Cho U

Cho U
Personal information
Native name
Full nameU Chō
Born (1980-01-20) 20 January 1980
Sport
Turned pro1994
TeacherRin Kaiho
Rank9 dan
AffiliationNihon Ki-in; Tokyo branch
Cho U
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese張栩
Simplified Chinese张栩
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhāng Xǔ
Bopomofoㄓㄤ ㄒㄩ
Wade–GilesChàng Hsŭ
Japanese name
Kanji張栩
Kanaちょう う
Transcriptions
RomanizationChō U

Cho U (simplified Chinese: 张栩; traditional Chinese: 張栩; pinyin: Zhāng Xǔ; Wade–Giles: Chang Hsu; born on 20 January 1980) is a Taiwanese professional Go player. He currently ranks 6th in the most titles won by a Japanese professional; his NEC Cup win in 2011 put him past his teacher Rin Kaiho and Norimoto Yoda. Cho is the first player in history to have held five of the top seven major titles simultaneously with Iyama Yuta being the second. Cho U, Naoki Hane, Keigo Yamashita and Shinji Takao make up the group of players in Japan called the "Four Heavenly Kings". His wife is one of Japan's best female go professionals, Izumi Kobayashi, the great Kitani's granddaughter and daughter of Kobayashi Koichi.