Jimmy Cha (, born January 15, 1951), also known as Ch'a Min-su, is a South Korean

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

go and avid

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player. He is also a black belt in martial arts and a talented classical pianist. Jimmy was born in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, and grew up playing go and poker. He turned professional in 1974 and was the best player at

Dongguk University Dongguk University () is a private university in Jung District, Seoul, South Korea. A top-tier university acknowledged locally in Korea. It is one of the few Buddhist-affiliated universities in the world, and is a member of the International Asso ...

when he attended. Along with these accolades, he was also the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n National Amateur Champion two times in a row. The

Hanguk Kiwon The Korea Baduk Association, also known as Hanguk Kiwon (), is the organization that oversees Go (''baduk'') and Go tournaments in South Korea. It was founded in 1945 by Cho Namchul as the ''Hanseong Kiwon''. Baduk is a game which was present i ...

awarded him four dan for spreading go around the world in 1984, after he moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1975. As of 2021, he is 6 dan. Cha has a nickname, "eternal Mr. Quarter-Finalist", because in many professional tournaments he would usually lose in the quarterfinals. In 1989, he beat Yamashiro Hiroshi and Ohira Shuzo to advance to the quarterfinals of the

Fujitsu Cup The Fujitsu Cup (富士通杯) was an international Go competition that ran from 1988 to 2011. Outline The Fujitsu Cup was an international Go competition hosted by Fujitsu and Yomiuri Shimbun. The players were selected as follows: * The top 3 ...

, only to lose. The next year, he made it to the quarterfinals of the Fujitsu Cup again after beating

Cho Chikun Cho Chikun ''25th Honinbo'' ''Honorary Meijin'' (; born June 20, 1956) is a professional Go player and a nephew of Cho Namchul. Born in Busan, South Korea, he is affiliated to Nihon Ki-in. His total title tally of 75 titles is the most in the ...

. In March 2008, he defeated Imamura Toshiya 9P in the Chunlan Cup. Today, he splits his time between go, poker, and managing businesses. Cha has almost $400,000 in career poker earnings.

Runner-Up titles

References

Articles on Jimmy Cha in the 'Go World (1)' (nn: mm-oo, pp means: issue nn, pages mm-oo and pp) China-Korea match in California 1985 (report) 41: 6-11, 33 *"Go in Korea" 37: 20-22* *"Jimmy Cha: Giant Killer" (Wood) 55: 11-17* *Kukgi Title Match 1984 (report) 38: 36-39* *U.S. professionals, wins first match (1988) between 52: 4 Cha, Jimmy vs. Cho Chikun *Fujitsu Cup 1990 (Round 2) 60: 13-16* Cha, Jimmy vs. Cho Hun-hyeon *Fujitsu Cup 1989 (quarterfinal) 56: 10-13* Cha, Jimmy vs. Nie Weiping *Fujitsu Cup 1990 (quarterfinal) 61: 12-15* Cha, Jimmy vs. Ohira Shuzo *Fujitsu Cup 1989 (Round 2) 55: 15-17* Cha, Jimmy vs. Redmond, Michael *1984 38: 34-35 Cha, Jimmy vs. Yamashiro Hiroshi *Fujitsu Cup 1989 (Round 1) 55: 12-15* (1) sources: magazine itself
Go World

External links

Hendon Mob profileWPT profileWSOP profile

Biography, results in Go tournaments and poker tournaments

Korea Baduk Association profile
(in Korean) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cha, Jimmy 1951 births Living people American Go players American poker players South Korean Go players South Korean poker players South Korean emigrants to the United States