Kim Chaeyeong

Kim Chaeyeong (or Chaeyoung, which is not Revised Romanization but more intuitive for English speakers to pronounce reasonably accurately; Hangul: 김채영, Hanja: 金彩瑛) is a female Korean 9-dan professional player, born 15 Jan 1996.

She is the eldest daughter of Kim Sung-Rae and his wife Lee So-yoon who also taught baduk for many years, and elder sister of Kim Dayoung. They are the first Korean family with three professionals.

Chaeyeong’s other teachers were Yang Jae-ho, Choi Gyu-byeong, and Lee Jeong-woo. She qualified as a professional on 28 Apr 2011, aged 15. In September of the same year, she entered the 7th Siptan.

Table of contents Name Leading female professional Promotion history Titles and runners up 2014 2017 2018 2019 2020 2022 2023 2024 Winning 29th Women's Kuksu after her other win 10 years previously 2025 Head-to-head scores against current female rivals Views on female and male players Personal life Links Videos Photos

Name

Her given name is also written Chaeyoung, e.g. on Go Ratings and Go4Go. Go To Everyone confusingly calls her Kim Jaeyoung, which is often a male given name e.g., Choi Jaeyoung 8p. The first syllables have different Hangul, Hanja, pronunciations, and meanings; the last syllable has the same pronunciation and same Hangul, but different Hanja so different meaning:

• Chaeyeong: Hangul: 채영; Hanja: 彩瑛; IPA: /t͡ɕʰɛ.jʌŋ/ (aspirated). The 채/彩/Chae character means: “colour” or “to pick/gather”. The 영/瑛/yeong character, common to both names in Hangul but not in Hanja, means “crystal”, “shining gemstone”, or “lustrous jade”. Thus the name means “Radiant crystal” or "Colourful gem”, and is mainly given to females. Chaeyoung’s younger sister Kim Dayoung has the same last character in her name, 다영 (多瑛), plus Da = “many”, “abundant”, hence her name means “abundant brilliance”, “plentiful shining gems”, or “great radiance”. Sharing a character is common in Korean and Chinese families, often a generational name, albeit usually the first character.
• Jaeyeong: Hangul: 재영 Hanja: 宰榮; IPA: /t͡ɕɛ.jʌŋ/ (non-aspirated). The 재/宰/Jae character means “talent” or “wealth”, and the 영/榮/yeong character in this case means “glory”, “prosperity”, or “honor”. So the name means “Glorious ruler” or “Prosperous leader”, and is mainly given to males.

Leading female professional

On the 2025-01-01 rating list, Kim Chaeyeong is the #7 ranked female in the world and #4 female in Korea, after her good results in 2024. Her best ranking was #3 female in the world in the 2018-01-01 rating list.

On the Korean ranking list of 6 Jan 2025, she overtook O Yujin to become #3 female, and moved up 13 places to #83 in the overall rankings, showing the largest increase among players in the top 100.

Kim Chaeyeong scored her 500th professional win by defeating Go Miso on 7 July 2023. On 21 Oct 2024, she beat her younger sister Kim Dayoung to win her 600th. She has played over 1,000 professional games. Her career record (as of 4 Jan 2025) is 1,004 games, 606 wins, 398 losses, for a 60.36% win rate. She has won 1 international women’s title and 3 Korean women’s titles, and runner up (to Choi Jung) in 5 Korean women’s titles.

Promotion history

• 9 dan / 2024.08.14 / Winner of 4th IBK Cup Women’s Baduk Masters, Special Promotion
• 8 dan / 2023.05.23 / 8 dan Promotion
• 7 dan / 2021.11.12 / 7 dan Promotion
• 6 dan / 2019.12.12 / 6 dan Promotion
• 5 dan / 2018.07.25 / Winner of the 1st Wu Qingyuan Cup, Special Promotion
• 4 dan / 2018.03.27 / 4th Dan Promotion
• 3 dan / 2017.03.26 / 3rd Dan Promotion
• 2 dan / 2014.04.18 / Women's National Championship Winner (19th Women's Kuksu) (200 bonus points)
• 1 dan / 2011.04.28 / 40th Women's Entrance Competition

Titles and runners up

2014

• Winner of the 19th Women's Kuksu (d. Park Jieun 2–1; upset win by 1 dan vs. 9 dan; earned promotion to 2 dan)

2017

• Winner of the seniors vs female 12th GC Auction Cup, as a 5p beating Seo Bongsoo 9p in the last game

