TOKYO - Wu Qingyuan, the legendary Go chess master known in Japan as Go Seigen, died at 100 in a hospital in Odawara city in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture early Sunday, local reports said Monday morning.

Wu, born in 1914 in Fuzhou of southeast China's Fujian Province, started to learn the game when he was 9, a relative late age for a professional, and made his name as a prodigy at 12.

He moved to Japan at 14 and was awarded 3 dan in 1929 by Japan's Go institution, the Nihon Ki-in. He was awarded 9 dan, the highest professional level in the game, in 1950.

In 1933, along with his friend Kitani Minoru, Wu developed and popularized the new fuseki, which broke away from traditional Japanese opening patterns. Therefore, the two players are recognized as the fathers of modern Go.

Wu retired in 1983.