by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Iyama defends Judan title: The fourth game of the 55th Judan title match was played at the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in in Kita Ward, Osaka on April. 21. This is the home ground of the defending champion, Iyama Yuta. After some fierce 
middle-game fighting, the game was expected by observers to be decided in the endgame, but the challenger, Yo Seiki (right), made an oversight, so he had to resign after 196 moves. With move 99, Yo plunged into a capturing race that he couldn’t win. He pulled out of it when he realized his mistake, but the damage was already done. He played on, but his efforts to stage an upset were unavailing. That gave Iyama a lead of 3-1, so he won the match. He defended the Judan title that had earned him his grand slam last year and also maintained his sextuple crown. This is his fourth Judan title overall and his 43rd title. The Judan prize is 7,000,000 yen. Incidentally, there was no party on the eve of the fourth game, which is a little unusual. The idea was to help the players concentrate on the contest.
Gosei Play-off: Motoki Katsuya 8P (left) will begin his challenge to Iyama Yuta for the Honinbo title on May 9. In the meantime, he has reached the play-off to decide the challenger to Iyama for the Gosei title, which shows that his Honinbo success is no fluke. This is the first time Motoki has reached
the final, but his opponent is Yamashita Keigo 9P, who has played in seven Gosei play-offs and won four of them (he has won the title once, back in 2000). Results of the semifinals:
(April 17) Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo by resig.
(April 20) Motoki Katsuya 8P (B) beat O Rissei 9P by resig.
Incidentally, Motoki and Yamashita will also run into each other in the quarterfinals of the Tengen tournament.
Shin wins 4th Globis Cup: The 4th Globis Cup was held on the Tokyo campus of the main sponsor, the Globis Graduate School of Management, from April 21 to 23. It featured an all-Korean final, so it was certain that Korea would pick up its first win in this international tournament for teenaged players. The full name is the 4th Globis Cup World Go U-20 (players need to be under 20 as of 1 January). In the final, held on April 23, Shin Jinseo 7P (W) beat Byeon Sangil 5P by resignation after 250 moves. First prize is 3,000,000 yen. This result was another disappointment for the home team, which had got two players to the final in the inaugural tournament (Ichiriki Ryo beat Kyo Kagen), but it was some consolation to see Ichiriki take third place and the new young star Shibano Toramaru come fourth. The first stage of this tournament is four mini-leagues, in which two wins take you to the quarterfinals and two losses eliminate you. Full results are given below.
Group League Round 1 (April 21). Xie Erhao 4P (China) (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo 7P by resig.; Byeon Sangil 5P (Korea) (W) beat Kyo Kagen 4P (Japan) by resig.; Gu Jihao 5P (China) (B) beat Yo Chito 4P (Japan); Shin Jinseo (W) beat Mutsuura Yuta 3P (Japan) by resig.; Shibano Toramaru 3P (Japan) (W) beat Jian Jingting 2P (Chinese Taipei) by resig.; Zhang Ruijie 2P (Cho Zuiketsu, Japan) (B) beat Willis Huang 7D (USA) by resig.; Huang Yunsong 6P (China) beat Jie Hui Kwa 7D (Singapore); Shin Minjun 5P (Korea) (W) beat Viacheslav Kaymin 7D (Russia) by resig.
Group League Round 2 (April 21). Ichiriki (W) beat Huang by resig.; Jian (B) beat Kyo by resig.; Yo (B) beat Kaymin by resig.; Mutsuura (W) beat Kwa by resig.; Byeon (B) beat Shibano by resig.; Xie (B) beat Zhang by resig.; Huang (W)
beat Shin Jinseo by resig.; Gu (B) beat Shin Minjun by resig.
Group League (Round 3) (April 22) Ichiriki (W) beat Zhang by resig.; Yo (B) beat Shin Minjun by resig.; Shibano (B) beat Jian by resig.; Shin Jinseo (W) beat Mutsuura by resig.
Quarterfinals (April 22). Ichiriki (B) beat Huang by resig.; Shibano (B) beat Gu Jihao by 3.5 points; Byeon (B) beat Yo by resig.; Shin (W) beat Xie on time.
Semifinals (April 23). Byeon (B) beat Ichiriki by resig.; Shin (B) beat Shibano by resig.
Play-off for 3rd (April 23) Ichiriki (W) beat Shibano by resig.
The second and third tournaments were won by Chinese players. Ironically, the three Chinese representatives this year all qualified immediately for the quarterfinals with two straight wins, but were all eliminated in this round. This
was the first time that Japan got three players into the quarterfinals.
Tomorrow: Cao wins World Go Legends; Cho Chikun first to 1500 wins
