Cho Hunhyun ( ko, 조훈현; born 10 March 1953) is a South Korean professional Go player and politician. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Cho reached professional level in Korea in 1962. Since then, Cho has amassed 150 professional titles, more than any player in the world. He thrice held all of the open tournaments in Korea in 1980, 1982 and 1986. Cho has also won 11 international titles, third most in the world behind Lee Chang-ho (21) and

Lee Sedol Lee Sedol ( ko, 이세돌; born 2 March 1983), or Lee Se-dol, is a former South Korean professional Go player of 9 dan rank. As of February 2016, he ranked second in international titles (18), behind only Lee Chang-ho (21). He is the f ...

(18). He reached 1,000 career wins in 1995.

Early life (1962–1982)

Cho began learning Go at the age of four and passed the test for becoming a professional in 1962. In 1963, Cho was invited to Japan. Originally intended to study under

Minoru Kitani was one of the most celebrated professional Go players and teachers of the game of Go in the twentieth century in Japan. Biography He earned the nickname "the Prodigy" after winning a knockout tournament. He defeated eight opponents from the ...

Kensaku Segoe was a professional Go player. (His surname is occasionally given as Segoshi, but that appears to be a misreading, even if attested by furigana in some books he authored.) Biography Segoe had Go Seigen, Utaro Hashimoto, and Cho Hunhyun as pu ...

took Cho under his tutelage. Segoe was responsible for bringing

Go Seigen Wu Quan (), courtesy name Wu Qingyuan ()His courtesy name was created based on his real name (''Quan'' means "spring, fountain" and ''Qing Yuan'' means "clear and pure source of water"). (June 12, 1914 – November 30, 2014), better known by ...

to Japan and also teaching

Utaro Hashimoto was a 9-dan professional Go player. Biography Hashimoto became a pro in 1922 when he was 15. He won the Honinbō 3 times before finally reaching 9p in 1954. He founded the Kansai Ki-in The Kansai Ki-in (), i.e., Kansai Go Association, is ...

, founder of the

Kansai Ki-in The Kansai Ki-in (), i.e., Kansai Go Association, is an organizational body for the game of Go in Japan, which was founded by Hashimoto Utaro in 1950. Though it is not as large as its chief rival, the Nihon Ki-in, it also issues diplomas to stron ...

. Cho was considered a 2 dan professional in Korea, but was demoted to 4 kyu upon arriving in Japan. Cho passed the

Nihon Ki-in The Nihon Ki-in (), also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main organizational body for Go in Japan, overseeing Japan's professional system and issuing diplomas for amateur dan rankings. It is based in Tokyo. The other major Go associa ...

professional exam three years later and became the first player to hold professional certificates from two Go associations. It was at this time when Cho was introduced to

Hideyuki Fujisawa , also known as Shuko Fujisawa, was a Japanese professional Go player. A younger uncle of another professional, Hosai Fujisawa and grandfather of professional Go player Rina Fujisawa. Biography Hideyuki Fujisawa was born in Yokohama, Japan. ...

. Fujisawa began mentoring Cho, and the two kept a friendly relationship between each other until Fujisawa's death in 2009. Cho participated in some Japanese tournaments, finishing runner-up to Takaho Kojima in the 3rd Shin-Ei tournament. In 1972, Cho returned to Korea to begin mandatory military service. Cho won his first title in 1973, defeating Kim In in the 14th

Chaegowi The Choegowi ( ko, 최고위; literally ''Top Position'') was a Go competition that ran from 1959 to 1997. The preliminary stages were 8-player knockout rounds, with the players who won the preliminary split into two sections. The winners of thos ...

. That same year, Cho lost his first title to rival Seo Bongsoo in the 6th Myungin. Since 1973, Cho and Seo have met 65 times in the finals of tournaments, with Cho winning 53 of them. Their most recent title match-up came in the 1st Daejoo Cup in 2010. Cho continued winning several titles, including the Paewang in 1977, a title he defended sixteen straight times until 1992. In 1980, he held nine titles simultaneously: Guksu, Myungin, Wangwi,

Kisung The Kiseong () was a Go competition in South Korea. Outline The Kiseong was a Go competition used by the Hanguk Kiwon. It was the Hanguk Kiwon equivalent to the Nihon-Kiin's Kisei competition and was sponsored by the ''Segye Ilbo ''Segye Il ...

