Taiwanese Go player wins hearts of netizens

台灣圍棋玩家贏得網友的心

Joanne Missingham was lauded as 'the light of Taiwan'


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Joanne Missingham (黑嘉嘉), an Australia-born Taiwanese Go player, has made a splash on Taiwan’s PTT Bulletin Board System for being what netizens called “an astonishing beauty.”

Missingham, 24, who has reached a Go ranking of 7 dan, was hailed by Japanese media as a kind of player “never seen in a thousand years,” wrote the Liberty Times.

Go is an abstract, strategy board game developed in China over 2000 years ago. Missingham attended the 2nd Wu Qingyuan Cup World Women's Go Tournament in Fuzhou, China last month.

She told reporters that she was impressed by the performances of some of her young competitors, whom she believes have the potential to become top Go players in the future.

Shortly after photographs of Missingham at the event were posted to one of the biggest online bulletin boards in Taiwan, compliments began flooding in. Netizens were quick to praise her as a “fairy-like Go player” and “the light of Taiwan.”

Missingham gained media attention in 2011 when she, along with other female players, boycotted the Qiandeng Cup. She learned that male players were being paid US$886 per game, while female players participated for free.

Photo from Joanne Missingham's FB