Cho Namchul (November 30, 1923 – July 2, 2006, alternately Cho Namcheol) was a professional Go

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(Baduk in Korean). He died of natural causes in Seoul at the age of 83.

Biography

Cho was born in a farming village in Buan, North Jeolla Province. In 1934, Japanese professional

Kitani Minoru 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 ...

visited Korea and played with ten-year-old Cho, who deeply impressed the great master. He went to Japan in 1937 to study go as Kitani's first ''insei'', or live-in student. In 1943, he returned to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

and played a key role in the founding of the Hanguk Kiwon. It wasn't until 1983, that he would be awarded 9 dan, but for most of the 1950s and 1960s, he won the vast majority of national tournaments. He is known as the founder of Korean modern Go. Namchul is also the uncle of the top Japanese Go title holder Cho Chikun. After his death, he was honored by the president of Korea with a medal and floral tribute.

Titles and runners-up

Ranks #7 in total number of titles in Korea.

References

External links

Biography at "Sensei's Library"
1923 births 2006 deaths South Korean Go players Pungyang Jo clan {{SouthKorea-Go-bio-stub