, Paewang, Kiwang, Daewang, Jaewang and the Baccus Cup. Cho repeated this twice, in 1982 and 1986, winning ten and eleven titles respectively. Despite winning several titles, Cho wasn't considered the best Korean player at the time. Instead, the media favored

Cho Chikun Cho Chikun ''25th Honinbo'' ''Honorary Meijin'' ( ko, 조치훈; born June 20, 1956) is a professional Go player and a nephew of Cho Namchul. Born in Busan, South Korea, he is affiliated to Nihon Ki-in. His total title tally of 75 titles is t ...

, a Korean-born 9 dan professional in Japan. In 1980, Cho Chikun visited South Korea after winning the

Meijin is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ''meijin'' (名 ''mei'' "excellent, artful", 人 ''jin'' "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (t ...

title and the two began a friendship match consisting of two games. The two game series was played on 31 December 1980 and 2 January 1981 with Hunhyun losing both games. From 1981 until Hunhyun's loss in the 8th Samsung Cup, Cho Hunhyun didn't lose a match to Cho Chikun.

First Korean 9 dan (1982–2004)

In 1982, Cho was promoted to 9 dan, becoming the first Korean 9 dan. Cho was the sole Korean player invited to the

1st Ing Cup The 1st Ing Cup was the first edition of the Ing Cup, an international Go tournament held every four years. The 1st Ing Cup was a sixteen player invitational, with six players representing the Nihon Ki-in (Kobayashi Koichi, Kato Masao, Fujisawa Sh ...

, which featured nine players from the

and six players from China. Cho was matched up with

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

ese-born Japanese professional

O Meien Wang Ming-wan (; born November 22, 1961), also known as O Meien, is a professional Go player. Biography Wang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He is known for his quick fuseki and fighting ability. He became a pro in 1977, two years after moving to ...

in the first round. Cho won the match and went on to defeat

Koichi Kobayashi is a Japanese Go player. He is one of the 'Six Supers' who championed Japanese Go in the last three decades of Japanese Go. Biography Koichi Kobayashi was born in Asahikawa, Japan. In 1965, he came to Tokyo to be a disciple of Minoru Kitani. ...

in the quarter-finals. He then met another Taiwanese-born Japanese professional

Rin Kaiho Rin Kaihō or Lin Haifeng (; born May 6, 1942) is a professional Taiwanese Go player who made his name in Japan. He is, along with Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi, Otake Hideo, Takemiya Masaki and Kato Masao, considered one of the 'Six Supers' ...

in the semi-final. Cho won the best-of-three match in two games and progressed to the final to face

Nie Weiping Nie Weiping (; born 17 August 1952) is a professional Go player. Biography Born in Shenzhou, Nie began learning Go at the age of nine and won the inaugural World Amateur Go Championship in 1979. Nie was given 9 dan rank in 1982. He became ...

in a best-of-five final. Cho won the first game, but Nie went on to win the next two. The match came down to a fifth and final deciding game, with Cho winning by resignation. In 1984, Cho began teaching Lee Chang-ho. Two years later, Lee became a professional and began challenging Cho. By 1989, Lee defeated Cho for the first time in a title final by winning the 29th Chaegowi. In 1992, he lost the Paewang title to Lee after defending it for sixteen consecutive years. Their rivalry would continue until 2003, when Lee won the 34th Myungin. As of 16 June 2011, the score between the two in title finals is Lee 47–19 Cho.

Political career

Cho decided to go to

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

, joining the

Saenuri Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Hanna ...

in March 2016. He was elected on the party's proportional representation list in the 2016 election, taking seat number 14. On 5 February 2020, Cho was appointed as the Secretary-General of the newly formed

Future Korea Party The Future Korea Party (), stylised as Future KOREA Party, was a political party in South Korea formed on 5 February 2020. History The party was formed as a satellite party to the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) in order to run for the proportional ...

Promotion record

Titles and runners-up

Ranks first in total number of titles in Korea and third in international titles.

Book

2015
''The Power of Master's Thinking''

2018
''Go with the Flow''
is a 2015 autobiography written by Korean, professional 9-dan Cho Hunhyun and translated by You Jungmin. The original Korean edition was published in 2015 and the English edition as was published in 2018. It features a collection of eight thematic stories and self-reflections about go and life. Since he became a professional Go player at the age of nine, he has won 1,935 matches and taken various championship titles as many as 160 times over 56 years, achieving unprecedented record in the world Go history. Now, he gives what he has learned through his life, the essence of how to train our heart and mind.

References

External links

Official site
(in

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Hunhyun 1953 births Living people South Korean Go players Sportspeople from South Jeolla Province Liberty Korea Party politicians