Kong Jie 9p is now ranked as China's No. 1 professional player. According to rankings recently released by Chinese Baduk Association, Kong Jie 9p was ranked as No. 1 whose point total was 2721 points surpassing Gu Li 9p whose point total was 2688 points. It was the third time he has been ranked as No. 1 in his career.

These rankings were released after counting the accumulated points according to the game results from Sep. 1st to Dec. 31st in the last year. During this period, Kong Jie 9p won the Samsung Cup World Baduk Masters Championship and did a great job in the Chinese Jia League. On the other hand, the results of Gu Li, the former China's No. 1 pro player, were not very good such as losing to Kong Jie 9p several times, which foreshadowed Kong jie's    return to become China's No. 1 player.

Kong Jie 9p has returned to be No. 1 player after 2 years and 4 months have passed since he was ranked as No. 1 according to the rankings released as of Aug. 31st, 2007.

Chen Yaoye 9p, the leader of the small leopard generation, was ranked as No. 3. He improved his rank from No. 9 to No. 3. Piao Wen Yao 5p and Gu Lingyi 5p, who were ranked as No. 6 and No. 8, were demoted to No. 10 and No. 13 respectively. Wang Xi 9p and Zhou He Yang 9p, ranked as No. 10 and No. 11 before, were advanced to No. 5 and No. 6 respectively. It is also remarkable for Chang Hao 9p and Hu Yao Yu 8p, formerly ranked as No. 4 and No. 5, became No. 7 and No. 9 respectively.

In case of women players, Tang Yi 2p is the only top 100 ranker among new star players as she was ranked as No. 96. Wang Chen Xing 2p (No. 169), Song Rong Hui (No. 162), Li He 2p (No. 142), Ye Gui 5p (No. 123) and Cao Youyin 3p (No. 105), who participated in Jeongganjang Cup, were ranked between No. 120 and No. 170.

- Kyungdong Kim, Cyberoro.com