(Yicai) Jan. 15 -- Nie Weiping, one of modern China’s most-celebrated Go masters and a household name, died in Beijing last night. He was 74.

Nie etched an enduring place in the hearts of the Chinese public with his extraordinary performance in the inaugural China-Japan Go Tournament held in 1984 to 1985. After all seven of his teammates were knocked out, Nie defeated three Japanese masters in succession, securing victory. Iconic images of him competing while receiving oxygen therapy during the matches remain vivid in the public’s memory.

At that time, Japanese Go players were widely regarded as superior to their Chinese counterparts. The top three Japanese practitioners -- Koichi Kobayashi, Masao Kato, and Hideyuki Fujisawa -- had publicly promised to shave their heads if they lost to the Chinese team, a pledge they had to honor.

The shaved heads episode became a classic anecdote in the Go-playing communities of both countries. When thousands of students at Peking University gathered to hear Nie speak, he urged them not to view the outcome through a nationalist lens, but to focus instead on the beauty and complexity of the game itself.

The strategic board game, widely known outside China by its Japanese name, is called Weiqi in Chinese. Originating more than 2,500 years ago in China, it is a contest between two opponents, the goal being to surround more territory on the board than the other player using small rounded counters.

Nie helped the Chinese team win the first three China-Japan Go Tournaments held from 1984 to 1987. In recognition of his achievements, the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission awarded him the honorary title of “Go Sage” in 1998.

The national team’s success sparked a nationwide Go craze. A principal of a Go academy in Hunan province recalled that, following the tournaments, enrollment at his school surged 10-fold.

Nie’s view on artificial intelligence in Go evolved over time. In the early 2000s, professional players could still routinely defeat machine opponents. Nie observed that AI would affect professional play, “but not provide inspiration.”

This changed in 2016 when Lee Sedol, a top South Korean player and multiple world champion, was defeated 4-to-1 by AlphaGo, a computer program developed by UK-based DeepMind Technologies, which was later acquired by Google. Nie recognized AI’s astonishing ability, noting that it essentially does not make mistakes.

He once said the emergence and use of AI is a good thing for Go. Believing that “Go is like life,” Nie maintained that, even though humans can no longer consistently outperform computers on the board, Go remains essential in the AI era as a cultural practice rich in meaning.

Beyond Go, Nie had wide-ranging interests, including football and the card game bridge. On one occasion, he partnered with Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s reform and opening-up period, to play bridge. Nie was honorary president of the Chinese Weiqi Association.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Tom Litting