Jung Hee Chun

Jung Hee Chun is a South Korean professional player of the real-time strategy game . He is currently playing for the Chinese professional gaming team Beijing eSport Team.

He goes by the artist name of Sweet, previously nOma, and is a member of clan WeRRa.

He has been recognized among the top tier of Warcraft III players since the beginning of the professional competitive scene and has won two world championships as well as several professional events in South Korea.

Player biography

Global fame

After the release of in 2002 Jung Hee Chun rose to quickly be noticed as one of the strongest players in the South Korean scene, which was at the time known as the most competitive gaming scene in the world.

He participated in several televised leagues and showed strong results, finishing top three in two of the biggest televised leagues played using Reign of Chaos; MBC Sonokong Prime League II and Sonokong OnGamenet II. He represented the SAINT Proteam during this time, which disbanded near 2004 and made Jung Hee Chun as well as his former teammates free agents. The Warcraft III division of the former Saint Proteam was recruited by German professional gaming team SK Gaming to boost their appeal in Asia.

This made Jung Hee Chun one of the few Korean players constantly exposed to the international gaming scene, as SK Gaming's team site is one of the most visited competitive gaming related sites.

By 2004 the professional scene moved on to Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and Jung Hee Chun rose to become Korea's face to the world during this time. He qualified for a number of international tournaments that offered very limited slots to Korean participants, and because of the intensity of the competitive Korean scene therefore rarely saw players making more than one appearance at tournaments of this nature.

In 2004 he represented his country at the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris as well as ACON4 in Shanghai and made it to the semi-finals of the Korean televised league MBC Daum Prime League IV. He took fourth place at the Electronic Sports World Cup and third at ACON4, making him the most prominent Korean professional gamer of the time globally. Adding to this as well was the exposure he gained as a member of SK Gaming, and his rise on the Asian Battle.net ladder where he became the first player worldwide to reach level 50.

As a result of this he was recognized as the world's top Warcraft III player in 2004 by a panel of experts. He was awarded the 'Warcraft III Player of The Year' Award by the ESports Award over his teammate the Swedish professional gamer Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson who was recognized as the Player of the Year in all of competitive gaming.

World champion

Early 2005 Korean players such as Jang "Moon" Jae Ho, Tae min "Zacard" Hwang and Dae Hui "FoV" Cho were getting more and more recognition internationally due their success in international competition. As a result Jung Hee Chun's status in the international community dropped, though he was still recognized as one of the best players of the world. He was invited for the first edition of the World e-Sports Games, but faced elimination in the first group stage.

Afterwards he signed a contract with a new Chinese based professional gaming team by the name of World Elite in May 2005, cutting off his ties with SK Gaming. At this time he had not won a major competition and his results in Korean competition were dropping.

Nevertheless he was one of the four Korean players to qualify for the 2005 Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, where he was beaten in the quarter-finals by the Dutch professional gamer Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen.

His results hit something of a slump after this, months later he successfully qualified for the third edition of the World e-Sports Games and announced that it would be his last tournament before he would leave professional gaming to fulfill South Korea's mandatory army duty.

He went on to win the tournament; beating Korean professional gamer Kim Dong "Gostop" Moon in the final best of five after being down two matches. Winning 20,000 USD in the televised league, Jung Hee Chun postponed his army obligations and decided to resume his career as a professional gamer.

Move to China

After winning the World e-Sports Games he qualified for the second edition of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational which was to take place in Seoul, South Korea. Players from all over the world were given a chance to qualify for the tournament on line.

He won this tournament beating Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen in the finals after having previously been knocked down in the lower bracket by the Dutchman. This earned him 10,000 USD and meant his second world championship victory in a matter of months, it also prompted some to give him the label "comeback kid".

In April 2006 he moved to Zhangzhou, China to participate in the Masters of the World e-Sports Games to try and defend his title. He was not very successful in the tournament, being eliminated his teammate the Chinese professional gamer Li "Sky" Xiaofeng. But he stayed in China nevertheless, leaving World Elite to sign with the Chinese professional team Beijing eSport Team which provided permanent residence for him in Beijing, China.

