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 23rd fujitsu cup. he arguably cemented his status as the 2010 world's strongest go player. 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.