Cho Chikun

Cho Chikun
Kanji趙治勲
Kanaちょう ちくん
Hangul조치훈
Hanja趙治勳
Revised RomanizationJo Chi-hun
McCune–ReischauerCho Ch'i-hun
Born (1956-06-20) June 20, 1956 (age 68)
Busan, South Korea
ResidenceChiba City, Japan
TeacherMinoru Kitani
PupilKim Shushun,
Matsumoto Takehisa,
Atsushi Tsuruyama
Turned pro1968
Rank9 dan
AffiliationNihon Ki-in

Cho Chikun 25th Honinbo[1] Honorary Meijin[2] (Korean: 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 the most in the history of the Japanese Nihon Ki-in.[3] Cho is the first player to hold the top three titles—Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo—simultaneously which he did for three years in a row. Cho is the first in history to win all of the "Top 7" titles in Japan (Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, Judan, Tengen, Oza, and Gosei) which he achieved by winning the Oza in 1994. Cho U in 2011 and Iyama Yuta in 2013 would duplicate this feat, both by winning the Kisei.[4] He is also one of the 'Six Supers' Japanese players that were most celebrated in the late twentieth century, along with Rin Kaiho, Otake Hideo, Takemiya Masaki, Kato Masao and his classmate and arch-rival Kobayashi Koichi. He is the author of several books on Go.

  1. ^ The Nihon Ki-in decided to name players who had won the Honinbo tournament five times or more in a row (making them Honorary Honinbo) would be given the Honinbo prefix after Cho Chihun won the title ten times in a row. This meant that Takagawa Kaku (9 in a row), Sakata Eio (7), Ishida Yoshio (5), and Cho (10) may be addressed as 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th Honinbo respectively whether or not they are holding the Honinbo title.
  2. ^ Held for five years between 1980—1984
  3. ^ "囲碁の日本棋院". 囲碁の日本棋院.
  4. ^ "GoBase.org - Chō Chikun - Biography". gobase.org.