2018

• Runner up of the 22nd Women's Kuksu (l. Choi Jung 0–2)
• Winner of the 1st Wu Qingyuan Cup (d. Choi Jung 2–0; upset win by 3–4 dan vs. 9 dan; earned promotion to 5 dan)

2019

• Runner up of the 3rd Women's Kisung (l. Choi Jung 0–2)

2020

• Runner up of the 4th Women's Kisung (l. Choi Jung 0–2)

2022

• Runner up of the 2nd Supreme Female Player (l. Choi Jung 0–3)

2023

• Runner up of the 28th Women's Kuksu (l. Choi Jung 1–2)

2024

• Winner of the 4th IBK Cup Women’s Baduk Masters (d. O Yujin 2–1; earned Kim promotion to 9 dan)
• Winner of 29th Women's Kuksu, (d. Nakamura Sumire 2–0). This time, she beat her nemesis Choi Jung in the semifinal.

Winning 29th Women's Kuksu after her other win 10 years previously

Choi Jung 9p had a huge plus score against Kim, and had beaten her in five previous finals, this time Kim beat Choi semifinal on 7 Dec (W+R). Then she faced prodigy “genius girl” Nakamura Sumire 3p, who had a 3–0 score against her in official games. But Kim won the final 2–0. Kim commented after the first game (B+R):

I watched all three games of the Women's Kisung Championship finals with great interest, and I think Sumire must have had a lot of regrets (she lost 1–2 to Choi Jung after winning the first game). However, I think she showed that her skills have risen to the top level. That’s why I was able to prepare without any pressure.

Sumire seems to play very well when she plays according to her style. When I first played against Sumire, I felt pressured because she was so young and she was getting a lot of attention, but now her skills have really improved, and I don’t feel pressured. Just like the first game of the final, I will play the second game without thinking of it as a match that will decide the winner.

After the second game (W+R), Kim said:

Watching all three games of the Women's Kisung Championship, I felt that Sumire liked to make her shape bigger. In both games of the final of this Women’s Go Championship, I prevented Sumire from making her shape bigger. I prevented Sumire from doing what she likes and is good at. I think this was the reason for my victory.

First of all, I’m dazed because it hasn’t been that long since the baduk match ended. I’m really happy, and I’m happy that I’ve done better than I expected this year.

I thought it was a similar flow to yesterday. At first, I thought it was okay, but later, as Sumire said during the review, if she had come to catch it accurately, there would have been no time and it would have been difficult to be sure about surviving. It was dangerous because I couldn’t see the way to survive, but when I made a shape of a hogu (tiger's mouth), I thought I survived.

At the awards ceremony, Kim said:

I first won the Women’s Go Championship in 2014 after I entered the professional ranks, so it feels really strange to win again after 10 years. It was also my first time playing a final against a player who was much younger than me, so I feel grateful that we can continue to compete for such a long time.

She and fellow 28-year-old female 9-dan, Female Kisung Choi Jung, are on the cover of the monthly ''Baduk'' magazine for Jan 2025.

2025

Head-to-head scores against current female rivals

(Based on Kim Chaeyoung, Go Ratings and game list), as of 25 Apr 2025.

