Park Junghwan | Player Profile | PlayGo.gg

6-time Major Champion

Biography

Park Junghwan (born January 11, 1993, in Seongnam) is a Korean 9-dan and one of the most accomplished players of the past 15 years. He turned pro in 2006 at age 13 and became the youngest Korean ever promoted to 9-dan on December 21, 2010, at 17 years and 11 months, a special promotion following his gold medals in the men's team and mixed pairs events at the Guangzhou Asian Games. He held the world #1 ranking on goratings from January 2017 to late 2018.

He has won six international major world titles, the most of any active Korean player after Shin Jinseo: the 24th Fujitsu Cup (2011, his first world title at age 18, defeating Qiu Jun in the final, making him the first world champion born in the 1990s); the 19th LG Cup (2014–15, defeating Kim Jiseok 2-1 in the final); the 3rd MLily Cup (2017–18, defeating Park Yeonghun in the final); the 12th Chunlan Cup (2018–19, defeating Park Yeonghun again); the 26th Samsung Cup (2021, defeating Shin Jinseo 2-1 in the final); and the 1st World Kiseon (Shinhan Bank) Championship (February 2026, defeating Wang Xinghao 2-1, his sixth major at age 33, breaking a 5-year title drought).

He's also added 20+ domestic Korean titles, including multiple Maxim Cups and KBS Cups, and won the 2017 World Go Championship invitational at the Nihon Ki-in (going 3-0 against Iyama Yuta, DeepZenGo, and Mi Yuting).

His most famous loss came at the 24th LG Cup final in early 2020, where he was swept 0-2 by a 19-year-old Shin Jinseo in an all-Korean final, widely viewed as a passing-of-the-torch moment for Korean Go.

vs. Wang Xinghao, 1st World Kiseon Championship Final

February 2026

Park's long-awaited return to the world stage. Pushed to the deciding game of a best-of-three against China's Wang Xinghao, Park won 2-1 to take the inaugural Shinhan Bank World Kiseon, his sixth international major at age 33, ending a five-year title drought.

Park was almost out of this one, 8% after move 122, when he played O5. Wang Xinghao's reply R10 on move 123 handed the game back: Park's winrate rose to 55% and the position was level again. The right answer, P12, is chosen by only 14% of 9-dan players.