Had very similar issue with a Baumr 750SX mower, dunno if it's a Chonda but certainly has a Honda carb lookalike. Would start with choke on but died as soon as the throttle was opened a smidge.
I'm no stranger to carbs and went through the carb minutely many times, couldn't find anything wrong until noticed the O-ring between float bowl flange and carb body was distorted, almost severed . It was a very thin section O-ring, couldn't find anything in my extensive selection to match so gave it some TLC and managed to "de-distort" the crushed section.
Mower then started and has been running perfectly since. Seems it was sucking air through the distorted bit enough to prevent fuel being sucked into the idle and main jet. Just saying,as they say :-)
