American Go E-Journal » 2019 » December

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

A gain and a loss for women’s go
Let’s give the bad news first. The sponsors of the Women’s Meijin tournament have announced that they are terminating the tournament. The current titleholder, Fujisawa Rina, will officially hold the title until the end of March 2020. No reason was given.
The good news: The Nihon Ki-in has announced the founding of a new tournament, the Hakata Kamachi Cup Women’s Open Tournament. It will be open to all women professionals in Japan. A preliminary round will start in December to choose the 16 players to compete in the main tournament, which will be held from February to April next year. The semifinals, final, and play-off for third place will be held in Fukuoka on April 13 and 14. First prize is 7,000,000 yen (about $65,000), second 2,000,000, third 1,000,000, and fourth 600,000 yen. The main sponsor is the Medical Corporation Saitama Giant Tree Association (Kyoju no Kai); chairman of its board is Kamachi Ken’ichi, who lends his name to the tournament. As far as I can work, the association’s main business is running the New Kuki (City) General Hospital. This is the second women’s tournament with a medical sponsor, following the Hollyhock Cup, which is sponsored by the Aizu Central Hospital.

Ida defends Crown
The Crown (Okan) title is open to members of the Central Japan or Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in. This year the challenger was Ogata Masaki 9P, who won this title from 1988 to 1991. In the final, played on October 20, Ida Atsushi Okan drew white and won by 1.5 points, winning the title for the fourth year in a row. First prize is 1,700,000 yen (about $15,700).

Hirata wins Young Carp
The Hiroshima Aluminum Cup Young Carp tournament is open to players 30 and under and 7-dan and under. The final of the 14th Cup was held at the Central Japan Newspaper Building in Hiroshima on November 24. Hirata Tomoya 7P (W) beat Matsuura Yuta 7P by 3.5 points. Hirata is a fitting winner, as he hails from Hiroshima. First prize is 3,000,000 yen (nearly $28,000).

Promotion
To 9-dan: Ko Iso (200 wins, as of Nov. 4.)

Obituaries
Izumitani Masanori
Died of prostate cancer on October 18, aged 77. Born on January 3, 1942 in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Became a disciple of Ito Tomoe 7P. Qualified as 1-dan in 1961, reached 7-dan in 1996. Retired in 2018 and promoted to 8-dan. His son is Hideo 8P. His disciples include Konagai Masaru 8P. Izumitani was a director of the Overseas Dep’t. of the Nihon Ki-in for a number of years and also made some instructional tours overseas, including attending the 3rd Go congress at Mt. Holyoke in 1987 as the official representative of the Nihon Kiin.

Ogawa Tomoko
Ogawa Tomoko 6P died in a Tokyo hospital of an undisclosed illness on November 15. According to the Nihon Ki-in, she had been suffering from lower back problems since October and had taken official leave of absence as of October 30. She had returned home after a hospital stay, but her condition suddenly worsened on the 14th.
She was born in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, on April 1, 1951, but spent her childhood in Nagoya. She learnt go from her father at the age of 6. She became well known when she won the All-Japan Amateur Women’s Championship at the age of 14; her pageboy hairstyle (okappa) or bob cut added to her fame—she was called, not quite accurately, “the okappa Honinbo.” In 1966, after finishing junior high, she became a disciple of Kitani Minoru. She made 1-dan in 1970 and was promoted to 6-dan in 1995. She won four women’s titles (in the days when there were fewer of them): the 25th Women’s Championship in 1979 and the 26th in 1980; the Women’s Honinbo in 1986; and the Women’s Kakusei Cup in 1987. She became even better known to the public when she served as assistant commentator on the NHK Cup for ten years. In 2008, she became the second woman professional (after Sugiuchi Kazuko) to win 500 games. In 1977, she married the actor Yamamoto Kei, who had taken go lessons from her. They appeared together in a number of TV commercials. She served for two years as president of the Professional Go Players Association and for six years as a Nihon Ki-in director. She published life-and-death problems continuously for 29 years in the Sports Hochi newspaper. She was the author of many books, including the Ishi Press book “The Endgame,” written with James Davies. She was one of the most popular professionals and whatever she did, she always looked serene and competent.

This post has been updated to reflect Izumitani Masanori’s attendance at the 1987 U.S. Go Congress.

