Song Min-hyeok

Song Min-hyeok (r Minhyuk, Hangul: 송민혁) is a Korean professional 1 dan born 26 Nov 2001. He became a professional when he was 24.

Early life

Song Min-hyeok is the son of Song Hee-rip and Mo Yun-seong. He trained at the Han Jong-jin Baduk school under teachers Han Jong-jin, Cho Han-seung, Han Sang-hoon (9p), Kim Se-dong (8p), Kim Hyeon-chan? (6p), Jeong Chan-ho (Amateur 6d).

Becoming a pro

Song Min-hyeok earned professional rank by working his way through the KBA’s Amateur entry point system. He won the 2024 Nosa Cho National Baduk Tournament Amateur National Championship and the 2025 Busan Mayor’s National Baduk Tournament Amateur Junior Championship. He also earned points by reaching the quarterfinals of the 25th LG Cup Chosun Ilbo Go King Tournament preliminary round and the quarterfinals of the 2020 Samsung Fire Cup World Baduk Masters integrated preliminary round.

In June 2025, he advanced to the finals of the 3rd Ranker Cup integrated preliminaries, beating China’s Zhang Xinyu 4p (B+R). This earned him 40 points, totalling 110, surpassing the requirement of 100.

He is only the seventh player to become a pro through the amateur point system, and the first in 5 years and 6 months. The others were Cho In-seon? 4p (Sep 2011), Choi Hyeon-jae? 5p (Sep 2013), Ahn Jeong-gi? 8p (May 2015), Lee Jae-seong? 5p (Aug 2019), Yoon Seong-sik? 4p (Sep 2019), and Baek Hyeon-woo, 6p (Oct 2019).

Song Min-hyeok says that Lee Changho 9p is his favorite player and he learned from his style:

“I’m the type that prefers active fighting, but reading Lee Chang-ho 9 dan’s book helped me sharpen my mentality as well, which was the decisive factor in my entry. I will continue to study hard in the future.”

Links

• KBA article