 years ago. Törmänen, 26, is a three-time Finnish champion, and a founding member of the Nordic Go Academy. Törmänen started playing go back in spring 2002, has participated in over a hundred European amateur tournaments, and became an insei at the Nihon Ki-in in Fall 2011. Though he did not reach the top two in the most recent Nihon Ki-in pro exam this fall, winning more than half of his games was deemed enough to qualify. His professional debut is scheduled for April 1st, 2016. "I plan to remain in Tokyo and compete in professional tournaments indefinitely," Törmänen said in an interview with the European Go Federation. "Early on my salary will be fairly limited, so I imagine I will also be teaching go both online and offline, and possibly writing some go literature in English." Click here to read his "Go of Ten" blog, where Törmänen's latest post includes a report (in Japanese) in the Mainichi newspaper about the promotion. - Chris Garlock, based on reports by Tuomo, an E-Journal reader in Finland, and the EGF Facebook page.