Cho Hye-yeon

Cho Hye-yeon (조혜연, 趙惠連 b. 7 June 1985 in Suweon City, South Korea) is a Korean, professional 9-dan. She became the fourth female to reach 9-dan. She was a pupil of Kim Weon.

Table of contents Prodigy to top-two female in the world Rank Promotion Titles Runners-up Victories over all-time greats Head-to-head scores against current female rivals Personal life Books English Commentaries Links Notes Pictures

Prodigy to top-two female in the world

She is a former prodigy who became a professional at the age of 11 years and 11 months, making her (at the time) the third youngest to become professional in Korea (after Cho Hunhyun and Lee Changho).

Cho was the #1 female Go player in the world on the 2005-01-01 rating list, when she was 19. Except for that year, she was #2 behind Rui Naiwei from the 1998-01-01 rating list to 2007-01-01 rating list, from ages 12 to 21.

Cho has won over 700 professional games. As of 30 Nov 2024, her score is 1279, 730 wins, 548 losses, for 57.12% win rate.

Rank Promotion

• 1997 1 dan
• 1999 2 dan
• 2000 3-dan
• 2003-06 4 dan
• 2004-03 5 an
• 2005-04 6 dan, for reaching Korea Baduk League Preliminary Round 2
• 2006 7 dan, for reaching 50th National Championship Preliminary
• 2008 8 dan, for reaching 13th Samsung Fire Cup Preliminary Round
• 2010-12-21 9 dan, for winning the Asian Games gold medal.

Titles

• 2003: 9th Women's Kuksu
• 2004: 5th Women's Myeongin
• 2005: 10th Women's Kuksu
• 2012: 1st Women's Siptan
• 2020: 7th Daejoo Cup (the first female winner of this mixed veterans tournament)

Runners-up

• 2000: 1st Hungchang Cup
• 2000: 7th Women's Kuksu
• 2002: 8th Women's Kuksu
• 2003: 4th Women's Myeongin
• 2005: 1st Baduk Masters Venus
• 2005: 6th Women's Myeongin
• 2006: 11th Women's Kuksu
• 2006: 7th Women's Myeongin
• 2007: 12th Women's Kuksu
• 2008: 9th Women's Myeongin
• 2009: 10th Women's Myeongin
• 2010: 11th Women's Myeongin
• 2011: 12th Women's Myeongin
• 2018: 5th Daejoo Cup
• 2019: 6th Daejoo Cup

Victories over all-time greats

Based on Rui Naiwei, ratings and game list, as of 29 Nov 2024.

In official games, Cho has beaten some of the greatest (male) players in modern Go history, e.g.:

• Lee Sedol: 1–3
• Lee Changho: 2–5
• Cho Chikun: 1–1
• Yoo Changhyuk: 3–1
• Park Yeonghun: 1–1

