Choi Jung
Choi Jung (최정, 崔精, born 1996-10-07) is also known as Choi Jeong in Revised Romanization. She is a Korean female 9-dan professional player and one of the most dominant female players in history.
She was a pupil of Yoo Chang-hyuk 9p.
In 2011-01-01, the ![[ext]](images/extlink.gif)
World Women's Rating list first listed her, and she was already #3 female in the world (behind only Rui Naiwei and Yu Zhiying). That year she won 8 games in a row in the 5th Auction Cup against men professional over 45 and reached the final of the 5th Women's Kisung, but lost B+0.5 against Rui Naiwei.
From the 2012-01-01 to the 2016-01-01 rating lists, Choi was #2 woman in the world behind only Rui Naiwei. In 2012, she won the Women's Myeongin, then for the next four years after that until it was discontinued.
Choi has been the world's strongest female player since the 2017-01-01 women's list. In the 2019-01-01, list, she achieved her highest overall world ranking of either sex: #69. Yu Zhiying was the second highest woman at #171 in the world overall. She was also #1 female and #23 ranked overall in Korea.
She is the only woman to have reached the final of the international Samsung Cup (27th, 2022).
The only leading female player who has a (narrow) plus score against her over more than one game is (Li He). Ueno Asami is the only female player with an even score. Choi has plus scores against the rest, many of them very dominant.
(The veteran Yoshida Mika 8p won the only game they have played back in the 2nd Huang Longshi Shuang Deng Cup (2012), when Choi was a 2-dan 15-year-old, but still ranked #2 female in the world and outrating Yoshida by over 300 points. Some claimed that Choi lost by 0.5 points because she forgot the point scoring under Chinese rules, but she denies it.)
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Name
Because Korean Romanization is not always intuitive, her family name Choi is pronounced something like "chweh". It does NOT rhyme with "boy" as the spelling might indicate. Her given name Jung/Jeong approximately rhymes with "lung" and "young" pronounced according to General American English.
Promotion history
- 1 dan professional in 2010-06-30 / Joined the 37th Women’s Enlistment Competition
- 2 dan in 2012-01-26 / winning the Women's Myeongin
- 3 dan in 2013-01-31 / 14th Women's Myungin Tournament Winner Bonus Points (200 points)
- 4 dan in 2013-11-22 /19th GS Caltex Cup
- 5 dan in 2014-09-03 / Winner of the 5th Gungryung Mountain Soldiers' Holy Cup - Special Order 1st Dan /
- 6 dan in 2015-07-13 / 17th Nongshim Cup Preliminaries
- 7 dan in 2016-10-15 / 2016 KB Kookmin Bank Baduk League and the #1 Korean female player
- 8 dan in 2017-11-10 / Winner of the 8th Gungryungsan Soldiers’ Holy Cup - Special Order 1st Dan
- 9 dan in 2018-01-23 / Title Tournament Winner] Promotion to 1st Dan in Limited Edition
Titles and runners-up
- 2011: Runner-up of the 5th Women's Kisung.
- 2012: Winner of the 13th Women's Myeongin after defeating Kim Miri 2–0 at the challenger decision match (Rui Naiwei had been the Women's Myeongin, but is leaving Korea).
- 2012: Winner of 6th Auction Cup, d. Cho Hunhyun
- 2013: Winner of the 14th Women's Myeongin, defeating Park Jiyun 2–1.
- 2013: Winner of the last three games of the 3rd Huang Longshi Shuang Deng Cup.
- 2013: Winner of the 6th Women's Kisung.
- 2014: Winner of the 15th Women's Myeongin, defeating Park Jiyun 2–1
- 2014: Winner of the 5th Bingsheng cup (d. Rui Naiwei)
- 2015: Winner of the 16th Women's Myeongin (d. O Yujin)
- 2016: Winner of the 17th Women's Myeongin (d. O Yujin)
- 2016: Runner-up of the 1st IMSA Elite Mind Games Women's Individual?.
