Ch'oe Ch'eol-han

Keywords: People

Ch'oe Ch'eol-han (최철한, 崔哲瀚, Choi Cheolhan, b. 12 March 1985 in Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean professional 9-dan of the Hankuk Kiwon. He was a student at the famous Kweon Kap-yong baduk academy in Seoul. Ch'oe is known for being part of the newcomer generation that successfully challenged Yi Ch'ang-ho's dominance in the mid 2000s, and for his ferocious fighting style that has given him the nickname, The Poisonous Snake. On 20 August 2013, he reached his 900th career win (the 10th Korean to do so).

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Rank Promotion

1997: 1-dan
1998: 2-dan
1999: 3-dan
2001: 4-dan
2002: 5-dan
2003: 6-dan
2004: 7-dan, for winning 27th Kuksu
2004: 8-dan, for winning 15th Kiseong
2004: 9-dan, for league points

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Titles

2003 8th Chunwon (over Weon Seong-chin)
2004 47th Kuksu (over Yi Ch'ang-ho)
2004 15th Kiseong (over Yi Ch'ang-ho)
2004 9th Chunwon (over An TalHun)
2005 48th Kuksu (over Yi Ch'ang-ho)
2005 2nd Zhonghuan Cup (over Yi Se-tol)
2005 10th GS Caltex Cup (over Yi Ch'ang-ho)
2009 10th Maxim Cup (over Park Yeonghun)
2009 6th Ing Cup (over Yi Ch'ang-ho)
2010 11th Maxim Cup (over Kang Dongyun)
2011 15th Chunwon (over Lee Taehyun)
2011 54th Kuksu (over Yi Ch'ang-ho)
2011 16th Chunwon (over Yun Junsang)
2012 7th Siptan (over Kang Dongyun)
2013 41th Myungin (over Lee Sedol)

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Team Titles

2006: Korean Baduk League, member of Team GS KIXX (individual score: 14-2)

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Career Statistics^[1]^[2]

Year	Year Total	Win	Loss	NR	Career Total	Win	Loss	NR
1997	31	19	11	1	31	19	11	1
1998	57	42	15		88	61	26	1
1999	46	29	17		134	90	43	1
2000	73	55	18		207	145	61	1
2001	71	52	19		278	197	80	1
2002	71	50	21		349	247	101	1
2003	77	65	12		426	312	113	1
2004	85	61	24		511	373	137	1
2005	99	66	33		610	439	170	1
2006	87	58	29		697	497	199	1
2007	80	45	35		777	542	234	1
2008	67	51	16		844	593	250	1
2009	81	60	21		925	653	271	1
2010	97	73	24		1022	726	295	1
2011	95	64	31		1117	790	326	1
2012	102	67	35		1219	857	361	1
Total					1219	857	361	1
Win Rate					70.3%

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15th Kiseong Fuseki

Two of his wins in the 15th Kiseong used an unconventional fighting fuseki as Black that was very effective against Yi Ch'ang-ho at the time (e.g. [ext] the second game of the title match). The result of Ch'oe's performance and the fuseki motivated further usage of it against Yi Ch'ang-ho that same year. For example, Mok Chin-seok in the 2004 LG cup finals, and Ch'oe again in the 2004 Ing Cup. The fuseki was as follows:

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Notes

^[1]Source: [ext] ''Choi Cheolhan: carriera''.

^[2]valerio: In 2013 Hankuk Kiwon changed the counting of official records. Now, also games played in Chinese League count.

Hankuk Kiwon player profile: http://www.baduk.or.kr/record/player/10000123.

According to http://www.go4go.net, his score versus Yi Ch'ang-ho was 10-7 through April 2005. Now (2009-10-31) his score versus Yi Ch'ang-ho is 24-24; at the same date, Choi was ranked #1 in the Hankuk Kiwon Pro Rating.

In 2004, a series of English interviews were done: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

In 2004, he advanced to the final of the 5th Ing Cup allowing him exemption from military conscription.

sol.ch claims that Choe plays as "showmethe" on Tygem on a GoSensations article: http://gosensations.com/?id=2&server_id=4&new_id=1133 (doesn't link to the correct article anymore as of 2021-07-19)