Svetlana Shikshina
Svetlana Valeryevna Shikshina ("Светлана Валерьевна Шикшина", born March 7, 1980) is a professional Go player from Russia, one of only four western women to date to reach professional status. She achieved this in 2002, affiliated to the Hanguk Kiwon (the Korean Baduk Association). Biography. Svetlana Shikshina started playing go at the age of 10. She was trained by her father Valery Shikshin, who also tutored some of the best Russian players - Alexandre Dinerchtein, Andrei Kulkov and Ilya Shikshin (who is Svetlana's brother and a 3 dan professional.) She was Russian Female Champion from 1994 till 1996; in  1996 she won the European Female Championship. In 2006 she won the overall European championship (her compatriot Alexandre Dinerchtein placed second). In 1997, Svetlana moved to South Korea to study go professionally. In 2002 she was promoted to professional status and received 1-dan professional status. In 2008 she was promoted to 3-dan professional level. In 2005, she started an annual Children's Go Tournament, the "Svetlana Shikshina Cup".