- 2016: Runner-up of the 10th Auction Cup (l. Lee Sanghoon)
- 2017: Winner of the 8th Bingsheng cup (d. Wang Chenxing)
- 2018: Winner of the 22nd Women's Kuksu (d. Kim Chaeyeong)
- 2018: Winner of the 23rd Women's Kuksu (d. Lee Sula)
- 2018: Winner of the 9th Bingsheng cup (d. O Yujin)
- 2018: Runner up of the 1st Go Seigen Cup
- 2018: Winner of the 2nd Women's Kisung (d. Kim Hyeoimin)
- 2019: Runner-up of the 2nd SENKO Cup
- 2019: Winner of the 10th Bingsheng cup (d. Zhou Hongyu)
- 2019: Winner of the 24th Women's Kuksu (d. O Yujin)
- 2019: Winner of the 2nd Go Seigen Cup (d. Wang Chenxing)
- 2019: Winner of the 3rd Women's Kisung (d. Kim Chaeyeong)
- 2019: Runner-up of the 13th Auction Cup (l. Choi Myeonghoon?)
- 2020:
- 2021: Winner of the 4th Go Seigen Cup (d. Yu Zhiying)
- 2021: Winner of the 1st IBK Cup (d. O Junga)
- 2021: Winner of 15th Auction Cup, d. Lee Changho
- 2022: Runner-up of 27th Samsung Cup (lost to Shin Jinseo)
- 2022: Winner of the 27th Women's Kuksu (d. Kim Eunji)
- 2022: Runner-up of the 16th Auction Cup (l. Cho Hanseung)
- 2023: Winner of the 3rd IBK Cup (d. Kim Eunji)
- 2023: Winner of the 6th Wu Qingyuan Cup (d. Fujisawa Rina 2–0)
- 2023: Runner-up of the 7th Women's Kisung (l. Kim Eunji 1–2)
- 2023: Runner-up of the 17th Auction Cup (l. Cho Hanseung)
- 2024: Winner of 6th Senko Cup (d. Suzuki Ayumi)
Temporary slump in June 2024 and possible recovery
Choi has been so dominant in female play that it’s news in the rare case where she is very below par. In the international women’s 10th Huang Longshi Shuang Deng Cup, June 2024, after beating Heo Seohyun 4p, she lost 6 games in a row: Li He 5p, Zhou Hongyu 7p, Fujisawa Rina 7p, Ueno Asami 5p, Lu Minquan 6p, and Li Xiaoxi 5p. She had not lost so many in a row since she became a pro. She finished the tournament with 1–6, in 8th place out of 8.
As world #1 ranked woman and defending champion, she would have been clear favorite to win. This disastrous result caused her to drop out of the top 100 in the world. Many commentators wondered what had gone so wrong for Choi.
But as of 2024-06-27, Choi is still the top-rated female, #103, well above the next Zhou Hongyu #156 and Ueno Asami #159.
Choi might have recovered in time for the 4th Supreme Female Player semifinals on 5 July 2024. She beat girl prodigy Nakamura Sumire 3p (B+R) (see video commentary by Pak Chi-eun 9p). But then she lost to young female 2p Lee Suljoo in the 4th Korean IBK Cup Women's Tournament, round 2 (10 July), but beat girl prodigy Kim Eunji in the winner's final of the 4th [Female Supreme Player) on 19 July (B+R).
Lifetime scores against top players
(Based on Choi Jeong, Go Ratings and game list), as of 23 July 2024.
Notable victories over leading (male) players
Choi has taken games from some of the greatest players in recent history, mainly of older generations, e.g.
