‘Top Domestic Female Go Player’ Choi Jeong Wins First Senko Cup Women's Go Championship

Victory After Four Losses and Five Attempts
Historic First Place in All Women's International Tournaments

Choi Jeong (27), the No. 1 ranked female Go player in Korea and a 9-dan professional, finally claimed the Senko Cup World Women's Go Championship trophy after four attempts and five challenges. This is the first Senko Cup trophy for Choi Jeong, the top female player in Korea.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 5th, in the final held in Tokyo, Japan, Choi Jeong defeated Zhou Hongyu 6-dan of China by resignation after 198 moves playing with the white stones.

Choi Jeong had shown a notably weak performance in the Senko Cup, which is hosted by Japan. In her first appearance, she finished third, and in the 2nd and 3rd editions, she was runner-up, losing all those matches to Yu Zhiying 6-dan.

For Choi Jeong, who has won seven world women's individual titles (four times the Qionglong Mountain Bingsheng Cup, twice the Wuxi Yuan Cup, and once the Mingyue Mountain Cup), this was considered a disappointing record.

In last year's 4th tournament, she was eliminated early in the quarterfinals after facing Xie Yimin 7-dan of Japan. This year, on her fifth attempt, Choi Jeong finally embraced the championship trophy.

With this victory, Choi Jeong has now collected all the championship trophies of women's international Go tournaments.

The winner's prize money is 10 million yen (approximately 96 million KRW), with 3 million yen for the runner-up, 2 million yen for third place, and 1 million yen for fourth place.

Choi Jeong maintained her position as the top female player in Korea for the 112th consecutive month in the March rankings announced on the 5th.