American Go E-Journal » 2018 » April

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Iyama wins NHK Cup: The final of the 65^thNHK Cup was telecast on March 18. Playing black, Iyama Yuta, the current titleholder, defeated Shida Tatsuya 7P by half a point. Shida narrowly missed out on his first title. He took the lead in the middle game, but Iyama fought back tenaciously and eventually overhauled him. After that, the tables were turned, with Shida threatening to undo the upset, but Iyama just managed to fend him off. He is the fourth player to win the title in successive years. This is his 50th title (actually, the game was recorded just before he defended the Kisei title, so that is really his 50^th).

Meijin League: Here are the details for the result given in my previous report: Shibano Toramaru 7P (W) beat Yo Seiki 7P by resig.

Honinbo League: An important game was played on March 22. Yamashita Keigo (W) beat Ida Atsushi by resig. Previously, Ida had enjoyed the sole lead, but now he and Yamashita and Ko Iso 8P were tied on 4-2. The final round will be played on April 5. Yamashita and Ko will play each other, and Ida will play Shibano Toramaru.

Iyama extends lead in Judan: The second game of the 56th Judan title match was held at the Toda City Culture Hall in Toda City, Saitama Prefecture, on March 22. Iyama Judan (B) fought aggressively and took an early lead. Murakawa Daisuke 8P, the challenger, recovered and made the game closer. He then made an aggressive invasion, but his group was killed, so he had to resign after 215 moves. This was Iyama’s second straight win, so Murakawa is faced with a kadoban. The third game is scheduled for March 12.

Promotion
To 3-dan: Komatsu Daiki (40 wins, as of March 23) (Komatsu is the son of Komatsu Hideki 9P and Komatsu Hideko 4P.)

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Yu wins Senko Cup: The Senko Cup World Women’s Go Tournament 2018, to give it its full name, is a new international tournament founded by the sponsors of the Japanese Senko Cup. The main sponsor is Senko Group Holdings, whose main business seems to be transportation; they are supported by Asahi Kasei, Sekisui House, and JAL, among others. At present, the Senko Cup has the top prize money for domestic women’s tournaments of eight million yen. One of the aims of founding the international tournament is to give local players more international experience. There are eight participants, four from the host country (two of whom are actually from Taiwan), and one each from China, Korea, Taiwan, and Europe. First prize is ten million yen (about $95,000), with three million yen for second, two million for third, and one million for fourth. The inaugural tournament was won by Yu Zhiying of China, a 20–year-old who has established herself as the world’s top woman player these days. In the final, Hei Jia-jia lost on time, but she was behind anyway. Full results follow:
Round 1 (March 14). Fujisawa Rina 3P (Japan) (B) beat Natalia Kovaleva 5D (Russia) by resig.; Yu Zhiying 6P (China) (B) beat Xie Yimin 6P (Japan) by resig.; Choi Jeong 9P (Korea) (W) beat Mukai Chiaki 5P (Japan) by resig.; Hei Jia-jia (Joanne Missingham) 7P (Taiwan) beat Nyu Eiko 2P (Japan) by resig.
Semifinals (March 15). Hei (W) beat Fujisawa by 1.5 points; Yu (B) beat Choi by resig.
Final (March 16). Yu (W) beat Hei on time.
Play-off for 3rd place (March 16). Choi (W, at right) beat Fujisawa (left) by resig.

Park repeats in World Go Championship: This is another new international tournament, started last year by the Nihon Ki-in with the support of sponsors such as NTT DoCoMo, Mitsui Sumitomo Card, and others. First prize is 20 million yen (about $190,000). In the inaugural tournament, there were four competitors: three players and one computer program. The format was an all-play-all league, and they finished in the order of Park Junghwan (Korea) (3-0), Mi Yuting (China) (2-1), DeepZenGo (1-2), and Iyama Yuta (0-3). Incidentally, the prize then was 30 million yen. In the second championship, which is called World Go Championship 2018, there were six players, with two from Japan, two from Korea (with Park being seeded), and one each from China and Chinese Taipei. Top honors again went to Park Junghwan, who beat Ke Jie in the semifinal and Iyama Yuta in the final. The time allowance is three hours each, with the last five minutes being allotted to byo-yomi. Results are given below:
Round 1 (March 17). Yamashita Keigo 9P (Japan) (W) beat Wang Yuanjun 8P (Chinese Taipei) by resig.; Ke Jie 9P (China) (W) beat Shin Jinseo 8P (Korea) by resig.
(Semifinals) (March 18). Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) beat Ke Jie by resig.; Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) (B) beat Yamashita by resig.
(Final) (March 19). Park (W, at right) beat Iyama (left) by resig.
In this tournament, Park was seeded into the semfinals as the previous winner. Iyama was seeded on the wishes of the sponsors. Yamashita earned his place by winning a qualifying tournament. Shin (aged 18) earned his place as the second-ranked player in Korea and Wang (22) as the top-rated player in Chinese Taipei. Seeding the previous winner is common (for example, the TV Asia tournament does it), but not everyone approved of the seeding of Iyama. Ke Jie commented at the press conference: “I was surprised by the seeding.” However, it was just the luck of the draw that matched Ke and Park, the world’s top-rated players (apparently, Park has recently regained the number-one position) in the semifinal. After his loss in the final, Iyama’s career record against Park was 2-4.

Tomorrow: Iyama wins NHK Cup; Meijin League; Honinbo League; Iyama extends lead in Judan