- Cho Hun-hyeon, 9p: 2–1
- Cho Chikun, 9p: 2–0
- Yi Ch'ang-ho, 9p: 3–5
- Ichiriki Ryo, 9p: 1–0
Head-to-head scores against current female rivals
- Yu Zhiying, 8p, #2 female in world, #1 female in China: 22–19
- Kim Eunji, 9p, #3 female and #1 female teenager in world, #2 female in South Korea: 14–4
- Zhou Hongyu, 7p, #4 female in world, #2 female in China: 4–1
- Ueno Asami, 5p, #5 female in world, #1 female in Japan: 3–3
- Lu Minquan, 6p, #6 female in world, #3 female in China: 3–1
- O Yujin, 9p, #7 female in world, #3 female in South Korea: 26–9
- Kim Chaeyeong, 8p, #8 female in world, #4 female in South Korea: 26–6
- Fujisawa Rina, 7p, #9 female in world, #2 female in Japan: 12–5
- Li He, 5p, #10 female in world, #4 female in China: 6–7
- Wu Yiming, 5p, #11 female and #2 female teenager in world, #5 female in China: 1–0
- Cho Seunga, 6p, #12 ranked female player and #304 overall, and #5 ranked player in Korea: 7–2
- Tang Jiawen, 5p, #13 female in world, and #6 female in China: 0–0
- Wang Chenxing, 5p, #17 female in world, #8 female in China: 9–2
- Rui Naiwei, 9p, #18 female in world, many years #1 female in world: 4–3
- Cho Hyeyeon, 9p, #20 female in world, once #1 and many years #2 female in world: 9–2
- Ueno Risa, 3p, #21 female and #4 female teenager in world, #4 female in Japan: 0–0
- Nakamura Sumire, 3p, #22 ranked female and #3 ranked female teenager in the world, #3 ranked female in Japan: 3–0
- Kim Hye-min, 9p, #25 female in the world, #8 female player in Korea: 18–1
- Kim Dayoung, 5p, Kim Chaeyeong's younger sister, #28 ranked female in the world and #9 female in Korea: 12–1
- Lee Minjin, 8p, #29 female in the world, #10 female player in Korea: 10–0
- Xie Yimin, 7p, #30 ranked female in the world, #5 ranked female in Japan (#1 for many years): 4–1
- Nyu Eiko, 4p, #34 ranked female player and #304 overall, and #7 ranked female player in Japan: 2–0
- Joanne Missingham aka Hei Jiajia, 7p, #39 female in world, #1 ranked female player in Taiwan: 15–2
- Suzuki Ayumi, 7p, #33= ranked female player and #443= overall, and #6= ranked female player in Japan, twice Female Strongest, once Female Kisei: 1–0
- Pak Chi-eun, 9p, #68 in world (formerly #3 for 4 years), #23 in Korea: 8–1
Personal life
Choi is a close friend of fellow Korean female 9-dan professional O Yujin. ‘Fantasy combination’ Choi Jeong? and Oh Yu-jin “Thank you to the fans who supported us.” Baduk News, 2019.06.13 (in Korean)
Links
Videos
- A post-game interview after winning the IBK Cup in August 2023.
Video Reviews of Her Games
vs assorted opponents
| Opponent | Year | Reviewer | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Byun Sangil | 2023 | Eunkyo Do | video
|
| Byun Sangil | 2023 | Jr4yA | video
|
| Cho Hanseung | 2020 | Evan Cho | video
|
| Cho Hunhyun | 2020 | Evan Cho | video
|
| Kang Dongyoon | 2019 | Yoonyoung | video
|
| Lee Changho | 2021 | Yoonyoung | video
|
| Lee Changseok | 2021 | Yeonwoo | video
|
| Lee Changseok | 2023 | Jr4yA | video
|
| Na Hyun | 2021 | Baduk Lawyer | video
|
| O Yujin | 2019 | Yeonwoo | video
|
| Rui Naiwei | 2014 | Littlelamb | video
|
| Seol Hyunjun | 2019 | Yoonyoung | video
|
| Xie Erhao | 2023 | Jr4yA | video
|
| Yu Zhiying | 2022 | Young Sun Yoon | video
|
| Zhao Chenyu | 2020 | Baduk Doctor | video
|
vs Fujisawa Rina
| Year | Reviewer | Video |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | dwyrin | video
|
| 2023 | Eunkyo Do | video
|
| 2023 | Jr4yA | video
|
| 2023 | Jr4yA | video
|
vs Park Junghwan
| Year | Reviewer | Video |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Yeonwoo | video
|
| 2022 | Yeonwoo | video
|
| 2023 | Eunkyo Do | video
|
vs Nakamura Sumire
| Year | Reviewer | Video |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Lee Hajin (Haylee) and her husband Dan Maas | video
|
| 2023 | Eunkyo Do | video
|
| 2023 | Telegraph Go | video
|
vs Zhou Hongyu
| Year | Reviewer | Video |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Ryan Li | video
|
| 2023 | Eunkyo Do | video
|
Pictures
Choi Jeong on the cover of Monthly Baduk May 2016
Choi Jung holding her close friend O Yujin, 9th Hwangnyongsa Cup, 2019 (Image credit:
http://m.baduk.or.kr/
.jpg "Choi Jung with her close friend O Yujin, 2019 (Image credit: http://m.baduk.or.kr/) (image inlined from admin.tvbaduk.com)")
Choi Jung with her close friend O Yujin, 9th Hwangnyongsa Cup, 2019 (Image credit:
http://m.baduk.or.kr/
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