Lee Sedol
| Lee Sedol | |
|---|---|
Lee Sedol in 2016 | |
| Hangul | 이세돌 |
| Hanja | 李世乭 |
| Revised Romanization | I Sedol |
| McCune–Reischauer | I Sedol |
| Born | 2 March 1983 Sinan County, South Jeolla, South Korea |
| Residence | South Korea |
| Teacher | Kweon Kab-yong |
| Turned pro | 1995 |
| Rank | 9 dan |
| Affiliation | Hanguk Kiwon |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Representing South Korea | ||
| Asian Games | ||
| 2010 Guangzhou | Men's Team | |
Lee Sedol (Korean: 이세돌; born 2 March 1983), or Lee Se-dol, is a South Korean former professional Go player of 9 dan rank. As of February 2016, he ranked second in international titles (18), behind only Lee Chang-ho (21). His nickname is "The Strong Stone" ("Ssen-dol"). In March 2016, he played a notable series of matches against the program AlphaGo that ended in Lee losing 1–4.
Lee announced his retirement from professional play in November 2019, stating he could never be the top overall player of Go due to the increasing dominance of AI, which he called "an entity that cannot be defeated". Lee shared in a 2024 interview, "losing to AI, in a sense, meant my entire world was collapsing. ... I could no longer enjoy the game. So I retired."