American Go E-Journal » Choi Cheolhan

2010’s Top 20 Professional Go Players

Saturday May 12, 2012

For those of you who like to follow the professional go scene, An Younggil 8P (r) recently finished writing a year-long series of articles for GoGameGuru profiling the top 20 professional go players of 2010. Throughout the series, Younggil goes well beyond the usual historical details to write about players’ personalities and go styles, as well as recounting his own meetings with many of them. Younggil’s intention was to introduce his professional colleagues to a Western audience as humans, rather than just pro go players. He also shares many insights into the life of a professional go player and the go scene in Korea. It makes fascinating reading for any serious go fan.
The full list of bios includes: Lee SedolKong JiePark JunghwanChoi CheolhanKang DongyunHeo YounghoGu LiXie HeWon SeongjinLi ZheZhou RuiyangTuo JiaxiLee ChanghoQiu JunKim JiseokWang XiCho HanseungChen YaoyePark Younghun and Lee Younggu.

photo: Kong Jie (left) and Lee Sedol play in the final of the 23rd Fujitsu Cup (2010). 

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Park Junghwan Wins 13th Maxim Cup

Tuesday March 6, 2012

On March 5, 2012, Park Junghwan 9P defeated Choi Cheolhan 9P to take the 13th Maxim Cup two games to zero. The Maxim Cup is a 9 dan only invitational tournament in Korea. Like last year, the finals took place at the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage listed Jeju Island. It seems that reporters make a habit of giving the players a hard time at the Maxim Cup finals. Last year, Lee Changho was asked how he felt about losing his dominance over the Go world. This time, Choi was in the hot seat and got grilled about his upcoming wedding. Park was not spared either. Asked about his disappointing first round loss in the 4th BC Card Cup, where he started as one of the favorites, Park said that hopefully with this win, his performance will improve in future tournaments. Both games featured creative openings, followed by hard fighting.

Jingning; based on her original article Park Junghwan wins 13th Maxim Cup at Go Game Guru.

Photo: Park Junghwan 9P.

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Cho Hanseung Wins 55th Kuksu

Sunday November 20, 2011

Korea has a new Kuksu in town. On November 16, Cho Hanseung 9P defeated Choi Cheolhan 9P in the deciding game of the 55th Kuksu title match. The two players exchanged blows in a five game series, in which black won every time. Cho finally triumphed, winning the series 3-2. The Kuksu is the most prestigious of the domestic Korean titles. The word corresponds to the Chinese characters (国手, guoshou), which literally mean ‘national hand’, but translate loosely to something more like ‘national treasure’. This is Cho Hanseung’s first Kuksu title. He gained early discharge from compulsory military service after winning a gold medal for Korea in the 2010 Asian Games. Some say that since leaving the army he’s been stronger than ever…

– Jingning; based on her original article: Cho Hanseung wins 55th Kuksu in Korea. Photo: Cho Hanseung 9P.

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Categories: World
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