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

New members of Meijin League
Four of the eight members of the Honinbo League drop out each year but only three of the nine members of the Meijin League. That makes it a good league to get into, as you have a better chance of keeping your place. The new members for the 45th league have recently been decided. On October 31, Kyo Kagen 8P (B) beat Mimura Tomoyasu 9P by resig. in the play-off for a place. The 21-year-old Kyo has been a top player for a couple of years now, but he will be making his debut in this league. He also has seats in the Kisei S League and the Honinbo League. He is the first player younger than Iyama Yuta to have seats in all three top leagues.
The second seat was decided on November 7. Rin Kanketsu 8P (W) beat Adachi Toshimasa 6P by 2.5 points. Rin makes a comeback to the league after a gap of seven years.
The play-off for the third seat, played on November 18, was the one that attracted most attention, as it featured a clash between the top woman player, Fujisawa Rina, and one of the top younger players (= post-Iyama), Ichiriki Ryo. So far, no woman player had secured a seat in a league. Fujisawa was in outstanding form and won eight games in a row in this tournament to reach the play-off. However, she was no match for Ichiriki. Playing white, she did give him a scare with a bold counterattack in a bad position, but in the end she had to resign after 241 moves. Ichiriki will make his debut in the Meijin League.　

Ko Iso wins 2nd SGW Cup
The SGW Cup: Golden Mean Tournament is open to players from 31 to 60 who have not won a title. The main tournament is a four-round Swiss for the 16 players who won seats through the preliminary tournament. It was held on November 3 and 4. Ko Iso 9P scored 4-0 and won his first official title. First prize is 2,000,000 yen (about $18,500).

Lee Se-dol announces retirement
If Lee Chang-ho was the top player of the 1990s, Lee Se-dol, with 18 international victories, was clearly the top player of the first decade and a half of this century. The peak of his career came with his 6-2 victory in the only modern jubango, playing Gu Li, in 2014. He underestimated the strength of the first AI go-playing program AlphaGo and was chagrined to lose 1-4, but in retrospect winning a game in the match came to be seen as a triumph, as he is the only player to beat one of the Alpha programs. He is still only 35, but he has brought down the curtain on his go career. It is not a surprise, as he has hinted retirement was coming and he took a lengthy leave of absence a while back.

Tomorrow: A gain and a loss for women’s go; Ida defends Crown; Promotion; Obituaries

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Ueno wins 38th Women’s Honinbo
As described in my previous report, Fujisawa Rina made a good start in her defense of her Women’s Honinbo title, winning the first game, played on October 9, by 3.5 points, but that turned out to be her sole win of the series. The second game was played at the “old inn” Kaneyu in Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture, on October 27. Taking black, Fujisawa made a fierce attack on a white group and seemed on the verge of winning when Ueno made an exquisite counterattack, which she followed up with a superb shinogi (rescue operation) for an endangered group. Black resigned after 158 moves.
In the third game, played at the Tokyo headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in, on November 6, Fujisawa again took the lead, but Ueno was able to stage an upset by starting a complicated ko fight. Fujisawa resigned after 235 moves.
The fourth game was played at the same venue on November 15. Ueno (W) won by resignation after 200 moves, so she took the title and the first prize of 5,500,000 yen (about $51,000). Once again, Fujisawa seemed to have the advantage at one stage, but Ueno again complicated the game by setting up a ko. Fujisawa ignored a ko threat that turned out to be more potent than she had expected. White was able to live inside her territory, so she had to resign.
The women’s go world is now dominated by two players: the 18-year-old Ueno with this title and the Women’s Kisei and the 21-year-old Fujisawa with the Women’s Hollyhock Cup, the Women’s Meijin, and the Senko Cup.
Note. In my previous report, I mentioned that Ueno was the first woman to top the most-wins list. On Oct. 11, Shibano Toramaru displaced Ueno at number one, and the following week Ichiriki Ryo pushed her down to third position, which she has since maintained. She was number one for four months.

Choi wins Bingsheng Cup
The 10th Qionglong Mountain Bingsheng Cup World Women’s Weiqi Championship was held in Suzhou City in China in late October. Three players from Japan took part in the 16-player tournament. Xie Yimin 6P and Ueno Asami 3P were eliminated in the first round, but Fujisawa Rina 4P made the semifinals. This is the best result so far by a Japanese woman player in this tournament and the best internationally for 12 years. Incidentally, the player who beat her in the semifinal, Zhou Hongyu, is just 17 years old and is the winner of the Chinese King of the New Stars title, which is open to male and female participants. The cup was won by Choi Jeong 9P of Korea for the third year in a row and the fourth time overall. Her prize is 300,000 yuan (about $42,600). Results are given below. (The time allowance is two hours each, with the last five minutes going to byo-yomi.)

