Kim Joo-ah

Kim Joo-ah (or Jooa on Go to Everyone, Hangul: 김주아, Hanja: 金湊笌) is a female Korean professional 4 dan. She was born on 23 December 2006 in Seoul. On January 2023, she changed her name from Kim Hyoyoung or Hyoyeong (김효영).

Table of contents Early Baduk history Promotion history Titles and Runners-up Head-to-head scores against current female rivals Links

Early Baduk history

Kim first started to play Baduk aged 6, and became a pro at 14.

Promotion history

• 4 dan / 2025.04.04 / 4 dan Promotion
• 3 dan / 2023.04.04 / 3 dan Promotion
• 2 dan / 2022.05.17 / 2 dan promotion
• 1 dan / 2021.04.29 / 54th Entrance Competition (Female Research Student)

Titles and Runners-up

• 2022: Winner, 1st Mediheal Millenium Women’s Go Championship (16 female players born after 2000), beat Kim Minseo to win five million won ($4,200). Her first win was only 10 months after becoming a pro.
• 2023: Runner up, 2nd Hyorim Cup Future Empress Championship (l. Park Soyul 3p)

• 2024: Kim was also second board in of the winning Pyeongtaek Brain City team in the 10th Korean Women's league, which had the youngest captain, Japan’s “genius girl” Nakamura Sumire 3p. Kim had the best score in her team of 12/14, including winning her last 11 games in a row. Nakamura scored 11/14. The only player with a higher score than Kim Jooah’s was Korea’s “genius girl” Kim Eunji with 13/13.

• 2025: In the 6th Leebong Cup, 2025, she beat the top-dan-ranked player and previous winner Kim Sonjin 7p in R1, 2–0. But she lost 0–2 in R2 to her friend and league team captain, Nakamura Sumire, who just had been promoted to 4p.

• 2025: 19th GC Auction Cup: she scored well enough among the 57 female players in the preliminaries to earn one of the 8 reserved places for the female team. But she lost her only game in the seventh round to the legendary Lee Changho (B–R).

Head-to-head scores against current female rivals

(Based on Go Ratings and game lists for Kim Jooah) and Kim Hyoyoung], as of 25 Mar 2025.

• Kim Eunji, 9p, #2 female and #1 female teenager in world, #2 female in Korea: 3–3
• O Yujin, 9p, #7 female in world, #3 female in Korea: 1–4
• Kim Chaeyeong, 9p, #8 female in world, #4 female in South Korea: 1–4
• Nakamura Sumire, 4p, #14 ranked female and #3 female teenager in the world, #3 ranked female in Japan, #5 ranked female in Korea: 0–5
• Cho Seunga, 7p, #15 ranked player and #323 overall, and #6 ranked female player in Korea: 1–1
• Cho Hyeyeon, 9p, #19 female in world, once #1 and many years #2 female in world: 0–3
• Kim Dayoung, 5p, Kim Chaeyeong’s younger sister, #27 ranked female in the world and #9 female in Korea: 2–1
• Lee Minjin, 8p, #29 female in the world, #10 female player in Korea: 0–1
• Heo Seo-hyeon, 5p, Hyorim Cup winner: 1–0
• O Jeonga, 5p, 1st IBK Cup runner up: 3–0
• Jeong Yujin, 4p, Winner 2nd IBK Cup: 2–1
• Kim Minseo, 4p: 2–1
• Lee Suljoo, 3p: 0–1

Links

• Korean Wikipedia
• Korean Baduk profile
• Go ratings and games as Kim Joo-ah, Go ratings and games as Kim Hyoyoung
• Go4Go as Kim Joo-ah, Go4Go as Kim Hyoyoung