围棋/Go(Game)

Lee Chang-ho

(Korean is 이창호 July 29, 1975 - )

Lee Chang-ho born in Jeonju, North Jeolla is a South Korean professional Go player of 9-dan rank.[1] He is regarded by many as the best Go player of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was a student of Cho Hun-hyun 9-dan. He is the second youngest (11 years 1 month) to become a professional Go player in South Korean history behind Cho Hun-hyun (9 years 7 months). He is the only player to have won all eight international competitions at least once.

He turned professional in 1986 at the young age of 11. By the early 1990s, he started winning titles that his teacher, Cho, had won. By 1992 Lee had already won his first international title, which was the 3rd Tong Yang Cup. Lee has won all of the international Go tournaments at least twice, excluding the World Oza and Ing Cup, which are held every two and four years respectively. He is only the second player to record a "Grand Slam". The first was Cho Hunhyun. In 2006, Lee won the Wangwi title for the eleventh straight year. His teacher, Cho Hunhyun, holds the record for the most successive domestic titles with sixteen consecutive Paewang titles. Ma Xiaochun has the second-most successive domestic titles with thirteen Mingren titles.

Lee Sedol

(Korean is 이세돌 March 2, 1983 - )

Lee Sedol 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). His nickname is "The Strong Stone" ("Ssen-dol"). In March 2016, he played a notable series of matches against the program AlphaGo that ended in Lee losing 1–4.

On 19 November 2019, Lee announced his retirement from professional play, stating that he could never be the top overall player of Go due to the increasing dominance of AI. Lee referred to them as being "an entity that cannot be defeated".

Yoo Chang-hyuk

(Korean is 유창혁 April 25, 1966 - )

Yoo Changhyuk was one of Korea's best Go players. Growing up without a teacher, Yoo became a professional in 1984 and was promoted to 9 dan in 1996. He has won many international tournaments for Korea.

Cho Hun-hyun

(korean is 조훈현 March 10, 1953)

Cho Hun-Hyun is a South Korean professional Go player and politician. Considered one of the greatest players of all time,[2][3] Cho reached professional level in Korea in 1962.[4] Since then, Cho has amassed 150 professional titles, more than any other 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 (18). He reached 1,000 career wins in 1995.

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, Kensaku Segoe took Cho under his tutelage. Segoe was responsible for bringing Go Seigen to Japan and also teaching Utaro Hashimoto, founder of the Kansai Ki-in. 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 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. 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. 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.