14-year-olds are North America’s newest professional go players, just 5 years after having learned to play !

Young teenagers Kevin Yang and Alexander Qi topped a competitive field at the North American Go Federation’s (NAGF) 2022 Pro Qualification tournament and were granted the pro statute in the American Go Association.

Both are 14 years old ...and have learned to play just 5 years ago !

F.i. Kevin Yang reached shodan by October 2019 and jumped to 7d in August 2021 (and thus pro in June 2022).

Kevin's score against European pro players in a recent on-line competition (https://www.eurogofed.org/pros/league/transatlantic2.html) is amazing: 10 wins, 1 defeat !

I wonder whether such quick progressions have already been seen before, even in Asia (?).