American Go E-Journal » 2012 » November

Nineteen-year-old Li He 3P bested the legendary Rui Naiwei 9P on November 3^rd to take top honors at this year’s Bingsheng Cup. She defeated Rui, arguably the best female player in the world, via resignation in the final to win the title. The former champion, Korean Park Jieun 9P was defeated earlier in a match with Chinese player Yu Zhijing 2P by a narrow 1.5 point margin.

Held at Qionglong Mountain in Suzhou, China, the 4-round tournament is a women’s knockout for 16 players, first held in 2010. The 2012 field included players from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The Cup was dominated by China, however, and after only two rounds the Chinese players had defeated participants from every other country.

Li He took home about $32,000 US along with a promotion from 3P to 5P in addition to her title.

Adapted from a report on Go Game Guru; click here for game records and more information.

Seung Joo Han of Korea won the 7th Korean Prime Minister Cup, held October 27-28 at Kwangju in Korea. Yuqing Hu of Chinawas second and Yongfei Ge of Canada was an impressive third, edging out by one SOSOS point Japan’s Nagatoki Kinoshita (4th); Hong Kong’s NaiSan Chan (5th) rounded out the top five winners . Matthew Burrall of the US was 32nd in a 70-player field (click here for final standings); click here for Ranka’s interview with him. Ranka’s coverage also includes tournament reports and includes interviews with Artem Kachanovskyi (Ukraine), Shirin Mohammadi (Iran), Mateusz Surma (Poland), Kinoshita Nagatoki (Japan) and Geert Groenen (The Netherlands). Yongfe Ge photo by Ito Toshiko.

The Korean Pair Go team of Jang Yun Jeong and Lee Hoseung swept to victory in the 23^rd International Pair Go Championships, held over the weekend in Tokyo, Japan.  Japanese pairs dominated the rest of the top-ten finishers, with only two other countries placing; Chinese Taipei in 8^th and Russia in 10^th. The U.S. team of Amy Su and Lionel Zhang was 15^th, edged by the Thailand pair in 14^th, while European Pair Go champs Klara Zaloudkova and Jan Hora were 17^th. Click here for complete results as well as game records. Note: the Chinese team was unable to participate at the last moment, so their last-place result is because of forfeits, not on-the-board losses.

Chen Zude, one of the first Chinese nine-dan professionals, died of pancreatic cancer in Beijing on November 1. He was 68.

“Though we’ve lost one of the go world’s brightest lights,” said AGA President Andy Okun. “We’re fortunate that Chen Zude inspired so many to follow in his path, leaving a community that, while saddened by this loss, is larger and stronger than ever.”

Credited as the first modern Chinese player to defeat a Japanese nine-dan (Iwata Tatsuaki) in an even game, Chen grew up during the “Cultural Revolution” era and was a self-taught player as well as a politically savvy go promoter, bringing the game from the status of “bourgeois decadence” to that a mind sport of national pride.  He is often considered the father of modern go in China and as go became integrated into the sports ministry in China, Chen was selected as the first president of China Qiyuan when it was established in 1992 to promote go as a profession.  He continued in that position until 2003 when it was passed on to Wang Runan.  Chen was also the first president of the Chinese Weiqi Association, a body that represents go on the international scene. In 1980, when Chen was playing in the “Xintiyu Bei” (New Sports Cup), he vomited blood and was diagnosed with stomach cancer, which he battled for 32 years.

“Because of his health, Chen never visited the US, but he often expressed his hope that the West would get to appreciate the fascinating game to which he devoted his life,” reports  International Go Federation (IGF) vice president Thomas Hsiang, who met Chen in Beijing in 2008.  “He always gladly hosted visitors from the West, giving them copies of his books and offering the full cooperation of China Qiyuan.” Chen’s study of fuseki “triggered the systematic study of fuseki both in China and Japan,” adds Frank Fukuda. “He also advocated and emphasized the cultural aspects of go, saying that it would bring peace and help people conduct themselves well.”
photo: Chen (second from left) in 2008 with Thomas Hsiang (second from right), Hua Yigang (then president of the China Qiyuan) and Hsiang’s wife, Joy (left).

In a seesaw match that’s been fought over 3,500 miles, the venerable Meijin tournament — one of the ‘big titles’ on the Japanese domestic circuit — now comes down to one final match November 12-13. Challenger Hane Naoki 9P forced a deciding Game 7 after defeating current title holder Yamashita Keigo 9P in the sixth game October 31 and November 1. The battle for the title of 37th Meijin has been waged from end to end of the island nation, beginning with the first match August 30-31 in sticky Tokyo, which Yamashita won, adding another notch to his 33-17 record against Hane. The contest then headed north to cooler Hokkaido, where Hane leveled the match at 1-1 on September 20-21. Having visited one end of the country, the players then traveled all the way south to the other end for Game 3 in Miyazaki, on September 27-28, where Hane won again to pull ahead 2-1 in the series. The match then moved back to the center of Japan, to Sendai, Miyagi, for Game 4 on October 10-11, where Yamashita dug deep and clawed his way back to even the score at 2-2. The Meijin title match was now almost back to where it started – both in terms of the score and the location – evened up and on the outskirts of Tokyo overlooking Sagami Bay, in Kanagawa Prefecture. This time, Yamashita turned the tables on Hane, edging ahead 3-2. For Game 6, the action moved to Atami, Shizuoka on October 31 and November 1, where Hane won Game 6 to stretch the Meijin title match out to a seventh and final game. The battle is now set to climax in Yamanashi, the top grape and wine region in Japan, where Yamashita and Hane will play one more game to decide who will lay final claim to the title of 37th Meijin. Click here for a more detailed blow-by-blow report on the tournament thus far, including game records (scroll down to “The 37th Meijin tour”).
– adapted from reporting on Go Game Guru