My name is Ando Meritee. I was born in Estonia in 1974. I began to play renju when I was 13.

This photo was made in 1996, It's me on that photo.

At that time, I had several other hobbies (like chess, etc.), too, but I finally chose renju to be my favourite game. Although we didn't have any high level teachers at that time, our renju group still made a pretty good progress because of our hard and intensive work.
We had an opportunity to learn from stronger Russian players' games as we got some books about game records from Russia. There were no electronic renju databases at that time. I had to make my own cardfiles about renju games and openings. There were about 7000 cards in the main file. I still have it at home although I haven't used it for last 8-9 years because it is too old-fashioned way compared to the modern opportunities of learning renju.

In 1989, I took part in the first serious tournament outside Estonia. That was a big challenge for me. I remember I was in 2 dan level before that tournament. The tournament was played in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia). Although I made a good start and got 4.5 points from 5, I failed in the second part of the tournament and dropped to the 7th place. This tournament gave me lots of motivation to continue studying renju more seriously in order to make myself a better player.

I was lucky to find a friend Ants Soosõrv, a very good renju player. We practised a lot together and learned from each other. This was definitely one of the main reasons of our progress. Together with him I have participated in so many tournaments in many countries. His was of thinking was similar to mine and that helped us to understand and learn renju easier. Ants has been a renju teacher in Estonia in past 8 years. If I hadn't met Ants, then I probably would not have gotten that far in my renju career.

In 1989, there was the First World Championship played in Japan. A legendary Japanese master Shigeru Nakamura confidently won the World Champion title by winning 8 games and making one draw game. The World Class level seemed so far and unreachable for Ants and me, so we could only admire those World Championship players and learn from their games. Since there was no Internet at that time, all the information exchange was very slow. We wanted to receive the printed copy of the World Championship games very much, and when we finally got the games (faster than we expected), we were really happy and excited.

The first big success came in 1990 in the Leningrad New Year Prize tournament. This was very high level international tournament where then best Russian players took part in, as well as high level Japanese and Swedish players. I shared the 4-5 places together with Mihail Kozhin and I was given the 6 dan title. I was 15 years old at that time. I had a chance to play with the great Japanese master Yoshimi Hayakawa (9 dan) in the second round of that tournament. I lost the game in around 50 or 60 moves. After the game Hayakawa answered the Russian (USSR) representatives' question about my strength: "He is very young and plays quite well. But he cannot 'see the whole board' well yet."

This was the game between Hayakawa and me in 1990.

Same players met again 9 years later in Sweden.

The Renju World Championship is played in every second year. In July/August 1991, the WC was held in Moscow, Russia (USSR). I couldn't get to the World Championship finals at that time because of my bad play in the USSR qualification tournament in March 1991. Of course, Shigeru Nakamura won that time very confidently again winning all games except two draw games. I played in the International Open Tournament which was played at the same time as the World Championship finals. I won that tournament being lucky to win against Hayakawa in the sure lost position. Three weeks later (August 23, 1991), USSR fall apart and since then I represented my own country (Estonia) in every International Tournament.

My first trip to outside the former USSR was in October 1991 to Japan. I joined the Russian delegation to go and take part in Tokyo Open tournament. I am thankful to the Russian Renju Association who made my trip possible at that time. That gave me so much chance to get playing experience, especially against strong Japanese players. Many people expected a good performance from me during the Tokyo Open, but I failed in the last game and lost the chance to get the second place there. I failed very unluckily, having a time trouble in the end of the game, I played moves very fast and in one moment I simply I missed to stop my opponent's (Myoshi) four. So embarrassing. I got the 8th place and a good lesson.

Tokyo Open 1991. In the break time between the rounds, the players were relaxing and analysing some games. Nakamura was byside me (although you cannot see him clearly on this photo). This was the moment I had a chance to analyse together with him, but yet I didn't have a chance to play against him at that time.

Year 1993 was the World Championship year again. That time it was played in Arjeplog, Sweden. For some reason, Nakamura didn't come to Sweden at that time. Many people were hoping that he would come and show a good performance. However, as he didn't come, so the Champion title had to go to somebody else. Hideki Nara (8dan) and Kazuto Hasegawa (9 dan) were the main favourites to the champion title. That time I had reached to the World Championship finals, too, having successfully passed the International Qualification tournament two days before the beginning of finals.

Some luck, some optimism, some hard work and dedication - these qualities brought the World Champion title to me. I became the World Champion of 1993. But I didn't have a chance to play against the great Nakamura since he was absent. Therefore, the most of the people still considered Nakamura to be No.1, of course. According to the qualification formulas in former USSR, I got the 9 dan in that tournament.

In 1995, the WC was played in my home city (tallinn, Estonia). I got the second place. I didn't play well, but the place was not bad considering my poor performance. Norihiko Kawamura (Japan, 9 dan) won the World Champion title at that time. Nakamura was absent.

This photo was made made in Tallinn in 1995. You can see Kawamura, me and Hasegawa on that photo.

In 1997, the WC was played in Sankt-Petersburg, Russia. I got the second place again. The winner was Kazuto Hasegawa (Japan, 9 dan). Nakamura was absent again. We were told that Nakamura does not like to travel abroad and that is why he was absent.

Both in 1995 and 1997 I had played below my level, I made some bad decisions there and played carelessly some of the games. I made hard work to improve myself and in 1999 in The World Championship (Beijing, China) I played with new concept - I played calmly and without foolish risks. I didn't chose any gambling renju openings, but I focused on overplaying my oponents in the equal openings. I got the World Champion title in 1999 very confidently by winning 9 games, 1 draw, 1 loss. This was my second title in my renju career. If I compare the titles from 1993 and 1999 then the first one was more like impulsive, lucky, optimistic, gambling, romantic, the second title was matured, calm, careful, pragmatic, powerful.

Estonian delegation in Beijing in 1999 after the end of the World Championship Closing Ceremony.

This is the World Champion's cup. There are some of my old cups on the background, too.

In November 1999, Japanese Renju Federation organized the renju match between Shigeru Nakamura and me. It took place in Kyoto, Japan. We played 6 games. This was the first time in my life to play against the legendary Shigeru Nakamura. I lost the first game, won the next two games, and the last three games were draw. The total match score was: Meritee - Nakamura, 3.5 : 2.5
It was very interesting and hard (both physically and mentally) match. One game lasted about 4-5 hours. We played 2 games each day. Although I won that match, I think that if I would play with him again then perhaps the score would be different and I might lose as well.

After that match, I went to Taiwan according to my plan. I came to teach renju here. I have been in Taiwan since then. One of my teaching ways is the Online Renju Class which was regularly carried out in 5lin sever. As the 5lin is (temporarily) out of service, therefore I teach the renju class at Playsite.