Cho U
Cho U (in Chinese: Zhang Xu 張 栩), Nihon Ki-in 9 dan pro from Taiwan. Born 20 January 1980. Pupil of Rin Kaiho. Husband of Kobayashi Izumi. Son-in-law of Kobayashi Koichi. Cho U came to Japan at the age of 10, a behavior reminiscent of Rin Kaiho, Cho Chikun, Cho Shoen, and Cho Nam-ch'eol. Each of these professionals came to Japan at at young age to study go.
- Winner of 17th Asian TV Cup (2005)
- Winner of 9th LG Cup title (2005)
- Winner of 52nd NHK Cup (2005)
- Winner of 24th NEC title (2005)
- Winner of 52nd Oza title (2004)
- Winner of 29th Meijin title (2004)
- Challenger for 42nd Judan title (2004)
- Winner of 59th Honinbo title (2004)
- Winner of 58th Honinbo title (2003)
- Winner of 51st Oza title (2003)
- Winner of 27th Shinjin O (2002)
- Winner of 49th NHK Cup (2002)
- Challenger for 56th Honinbo title (2001)
His winning record in 2002 was 70-14, a new record for wins (64 in 2001 by Hane Naoki).
Alex Weldon: Cho U seems to be the guy to watch in Japanese go. 24 years old, and kicking some serious ass. I'd like to know more about him, but this page doesn't have much information. Anyone care to add anything they know? Something about his style of play? Biographical details? Interesting anecdotes or quotations?
choreck: (I might be wrong but...) I remember reading in one of Go World articles that he is recognized by pro's for his ingenious life and death problems. And I think he is good at killing.
Calvin: Michael Redmond 9p has this to say about Cho U's style:
"Cho U, the current Honinbo, is a very territory-oriented player, and it's almost like his weak groups are charmed, they don't die: it's almost impossible to kill a group of his. I actually beat him once, when he had two weak groups on the board, both of them lived but I managed to win that game. His reading is extremely deep, better than most of the top players. His specialty is creating small tsume-go problems that are very difficult for even the pros to solve, and he can make them very quickly."[1]
[1] January 14, 2004 AGA E-Journal