He also represented SK Gaming in various competitions at this point, as part of a deal that was canceled January 2007 which allowed Jung Hee Chun to compete in various on line leagues for which the Beijing eSport Team was not qualified.

He competed in various tournaments during his stay in China. Some of which with the status of top tier international competitions such as Stars War II, Stars War III, ProGamer League and the World Series of Video Games stop in Chengdu, China which qualified him for the global World Series of Video Games finals in New York.

These global finals took place December 2006 and was his first appearance outside of Asia since the 2005 Electronic Sports World Cup. He confirmed his status as a top tier contender at the event, which was in decline for some time at that point, by taking second place. He was beaten by Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen in the finals whom he had put in the lower bracket the previous day.

Return to Korea

At an unknown point of time in 2007 he moved back to South Korea, which drastically improved his ability to compete in on line competitions as China's net is famously weak towards the outside world and South Korea's famously strong.

He qualified for the Battle.net Season IV finals in Cologne, Germany which were seen as a continuation of a series of tournaments of which the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational is a part of, thus making him the defending champion of the event.

He finished among the top of the event by taking fifth place. Throughout the remainder of the running season he has shown results along those lines, finishing among the best of the attendees but not entering top three. For instance he took fourth place at Game-X in Moscow, Russia and seventh at the World Series of Video Games stop in Wuhan, China.

Retirement : A Legend Retires!

He retired in April, 2008 because he had to do his military service.

Notable accomplishments

International

* 2008 3^rd PGL Season II (China)
* 2007 2^nd Digital Life New York (USA) - 3,500 USD
* 2007 2^nd GGL Digital Life Chengdu (China) - 5,300 USD
* 2007 4^th Game-X (Russia) - 1,000 USD
* 2007 5^th Battle.net Season IV (Germany)
* 2006 2^nd World Series of Video Games (United States) - 10,000 USD
* 2006 2^nd World Series of Video Games, Chengdu (China) - 2,500 USD
* 2006 1^st Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (Korea) - 10,000 USD
* 2005 1^st World E-Sport Games III (Korea) - 20,000 USD
* 2005 5^th Electronic Sports World Cup (France) - 2,000 USD
* 2004 4^th Electronic Sports World Cup (France) - 2,000 USD
* 2004 3^rd ACON4 (China)

Domestic (qualifiers)

* 2007 4^th China eSport Games, Xi'an (China)
* 2006 2^nd China eSport Games, Chengdu (China)
* 2005 2^nd World E-Sport Games III (Korea)
* 2005 3^rd Electronic Sports World Cup (Korea)
* 2004 3^rd MBC Daum Prime League IV (Korea)
* 2004 2^nd Electronic Sports World Cup (Korea)
* 2004 1^st ACON 4 (Korea)
* 2003 3^rd Sonokong OnGamenet II (Korea)
* 2003 2^nd MBC Sonokong Prime League II (Korea)

Team

* 2006 3^rd Stars War III (China) - As a member of team Korea
* 2006 1^st Stars War II (China) - As a member of team Korea
* 2003 5^nd SUMA Ongamenet Proleague (Korea) - As a member of YECA Proteam
* 2003 2^nd MBC Movie MBCgame Clan Team Battle (Korea) - As a member of SAINT Proteam

External links

* [http://www.gamedaily.com/canvases/global-gaming-league/_a/ggl-players-of-the-year-2006/20070125104109990001 Jung Hee Chee voted fifth Warcraft III player of 2006 by competitive gaming media]
* [http://www.wcreplays.com/articles.php?get=381 Jung Hee Chee voted third Warcraft III player by Warcraft III experts]
* [http://www.gotfrag.com/war/story/35769/?spage=1 Jung Hee Chee finishes second at World Series of Video Games]
* [http://www.sk-gaming.com/news/5494/ Jung Hee Chun joins World Elite]
* [http://www.esports-award.org/history/nominees2004/ Jung Hee Chun Warcraft III player of 2004]
* [http://www.wcreplays.com/interviews.php?get=23 Interview with Jung Hee Chun (2004)]
* [http://www.sk-gaming.com/news/5296/ Jung Hee Chun joins SK Gaming international]