Head-to-head scores against current female rivals

(Based on Cho Hyeyeon, Go Ratings and game list), as of 30 Oct 2024

• Choi Jung, 9p, current Korean and World #1 female: 2–9
• Yu Zhiying, 8p, #2 female in world, #1 female in China: 0–0
• Kim Eunji, 9p, #3 female and #1 female teenager in world, #2 female in South Korea: 2–1
• Zhou Hongyu, 7p, #4 female in world, #2 female in China: 0–0
• Ueno Asami, 5p, #5 female in world, #1 female in Japan: 0–0
• Lu Minquan, 6p, #6 female in world, #3 female in China: 1–0
• O Yujin, 9p, #7 female in world, #3 female in South Korea: 2–7
• Fujisawa Rina, 7p, #8 female in world, #2 female in Japan: 2–1
• Kim Chaeyeong, 9p, #9 female in world, #4 female in South Korea: 1–6
• Li He, 5p, #10 female in world, #4 female in China: 1–0
• Wu Yiming, 4p, #11 female and #2 female teenager in world, #5 female in China: 1–0
• Cho Seunga, 7p, #12 ranked female player and #304 overall, and #6 ranked female player in Korea: 6–3
• Tang Jiawen, 5p, #13 female in world, and #6 female in China: 0–0
• Wang Chenxing, 5p, #16 female in world, #8 female in China: 0–0
• Gao Xing, 4p, #18 in world, #9 in China: 0–1
• Rui Naiwei, 9p, #20 female in world, many years #1 female in world: 15–37
• Ueno Risa, 2p, #21 female and #3 female teenager in world, #3 female in Japan: 0–0
• Kim Hye-min, 9p, #25 female in the world, #8 female player in Korea: 9–4
• Kim Dayoung, 5p, Kim Chaeyeong’s younger sister, #27 ranked female in the world and #9 female in Korea: 5–6
• Nakamura Sumire, 3p, #14 ranked female and #3 female teenager in the world, #3 ranked female in Japan, #5 female in Korea: 0–2
• Lee Minjin, 8p, #29 female in the world, #10 female player in Korea: 8–3
• Xie Yimin, 7p, #30 ranked female in the world, #5 ranked female in Japan (#1 for many years): 0–0
• Kobayashi Izumi, 7p, 3× Female Honinbo, 3× Female Meijin, 2× Female Kisei, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 1–0
• Joanne Missingham aka Hei Jiajia, 7p, #39 female in world, #1 ranked female player in Taiwan: 1–0
• Pak Chi-eun, 9p, #68 in world (formerly #3 for 4 years), #23 in Korea (formerly #1): 10–4
• Kim Eunseon 6p, Winner Baduk Masters Queen: 1–2
• Heo Suhhyun, 4p, Hyorim Cup winner: 2–1
• Jeong Yujin, 4p, Winner 2nd IBK Cup: 5–2
• Kim Minseo, 4p: 1–1
• Kim Jooah, 3p, Runner up, 2nd Hyorim Cup Future Empress Championship: 3–0

Personal life

Cho (aged 36) married Park Chang-myung? (3p, aged 30) on 15 November 2021. They had run the Baduk Academy (PBA) together since 2019. They became the 10th professional Go couple in Korea where both spouses were Korean; 11th overall.

She has very strong Christian beliefs which cause her not to compete on Sundays. She has received some amount of criticism from fans in Korea and has had to skip some important matches, such as one game during the World Mind Sports Games.

Her style has lead to the nickname “The Female Yi Ch'ang-ho”. But she said in an interview that she at first regarded it as a complement, but found her own style. While she promoted Baduk overseas, she was called a multi-talented player who expanded the scope of Baduk, and found things other missed.

Aside from her professional go career, Cho Hye-Yeon went to college unlike most professionals. She received a degree in English Literature (so she speaks English fluently) and Japanese at Korea University and is currently a graduate student in Mass Communication & Public Relations. She learned to play the piano and violin when she was a child; and has learned some amount of Chinese and Spanish. She enjoys creating life and death problems, saying that it “is like drawing,” and has published a few life and death books. She is working on translating Korean Go books into English.

For the last few years, Cho has been less active as a competitive player, with all her other interests. Some of the Korean female professional over 10 years younger have big plus scores against her. But she is still a dangerous opponent, with plus scores against the teenaged “girl genius” prodigy players Kim Eunji and Wu Yiming.

Books

English Commentaries

Links

• Korean Wikipedia
• Korean Baduk Association profile
• Go4Go profile
• Go Ratings and games
• NamuWiki
• Her English blog, ''Full of Suprises'' (hasn't been updated since 2014)

Notes

• On 2007-09-28, she played 132-moves of MirrorGo in a game against Pak Seung-ch'eol in the Korean Baduk League.

Pictures

Cho Hyeyeon (36) and her husband Park Chang-myeong? (30) just after they married (Image credit: https://www.chosun.com/)

11th professional Go couple in Korea, Cho Hye-yeon 9p (left) and Park Chang-myeong? 3p (Image credit: chosun.com)

Cho Hye-yeon then-4p (right) as a teenager defeats Rui Naiwei 9p in 9th Female Kuksu in 2003 (Image credit: chosun.com)