Keith Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister
On June 4 the Nihon Kiin Igo Festival was held. There were a variety of events, but the greatest excitement was created by the 2nd place finish in the All-Japan Ladies Amateur Championship of an 11-year-old prodigy, Ashida Isoko (pictured) She would enter the pro ranks in 1975. Today she’s a 6d player with Kansai Ki’in. Her biggest tournament victory so far was taking 1st place in the Kakusei in 1985.
On June 9, veteran player Hashimoto Utaro completed his victory in the Asahi Pro Best Ten (picture) with three straight wins over Kato Masao. (game records: Game 1; Game 2; Game 3). He held off other young players – Rin Kaiho, Ishida Yoshio and Otake Hideo in the course of this triumph.
Go Review reports that William Pinckard returned to Japan and was furthering his go studies at Iwamoto’s Go Salon and had achieved 2 dan.
Finally, on June 14, the North American Honinbo match was held via telephone. New York’s Takao Matsuda turned back the challenge of the West Coast’s Shigeo Matsubara.
