Kong Jie turned professional in 1994 at the age of 12. He was promoted to 7-dan after eight years in 2001. In 2004 he was sent into the Teda Cup as China's representative against Lee Chang-ho and Yoda Norimoto. Kong Jie is China's 29th professional 9-dan, doing so by being runner-up in the 13thSamsung Cup, and entering the finals of the Asian TV Cupfor the first time. In 2009, Kong Jie achieved a major international breakthrough by winning the Asian TV Cup—defeating Korea's top three players of Lee Sedol, Lee Chang-ho and Kang Dongyun respectively. His win marked the end of several years of poor personal international results. Later in the year, Kong Jie followed up by reaching the semi-finals of the 14th Samsung Cup and won the title by defeating his two compatriots Gu Li and Qiu Jun. In 2010, Kong Jie passed the preliminary rounds of the 14th LG Cup to face former champion Lee Chang-ho in the finals. Kong won the match 2–0 and also the tournament. Later in the year, Kong Jie successfully defended his Asian TV Cup, defeating Korea's Lee Chang-ho and Japan's Yuki Satoshi. He followed that with another big win over a red hot Lee Sedol, to win the 23rdFujitsu Cup. He arguably cemented his status as the 2010 world's strongest Goplayer. In 2011, Kong overcame compatriot Meng Tailing to again reach the LG Cup Final, but was unable to defend his title against another compatriot, Piao Wenyao, thus allowing the latter to win his first world title and be promoted to 9-dan professional on the merit of winning a world championship. This was the last international final Kong played in. Within the next few years, with the rise of new 1990s generation professionals and the increased competition at the international level, only Gu Li and Lee Sedol would continue to have high tournament placings in big international tournaments. During the 15th Samsung Cup, Kong defeated a soon to be wedded Lee Chang-Ho before succumbing to Kim Ji-Seok in the quarterfinals. The match, with Kong playing Black, turned out to be a crucial "fight to the death" of both sides' dragons, but Kong miscalculated a combination by Kim on move 150, and on move 202, resigned, thus failing to defend his crown.
Style
Kong Jie is considered to be an expert at life and death problems. In China he is known as the King of Tsumego.
