Cho U

    Keywords: People

http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/player/img-2/000331.jpg
Cho U's Nihon Ki-in photograph

Cho U (張 栩 Chō U, in Chinese: Zhang Xu, Pinyin: Zhāng Xǔ, in Korean: 장쉬 (Jang Shwi), born 20 January 1980), Nihon Ki-in 9 dan pro from Taiwan.

Cho U was a pupil of Rin Kaiho, is the husband of Kobayashi Izumi and the son-in-law of Kobayashi Koichi. He came to Japan at the age of 10, a behavior reminiscent of Rin Kaiho, Cho Chikun, Cho Shoen, and Cho Nam-ch'eol. Each of these professionals came to Japan at a young age to study go.

With his win in the 47th Judan, Cho became the first professional to simultaneously hold five of the seven major titles (considering the major titles since 1977).

  • Winner of the 47th Judan title (2009)
  • Winner of the 56th Oza title (2008)
  • Winner of the 34th Tengen title (2008)
  • Winner of the 33th Meijin title (2008)
  • Winner of the 32nd Meijin title (2007)
  • Winner of the 31st through 33rd Gosei titles (2006-2008)
  • Winner of 26th NEC title (2007)
  • Winner of the 15th and 16th Ryusei titles (2006, 2007)
  • Winner of the 13th, 14th and 15th Agon titles (2006, 2007, 2008)
  • Winner of the 53rd Oza title (2005)
  • Winner of the 30th Meijin title (2005)
  • Winner of 17th Asian TV Cup (2005)
  • Winner of 9th LG Cup title (2005)
  • Winner of 52nd NHK Cup (2005)
  • Winner of 24th NEC title (2005)
  • Winner of 52nd Oza title (2004)
  • Winner of 29th Meijin title (2004)
  • Challenger for 42nd Judan title (2004)
  • Winner of 59th Honinbo title (2004)
  • Winner of 58th Honinbo title (2003)
  • Winner of 51st Oza title (2003)
  • Winner of 27th Shinjin O (2002)
  • Winner of 49th NHK Cup (2002)
  • Challenger for 56th Honinbo title (2001)

His winning record in 2002 was 70-14, a new record for wins (64 in 2001 by Hane Naoki).

Author of Cho U's Tsumego and Cho U no Tokusen Tsumego

Alex Weldon: Cho U seems to be the guy to watch in Japanese go. 26 years old, and kicking some serious ass. I'd like to know more about him, but this page doesn't have much information. Anyone care to add anything they know? Something about his style of play? Biographical details? Interesting anecdotes or quotations?

choreck: (I might be wrong but...) I remember reading in one of Go World articles that he is recognized by pro's for his ingenious life and death problems. And I think he is good at killing.

Calvin: Michael Redmond 9p has this to say about Cho U's style:

"Cho U, the current Honinbo, is a very territory-oriented player, and it's almost like his weak groups are charmed, they don't die: it's almost impossible to kill a group of his. I actually beat him once, when he had two weak groups on the board, both of them lived but I managed to win that game. His reading is extremely deep, better than most of the top players. His specialty is creating small tsume-go problems that are very difficult for even the pros to solve, and he can make them very quickly."[1]

Jared: Game two of the 30th Meijin (2005) is a good example of a giant "charmed" group.

knakts: Jared, do you mean the game with Kobayashi Satoru? Which group exactly do you mean?


Bill: Cho U has a new book, Cho U's Tsumego: Difficult Tsumego Made Easy. The problems range from low dan to pro level. It has three customer reviews on Amazon, Japan, all 5-star. Interestingly, two are by double digit kyu players, who love the book. That says a lot. I'll probably get the book when I go to Korea.

Bob McGuigan: I have this book and it is very interesting. It begins with a simple list of 53 problem positions composed by Cho U, all with difficulty ratings ranging from one star (kyu level) through five stars (pro level). After this there are five chapters. The first is a detailed analysis of life-and-death problems that occurred in Cho's actual games. This includes the moves up to the problem position and also analysis of the variations stemming from the problem position. A good demonstration of amazing real-game reading power. The next four chapters are devoted to the problems from the initial list. In many cases hints are given and for those problems the difficulty rating is reduced somewhat. Detailed illustrations of the solutions are provided, often with as many as ten illustrative diagrams. Often, in the course of the explanations, finishing the problem after seeing the analysis up to that point is proposed as an easier problem.


[1] January 14, 2004 AGA E-Journal

GeorgeW: Ummm, well right now, you cannot say that Cho U dominates the Japanese Go arena, however, Cho Chikun definitely did at his peak, and Rin Kaiho is another one of the old grandmasters. They are just past their peak as of right now, so Cho U may seem stronger.

valerio: Winning 56th Oza, Cho U is the 5th player in Japan holder of four titles at the same time, after Rin Kaiho, Kato Masao, Cho Chikun and Kobayashi Koichi.

hyperpapeterie: And now five! But we can't fault GeorgeW's statement. Five years ago, Cho U had yet to achive this feat.


This is a copy of the living page "Cho U" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2009 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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