Hi Mark,
I'm not claiming to be an authority on the matter, but I beg to differ. Name me an EGF 7-dan that's not professional level. And then explain how come they are listed among players that are anywhere from 1p to 5p in different Asian countries. I used to be an EGF 6-dan and have beaten top 9p players with 3 stones on occasion. For a while I had a Japanese 2p teacher but stopped taking lessons when I started to beat him on black pretty consistently. That was when I was still 5-dan. So I don't think it's so far off to say 7-dan amateur is pro level.
this is actually a rather complicated topic because you can have different definitions for "professional strength". For instance, I could make an argument that S. Shikshina 3p does not have "professional strength", AFAIK she did not become a professional in the regular way and has never won a professional tournament game.
So, if you define "professional strength" as "someone who could become a 1p in Korea, China or Japan today", I think most European 7dans would fail. (Dragos Bajenaru, while only calling himself 6dan, has a rating higher than some 7dans and failed to become a professional in Japan in the past.)
If you define "professional strength" as "the lowest strength of anyone who currently holds a professional rank", then most European 7dans qualify, yes.
I've heard 2nd-hand reports of Noguchi Motoki losing a 4- or 5-handicap game against an active professional player.
The collective record of European 7dans against professionals at the WMSG was 0 wins, 6 losses.
Regrads, Michael _______________________________________________ computer-go mailing list computer-go@computer-go.org http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