Round 1 (October 30)
Lu Minquan 5P (China) (B) beat Yang Zixuan 3P (Chinese Taipei) by resig.
Yu Zhiying 6P (China) (B) beat Oh Yoojin 7P (Korea) by resig.
Zhou Hongyu 5P (China) (W) beat Ueno Asami 3P (Japan) by resig.
Wang Chengxing 5P (W) beat Cho Seungah 3P (Korea) by resig.
Li He 5P (China) (B) beat Hei JiaJia 7P (Oceania) by resig.
Fujisawa Rina 4P (Japan) (W) beat Stephanie Yin (Yin Mingming) 1P (North America) by resig.
Choi Jeong 9P (Korea) (B) beat Ariane Ougier 4D (Europe) by resig.
Rui Naiwei 9P (China) (W) beat Xie Yimin 6P (Japan) by 1.5 points.

Round 2 (October 31)
Fujisawa (W) beat Lu by resig.
Choi (B) beat Yu by 1.5 points.
Zhou (B) beat Wang by resig.
Rui (W) beat Li by resig.

Semifinals (November 1)
Choi (B) beat Rui by resig.; Zhou (W) beat Fujisawa by resig.

Final (November 3)
Choi (B) beat Zhou by resig.

Kono to challenge for Kisei
Ichiriki Ryo enjoyed superb form in this year’s Kisei tournament, winning all seven of his league games and then three in a row in the final knock-out tournament that decides the challenger, including a win over Kono Rin in the first game of the final “best-of-three.” In contrast, Kono scored only 3-2 in the S League and had to rely on his higher rank to come out on top in a four-way tie. As winner of the S League, however, he started with a one-win advantage, so he had to win only one game, which he did. Incidentally, because this match is in theory a best-of-three (in practice, it’s limited to two games), nigiri to choose colors was held before both games. Kono also challenged for the Kisei in 2017, but lost 2-4 to Iyama. He also lost by the same score in this year’s Honinbo title match and the 2014 Meijin title match, so his first task is to break the third-win barrier. Iyama has held the Kisei for seven years in a row; one more successful defense and he will match Kobayashi Koichi’s record. The match will start on January 9.

Full results in the final knock-out stage (the first result is repeated from my previous report):
(Oct. 9) Suzuki Shinji (winner of C League) (B) beat Motoki Katsuya 8P (winner of B Leagues) by 5.5 points.
(Oct. 21) Ichiriki (winner of A League) (B) beat Suzuki by resig.
(Nov. 4) Ichiriki (B) beat Takao Shinji 9P (2nd in S League) by resig.
(Nov. 11) Ichiriki (B) beat Kono (winner of S League) by 2.5 points.
(Nov. 14) Kono (W) beat Ichiriki by resig., making his score 2-1.

Tomorrow: New members of Meijin League; Ko Iso wins 2nd SGW Cup; Lee Se-dol announces retirement

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Nong Shim Cup: Yang wins seven in a row

The opening round of the 21st Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup was held in Beijing in mid-October and the second round being played in Korea late in November. China has made the best start, with their top batter, Yang Dingxin, remaining undefeated almost to the end of the second of the second round. Iyama Yuta was finally able to put a stop to his seemingly irresistible progress. The third sround will start in Shanghai on February 17, with Iyama playing Park Junghwan of Korea. Both Japan and Korea are down to their last player, while China still has four in the shed. Results of the first two rounds:

Round One (Beijing)
Game 1 (Oct. 15). Weon Seongjin 9P (Korea) (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke 9P (Japan) by resig.
Game 2 (Oct. 16). Yang Dingxin 9P (China) (B) beat Weon by resig.
Game 3 (Oct. 17). Yang (B) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P (Japan) by 3.5 points.
Game 4 (Oct. 18). Yang (B) beat Kim Jiseok 9P (Korea) by resig.

Round Two (Busan).
Game 5 (Nov. 22). Yang (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P (Japan) by resig.
Game 6 (Nov. 23). Yang (W) beat Lee Donghoon 9P (Korea) by 1.5.
Game 7 (Nov. 24). Yang (W) beat Kyo Kagen 8P (Japan) by resig.
Game 8 (Nov. 25). Yang (W) beat Shin Jinseo 9P (Korea) by resig.
Game 9 (Nov. 26). Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) (B) beat Yang by resig.

