Wu Qingyuan Photo: CFP

Go master Wu Qingyuan, widely known in the West by his Japanese name Go Seigen, died at the age of 100 in Kanagawa County in Japan on Sunday.

Wu was born in Fujian Province on June 12, 1914 and began learning the game of Go at the age of 7.

He began his professional Go playing career at 14 when he moved to Japan in 1928.

Defeating Japan's top seven Go players from 1939 to 1956, he became known as the "Showa Go Grandmaster." In addition to his amazing professional record, he greatly contributed to modern Go by developing "Shinfuseki" or the "new opening strategy" for Go, which is still used today.

Despite his contributions to cultural exchanges between China and Japan, the tough relationship between the two nations made identifying with either side rather difficult for Wu. Throughout his career there were voices praising him as a national hero while others reviled him as a traitor.

He became a Japanese national in 1936. However, after the end of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) he changed his nationality back to Chinese, changing it once again to Japanese in 1979.

His autobiography was adapted into biopic The Go Master in 2006, directed by Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang and starring Chang Chen and Sylvia Chang.

He was awarded by The Chinese People's Association For Friendship with Foreign Countries in 2014 for his efforts in promoting communication between China and Japan.