Full name Manfred Wimmer Affiliation Kansai Ki-in Died 1995, Vienna, Austria | Name Manfred Wimmer Rank 2 dan professional | |
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Manfred Wimmer (1944–1995) was the first Western professional go player. As of 2007, there have been fewer than a dozen professional go players born outside of Asia.
Manfred Wimmer was born in Austria in 1944. He won the European Go Championship in 1969 and 1974.
He became a professional shodan in the Kansai Ki-In on January 26, 1978 (shortly before James Kerwin, the American who became the second Western go professional on February 14, 1978, in the Nihon Kiin). Wimmer was promoted to the rank of 2p the same year (though gobase.org lists him as a 1p).
In 1991, he introduced the game of go in Madagascar and, around the same time, reportedly in Kenya.
Wimmer died of a stroke in Vienna in 1995. According to legend, he died at the local go club with a go stone in his hand.