As a fan of his L&D Encyclopedias, I am always watching Cho Chikun’s matches. Even in his old age, Cho is still able to keep up with the young talent in Japan. However, what is most amazing to me is that he is still making splashes in the preliminaries of international tournaments. It is not often you see Japanese players defeating Chinese and Korean pros, but Cho has had a number of victories in the last year over them. If you look at his gokifu matches you will see he wins more often then loses against these players, many of the other 9p. (He even has a win against Lee Changho recently, and yes I know he is past his prime). All in all, I am happy that Cho is still having success and I hope to see him win another title, and continue to fight against the young lions of Yuuta, Keigo, Ryo, Rin, Toramaru, and the many others.

A few years back - 2016, I think, Cho Chikun was in some sort of Korean legends tournament with Cho Hunhyun, Lee Changho, Seo Bongsu, and Yoo Changhyuk.

I don't recall the exact quote, but something that struck me was when he was mentioning his age. The gist was basically that, now that he's older, it's much harder to study go. What he could do in a short amount of time before is much harder now. And even though he'll spend hours of study now, the result doesn't come as easily as it did when he was younger. But, he is a professional go player. And for that reason, he still studies for hours every day. Because that's who he is.

Something to that effect at least.

It stuck with me in contrast to Cho Hunhyun who seemed to be more interested in other activities like golf, politics, etc., now that he's older and having worse results than in his younger years.

I respect Cho Chikun very much.

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be immersed

I remember this immortal quote from Cho Chikun. When asked by the interviewer "Why do you love Go so much", he replied "Love Go so much? I HATE Go"

If he hates Go, for sure it's with a passion.

Well, the interviewer did ask him right after he lost a game. I sympathise with him

This is a great post. Cho has been devoted to the game for so long, I am sure his hatred for it is sincere, almost like an alcoholic and his drink. I offer a contrasting story about Abe Yoshiteru, the player who perhaps loved the game more than anyone. It seems like you can see him in virtually every match photo for decades he was always watching ... and studying. The story goes his love was so obsessive that he did little else. Finally some friends managed to drag him to the horse races. He went willingly but was soon glum and his friends asked him why. "I feel sorry for the horses" said Abe. His friends assured him that they were well taken care of. Abe explained that was not why he felt bad for them "The cannot play go" was his reason.

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My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle