original title：趙治勲 私の履歴書（23）世界戦
Original article: The Nikkei
Author: Cho Chikun, Honorary Meijin
In the 1990s, I achieved the ten consecutive Honinbo titles, but this was also a time when international Go tournaments were gradually rising in prominence. However, I didn’t achieve the results I had hoped for in these world competitions.
In the Fujitsu Cup, Japanese players won the championship for five consecutive years, starting with the first tournament in 1988. I myself won the title in the fourth tournament in 1991, but that was because my Chinese opponent, Qian Yuping, forfeited the final due to illness. I didn’t feel the true joy of victory from that win.
Initially, Japan dominated the world tournaments, but in the early 1990s, this started to change. By the time the Samsung Cup in 1996 and the LG Cup in 1997—both hosted by Korea—came around, it became clear that players from Korea and China were catching up. In particular, the rise of Korean players was especially remarkable.
The star of this era was Lee Chang-ho, who won numerous titles in tournaments like the Fujitsu Cup, Samsung Cup, and LG Cup, becoming a top-tier player.
Lee Chang-ho’s mentor was Cho Hun-hyun, who is three years older than me. During his time training in Japan, Cho was a favorite of Fujisawa Hideyuki and was a regular at the Kitani Dojo.
Cho Hun-hyun was not only incredibly talented but also a man of great character. Had he stayed in Japan, he likely would have become a title-winning player here. However, after returning to Korea, he had to fulfill his military service, which marked a turning point in his life. He went on to play a key role in the Korean Go scene, eventually even becoming a member of the Korean National Assembly. Military service became a decisive difference in our fates, but I can only say it was the will of the heavens.
As I mentioned before, when I became Meijin, Korea’s Go boom was beginning, and Cho Hun-hyun seized the opportunity to promote Go in Korea. The teacher-student duo of Cho Hun-hyun and Lee Chang-ho contributed immensely to the development of Korean Go. Later, Lee Sedol and the current world number one, Shin Jin-seo, also had close ties to them.
In 1993, I faced Lee Chang-ho in the Toyo Securities Cup, hosted in Korea, competing for the world championship title. At the time, Lee was only 17 years old. I thought I had the upper hand, but I ended up losing three straight games in the best-of-five series, before I even realized what had happened.
After that, the only world championship I won was the 2003 Samsung Cup. At that time, I didn’t hold any titles, which allowed me to compete without pressure. When you’re a titleholder, the pressure to win becomes much heavier.
During that time, both Korean and Chinese players were rapidly catching up to the Japanese players. While some Japanese players looked down on the world tournaments with lower prize money, I was working hard but still couldn’t hold off their pursuit.
In terms of technique, the issue of time controls also played a role. Domestic title matches in Japan, even the one-day games, allowed five hours of thinking time. However, in the world tournaments, the mainstream thinking time was three hours, and now there are even games with only two or one-hour limits. From a player’s perspective, this almost feels like a different kind of game.
After listening to my suggestion, the Oza tournament changed the time limit to three hours. Other tournaments also had a trend of shortening their time limits, but young players need to adapt to these shorter games. Although Japanese players haven’t been able to beat the Korean and Chinese players for quite some time, I hope they will make a comeback.
I recall during Lee Chang-ho’s peak, someone asked Go Seigen who the strongest player in the world was, and he answered, "Cho Chikun." That made me happy. However, his second place choice was Rui Naiwei, and his third was Lee Chang-ho, which surprised me.
Rui Naiwei, a female player from China, performed exceptionally well in all events, but at that time, Lee Chang-ho was clearly stronger. Rui Naiwei was one of Go Seigen’s students, so perhaps this was just a matter of personal preference. If Lee Chang-ho had been second, I would have felt truly happy.
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