• Choi Jung, 9p, current Korean and World #1 female: 7–27
• Kim Eunji, 9p, #2 female and #1 female teenager in world, #2 female in South Korea: 2–6
• Zhou Hongyu, 7p, #3 female in world, #1 female in China: 0–4
• Ueno Asami, 6p, #4 female in world, #1 female in Japan: 3–0
• Yu Zhiying, 8p, #5 female in world, #2 female in China: 2–4
• Fujisawa Rina, 7p, #6 female in world, #2 female in Japan: 1–3
• O Yujin, 9p, #7 female in world, #3 female in Korea: 13–5
• Wu Yiming, 5p, #9 female and #2 female teenager in world, #3 female in China: 2–1
• Lu Minquan, 6p, #10 female in world, #4 female in China: 2–3
• Tang Jiawen, 6p, #11 female in world, and #5 female in China: 1–0
• Li He, 6p, #12 female in world, and #6 female in China: 4–2
• Nakamura Sumire, 4p, #14 ranked female and #3 female teenager in the world, #3 ranked female in Japan, #5 ranked female in Korea: 2–4
• Cho Seunga, 7p, #15 ranked player and #323 overall, and #6 ranked female player in Korea: 6–10
• Ueno Risa, 2p, #16 female and #4 female teenager in world, #4 female in Japan: 0–0
• Gao Xing, 5p, #18 in world, #9 in China: 1–1
• Cho Hyeyeon, 9p, #19 female in world, once #1 and many years #2 female in world: 7–1
• Rui Naiwei, 9p, #20 female in world, many years #1 female in world: 2–3
• Wang Chenxing, 5p, #24 female in world, #14 female in China: 2–4
• Kim Hye-min, 9p, #25 female in the world, #8 female player in Korea: 10–6
• Kim Dayoung, 5p, Chaeyeong’s younger sister, #27 ranked female in the world and #9 female in Korea: 15–2
• Xie Yimin, 7p, #30 ranked female in the world, #5 ranked female in Japan (#1 for many years): 1–1
• Nyu Eiko, 4p, #34 ranked female player and #304 overall, and #7 ranked female player in Japan: 1–0
• Joanne Missingham aka Hei Jiajia, 7p, #39 female in world, #1 ranked female player in Taiwan: 4–1
• Kim Eunsun, 6p, #43 world, #15 Korea: 4–0
• Pak Chi-eun, 9p, #68 in world (formerly #3 for 4 years), #23 in Korea (formerly #1): 5–6
• Kim Eunseon 6p, Winner Baduk Masters Queen: 4–0
• Heo Seo-hyeon, 5p, Hyorim Cup winner: 9–2
• Jeong Yujin, 4p, Winner 2nd IBK Cup: 6–1
• Kim Jooah, 4p, Runner up, 2nd Hyorim Cup Future Empress Championship: 4–1
• Kim Minseo, 4p: 2–0
• Lee Suljoo, 3p: 5–0

Views on female and male players

In an interview after Kim first became a professional, she was asked:

“They say that the task for female players is to develop the skills to compete on equal terms with men. What do you think?”

Kim responded:

“I also suffered from competition with male opponents. There were often cases where male students who were not as good as me would surpass me within a year. Nevertheless, I believe that there will come a day when female players will not be particularly inferior to male players. If we keep working hard and time passes, it will be possible.”

But in the 2023–2024 KB Kookmin Bank Baduk League, which ended in May 2024, she was the only woman and helped her team, Ulsan Korea Zinc, to victory.

Personal life

On 8 March 2025, Kim Chaeyeong (29) married fellow 9p Park Ha-min (27), after dating for 6 years. They are the 12th Korean all-professional couple, and only the second 18-dan couple in the world (after Jiang Zhujiu and Rui Naiwei who married in 1992).

Links

• “Three Master Kims live under one roof.” Interview (with photos) with Kim Seong-rae, Kim Chae-young, and Kim Da-young (and their mother Lee So-yoon) from ‘Three Ladies Program’, 2015-08-22 (in Korean)
• Kim Chaeyeong, Profile on Korean Baduk
• Kim Chaeyeong, Korean Wikipedia
• Kim Chaeyeong, Go Ratings and Games
• Kim Chaeyeong, Go4Go

Videos

• A post-game interview after the round 16 game against Park Jonghoon in the 46th Myeongin in September 2023. YouTube link

Photos

Park Ha-min (left) with his fiancée Kim Chaeyoung in wedding clothes, 11 Feb 2025 (Image credit: m.baduk.or.kr)

Kim Chaeyoung (right) with her fiancé Park Ha-min playing Baduk, 11 Feb 2025 (Image credit: msn.com/ko-kr/news/other)

Kim family 2015: father Kim Sung-Rae (52), mother Lee So-yoon (50), Kim Da-young (17), Kim Chaeyoung (19) (Image credit: news.tygem.com

Kim family 2017: L-R mother Lee So-yoon, Kim Dayoung 2p, Kim Sung-Rae 5p, and Kim Chaeyoung 3p (Image credit: yna.co.kr

Kim family 2017: Clockwise from top left: Kim Chae-young 3p, Kim Da-young 2p, mother Lee So-yoon, father Kim Seong-rae 5p.
(Image credit: Choi In-young, yna.co.kr)

First official game between Kim sisters, 2016-03-18: Kim Dayoung (left) vs Kim Chaeyoung (Image credit: ilyo.co.kr)

Kim Chaeyeong holding trophy, as only woman in winning Ulsan Korea Zinc team in the 2023-2024 KB Kookmin Bank Baduk League (Image credit: mk.co.kr)