Hane wins 1,000th game
On October 24, Hane Naoki (B) beat Katayama Yasuo 8P by resig. in Preliminary A of the 61st Crown (Okan) title and became the 27th player to win 1,000 games. He had 520 losses, 3 jigo, and 1 no-contest, for a winning percentage of 65.6. It took him 28 years six months, which is the fourth fastest (Yamashita Keigo’s 25 years seven months is the fastest). At 43 years two months, he is the fifth youngest (record was set by Yuki Satoshi at 39 years two months).

Shibano leads in Oza
Shibano Toramaru’s prospects of becoming a multiple title-holder look good, as he has taken the lead in his challenge to Iyama Yuta for the 67th Oza title. This is the first title match between these two. To date, they had played only one game; this was in the Meijin League in February this year, and it was won by Shibano. The first Oza game was held at the Westin Hotel Osaka in Osaka City on October 25. This is Iyama’s home ground, but, playing black, Shibano won by half a point after 271 moves. The game was close throughout, as attested by an AI program that players following the game referred to. Iyama did not make any obvious mistakes, but Shibano edged him in the endgame.

The second and third games were played at the Tokiwa Hotel in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, on November 16 and 18. In the second game, Iyama (black) evened the score, forcing a resignation after 211 moves. He convincingly outplayed the challenger, so this win should have bolstered his confidence, but . . . In the third game, Shibano won by 1.5 points after 262 moves. This was a tough game for Shibano, so he had to fight tenaciously. The fourth game is scheduled for December 9. Iyama is facing kadobans in two title matches.

Tomorrow: Ueno wins 38th Women’s Honinbo; Choi wins Bingsheng Cup; Kono to challenge for Kisei

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

New Honinbo League

The 75th Honinbo League got off to a start on October 10 and has now completed the second round. Two players got off to good starts: Kyo Kagen and Shida Tatsuya, both on 2-0.

Results to date:

(Oct. 10) Hane Naoki 9P (B) beat Yokotsuka Riki 7P by resig.
(Oct. 17) Kyo Kagen 8P (B) beat Kono Rin 9P by resig.
(Oct. 24) Shida Tatsuya 8P (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by 6.5 points.
(Oct. 31) Shibano Toramaru Meijin (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P by resig.
(Nov. 7) Kyo (W) beat Yamashita by resig.; Ichiriki (W) beat Hane by resig.
(Nov. 14) Shida (B) beat Yokotsuka by resig.
(Nov. 21) Shibano (W) beat Kono by resig.

Kyo leads in Tengen

Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan), the challenger, got off to a good start against Iyama Yuta in the 45th Tengen title match. The first game was played at the Miyako Hotel Gifu Nagaragawa in Gifu City in the prefecture of the same name on October 11. Taking black, Kyo won by resignation after 179 moves. Kyo played boldly, building a moyo by walling off the center, but Iyama invaded and skillfully lived in the center, giving him the lead. However, he later played some dubious moves, so Kyo took the lead back. Again, both sides made mistakes, but Iyama made the last one; he lost a group and had to resign.

The second game was played at the Niseko Hot Spring Ikoino Yuyado Iroha (the latter part of the name means “Relaxation Hot Water Inn ABC”) in the town of Niseko in Abuta County, Hokkaido, on October 21. The game started out with solid play by both, but Iyama (black) accelerated in the middle game, so Kyo fell behind. Kyo was unable to make a dent in his lead, so he resigned after 161 moves. This was Iyama’s first win over Kyo in a title match (he lost the Gosei title 0-3 to him last year).

The third game was played at the Hotel Marital Sousei Kurume in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, on November 22, so there was a gap of a month in the match. Kyo (black) drew ahead in a melee late in the middle game and won by resignation after 157 moves. He needs just one more win to take the title. The fourth game will be played on December 9.

Korea repeats in Gratitude Cup

The 6th Gratitude Cup International Young Stars Igo Tournament was held in Shima City, Mie Prefecture, on October 14 and 15, with five-player teams from Japan, China, Korea, and Chinese Taipei taking part. So far, the domestic and international Gratitude Cups have all been played in Ise City, but this year it moved to the Shima Mediterranean Village, a resort with white houses and red roofs designed to look Mediterranean. Despite the new venue, the result was the same as last year, with the final order being Korea, China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. In the first section of the tournament, the teams all play each other; the top two proceed to the final and the bottom two to a play-off for third place. Again like last year, China had the best record in the first section with three team wins, but Korea beat it 3-2 in the final. In the third game in the first section, Japan started well against Korea, with Shibano Toramaru beating Shin Minjun on board one and Fujisawa Rina prevailing over the world’s number one woman player, Choi Jeong, but they got no support from the other players.