by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Korea wins Tiantai Mountain Cup: The 7th Tiantai Mountain Shenran Yangfan Cup World Women’s Team Tournament was held in Taizhou City in Zhejiang Province in China from May 10 to 12. The venue and the dates are the same as last year, as is “Tiantai Mountain” in the name, but the sponsor seems to have changed. To be honest, I have no idea what “Shenran Yangfan” means, and the Net didn’t help. Three-women teams from China, Korea, and Chinese Taipei compete in a three-round Swiss. For the second year in a row and the fourth time overall, Korea won the tournament, but the difference from last year is that it lost a match, so the margin of victory was just one win. Japan started badly, losing to Chinese Taipei and Korea, but then it managed to beat China. Two players, Yu Zhiying of China and Kim Chaeyeong of Korea, won all their games. Results and points table are given below.
Round 1 (May 10). Chinese Taipei beat Japan 2-1; China beat Korea 2-1.
Round 2 (May 11) Korea beat Japan 3-0; China beat Chinese Taipei 3-0.
Round 3 (May 12) Japan beat China 2-1; Korea beat Chinese Taipei 3-0.
1st) Korea: 2-1 (individual tally 7-2)
2nd) China: 2-1 (6-3)
3rd) Japan: 1-2 (3-6)
4th) Chinese Taipei: 1-2 (2-7)
Kyo wins Gratitude Cup: The 9th Gratitude Cup was held in Ise City on May 14 and 15. This is an unofficial tournament open to players 30 or under. It consists of fast games played by the NHK format. In the final, Kyo Kagen 7P (B, at right) beat Yo Seiki 7P by 2.5 points to win this tournament for the first time. First prize is 3,000,000 yen. In the play-off for 3rd place, Ichiriki Ryo 8P (B) beat Xie Yimin, Women’s Honinbo, by 13.5 points.
Kyo to challenge for Gosei: The play-off to decide the challenger for the 43rd Gosei title was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on May 17. Kyo Kagen 7-dan (W, left) beat Motoki Katsuya 8-dan (left, in photo at right) by resignation and so will make his first challenge for a top-seven title. At 20 years five month, he is the youngest-ever Gosei challenger. Motoki lost the 
Gosei play-off for the second year in a row. Kyo won’t find challenging Iyama Yuta easy, but he could well be in the best form of his career: his record so far this year is an impressive 17 wins 1 loss. The single loss was to Xie Ke 5P in the Chunlan Cup in China, so in Japan he is undefeated (he also scored 7-0 in the Gratitude Cup, reported on above, but it is an unofficial tournament, so these wins are not included in his tally). Kyo commented that he would like to relieve Iyama of some of the burden of his septuple crown. The best-of-five begins on June 23.
Xie to challenge for Hollyhock Cup: The semifinals and final of the 5thAizu Central Hospital Women’s Hollyhock Cup were held at the Konjakutei inn in Aizu Wakamatsu City in Fukushima Prefecture on May 19 and 20. In the semifinals on May 19, Xie Yimin, Women’s Honinbo, (B) beat Hoshiai Shiho 2P by resig. and Yoshida Mika 8P (W) beat Tamura Chiaki 3P, also by resig. In the final, played the next day, Xie (B) beat Yoshida by resig. Xie will meet the titleholder, Fujisawa Rina, in the best-of-three title match and will try to regain the title she lost to Fujisawa last year. So far, the two have met in six title matches, and Fujisawa has won four of them. The first two games of the title match will be played at the Konjakutei on June 15 and 17. The third game, if needed, will be played at the Nihon Ki-in on June 22.
Promotions: To 4-dan: Fujisawa Rina (50 wins; as of April 22); To 8-dan: Matsumoto Takehisa (150 wins; as of May 11).
Retirements: Takamizawa Tadao retired as of May 31. Born in Nagano Prefecture on July 20, 1938, Takamizawa became a professional in 1955 and reached 6-dan in 1976. After retiring, he was promoted to 7-dan.
Kitani Yoshimi 2-dan retired as of May 31. Born on July 23, 1952, she became a disciple of Ozaki Harumi 8-dan. She qualified as a professional in 1975 and was promoted to 2-dan in 2013. After retiring, she was promoted to 3-dan.
Obituary: Yasuda Yasutoshi 9-dan died on May 2. Cause of death was not given. Born on March 1, 1964, in Fukuoka Prefecture, he became a disciple of Oeda Yusuke 9P. became 1-dan in 1980 and reached 9-dan in 1998. He was well known as a teacher and developed new teaching methods, including using go as a therapeutic tool with the senile and the handicapped.
