A list of well-known champion players of the game of go:

• Dosaku (1645-1702) Greatest player of the Edo period.
• Honinbo Shusaku (1829-1862) 本因坊秀策 Greatest player of the 19th century - the "golden age" of go.
• Shuei (1854-1907) 17th and again 19th head of the Honinbo house. Very active and innovative in the 1890s.
• Shusai (1874-1940) The last inheritor of "Honinbo" title, and founder of the Nihon Ki-in.
• Go Seigen (born 1914) 呉清源 (Wu Qingyuan in Chinese), is considered the greatest player of the 20th century.
• Kitani Minoru (1909-1975) Great friend and rival to Go Seigen. Go and Kitani were the vanguard of the Shin-fuseki or "New Opening", a great advance in go theory. Most prolific teacher ever. Pupils include Kato Masao,Ishida Yoshio,Cho Chikun, Takamiya Masaki,Kobayashi Koichi.
• Sakata Eio (born 1920) 坂田栄男 "Razor Sakata", the "Master of myoushu" (brilliant move) former longtime holder of most championship titles with 64.
• Rin Kaiho (born 1942)
• Kato Masao (born 1947) 加藤正夫 Master of attack style.
• Yoda Norimoto (born 1966) 依田紀基
• Ishida Yoshio (born 1948) 石田芳夫 Youngest ever Honinbo winner and one of the strongest players of the 1970s. TV commentator.
• Takemiya Masaki (born 1951) 武宮正樹 Famous for his 'cosmic style', aiming for territory in the center of the board rather than the sides
• Kobayashi Koichi (born 1952) 小林光一 Third most titles with 55.
• Cho Hunhyun (born 1953) (조훈현 ; 曺薰鉉) Perhaps the second strongest player in the world, after his former pupil Lee Changho.
• Cho Chikun (born 1956) (조치훈 ; 趙治勳 Cho Chihun in Korean)Among the best players of the last century - passed Sakata in late 2002 for most titles with 66.
• O Rissei (born 1958)
• Rui Naiwei (born 1963) First woman to attain rank of 9-dan
• Michael Redmond (born 1963) First non-Asian (American) to attain rank of 9-dan. TV commentator.
• Yoo Changhyuk (born 1966) (유창혁 ; 劉昌赫) Third strongest in the world.
• Yi Chang-ho (born 1975) (이창호 ; 李昌鎬) Yi Chang-ho is generally considered the strongest player in the world. His name is commonly written Lee Changho
• Yamashita Keigo 山下敬吾 (born 1978)
• Zhang Xu 張栩 (born 1980) (Cho U in Japanese)
• Lee Sedol (born 1983) (이세돌) In 2003 "Yi Se-tol" became the youngest 9-dan pro in history. He is considered one of the top few players in the world.
• Ma Xiaochun (马晓春) One of the top players in China in late 1990s.
• Chang Hao (常昊)
• Nie Weiping (聂卫平) World's top player in the 1980s.