Cho Chikun

Cho Chikun is, without question, one of the most dominant figures in the history of professional Go — a man who turned the Japanese circuit into his personal proving ground for decades. Born in Busan and trained under Nihon Ki-in, he became the first player ever to hold the Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo titles simultaneously, and he kept that triple crown for three consecutive years. Seventy-five career titles at Nihon Ki-in — that's not just a record, it's a statement. There's a certain poetry in watching someone from Korea arrive in Japan as a young prodigy and then simply out-grind an entire nation of masters at their own ancient game. The Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government says it all: even the establishment had to bow. A genuinely once-in-a-generation competitor.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Cho Chikun

Name (Japanese)

趙治勲

Reading

ちょう・ちくん

Born

June 20, 1956 (age 70)

Origin

Busan, South Korea

Occupation

Go professional

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Monkey

Awards & achievements

• Medal with Purple Ribbon

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho%20Chikun
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%99%E6%B2%BB%E5%8B%B2
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q484087

Tags

• Go professional

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.