by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Fujisawa wins 1st Hakata Kamachi Cup
The Hakata Kamachi Cup is a new tournament with a first prize of 7,000,000 yen (about $67,300), which ranks it with the Women’s Hollyhock Cup and one million yen behind the Senko Cup. It is organized similarly to the other tournaments, with a preliminary round and a main tournament for the top 16. The semifinals, final, and play-off for third of the first term were held at the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk on October 8 and 9. In the semifinals, Ueno Asami, Women’s Honinbo, (W) beat Mukai Chiaki 5P by resig. and Fujisawa Rina, Women’s Hollyhock Cup-holder, (W) beat Nyu Eiko 3P, also by resig. In the final, Fujisawa (B) beat Ueno by resig., and in the play-off for 3rd place Mukai (B) beat Nyu by half a point. At the prize-giving ceremony, the sponsors announced that this tournament would finish and instead they would become a sponsor of the Women’s Meijin Tournament. The latter tournament had been suspended after 31 terms, but it was now resurrected as the 32nd Hakata Kamachi Cup Women’s Meijin Tournament. When the preliminaries started (on November 11), Fujisawa resumed the title of Women’s Meijin. The “new” tournament concludes in a seven-player league to choose the challenger.
Ueno wins Senko Cup
It was originally planned to hold the semifinals and final of the 5th Senko Cup Strongest Woman Player Tournament in Shiga Prefecture, but because of the pandemic the games were switched to a Tokyo venue, the Hotel Kaie in Koto Ward. In the semifinals, held on September 11, Ueno Asami, Women’s Honinbo, (W) beat Kuwabara Yoko 6P by resig. and Xie Yimin 6P (W) beat Fujisawa Rina, holder of the Senko Cup, also by resig. In the final, held two days later, Ueno (W) beat Xie by 5.5 points to win this title for the first time.
Zhou wins 3rd Go Seigen Cup
The opening rounds of this Chinese-sponsored international women’s tournament are usually held in the sponsoring city of Fuzhou in Fujian Province in the spring, but instead they were put off until the autumn and were held on the net. The semifinals and finals were then held on the net in winter. This year, the tournament was won by a new face, Zhou Hongyu 6P, who beat Yu Zhiying 6P 2-1 in the final. Chinese players dominated the play throughout the tournament and the semifinals were all Chinese. However, Japanese fans were happy to see local heroine Ueno Asami reach the quarterfinals with two wins, including one over the world’s number one woman player, Choi Jeong of Korea.
Games are played by Chinese rules, with a komi of 7.5. Time allowance is two hours each, and the last five minutes are used for byo-yomi. First prize is 50,000 yuan (about $77,000).
Round 1 (Sept. 27). Suzuki Ayumi 7P (Japan) (B) beat Kim 1P by resig.; Wu Yiming 2P (aged 13) (W) beat Xie Yimin 6P (Japan) by resig.; Hei Jiajia 7P (Ch. Taipei) (W) beat Dina Burdakova 5D (Russia) by resig.; Ueno Asami 3P (Japan) (W) beat Wang Shuang 4P (China) by resig.; Yang Zixuan 4P (Ch. Taipei) (W) beat Feng Yun 9P (USA) by resig.; Kim Chaeyoung 6P (Korea) (W) beat Pan Yang 3P (China) by resig.; Li He 5P (China) (W) beat Yin Mingming (Stephanie Yin) (USA) by resig.; Oh Jeonga 4P (Korea) (W) beat Ariane Ougier 5D (France) by resig.
Round 2 (Sept. 28).
Lu Minquan 5P (China) (B) beat Hei by resig.; Yu Zhiying 6P (China) (W) beat Suzuki by 2.5 points; Li He 5P (China) (W) beat Fujisawa 4P by resig.; Ueno (W) beat Choi Jeong 9P (Korea) by 1.5 points.; Wang Chenxing 5P (China) (B) beat Oh (Korea) by 7.5 points; Zhou Hongyu 6P (China) (W) beat Kim by resig.; Rui Naiwei 9P (China) (B) beat Yang by resig.; Oh Yujin 7P (China) (B) beat Wu by resig.
Quarterfinals (Sept. 29): Wang (B) beat Ueno by resig.; Rui (B) beat Li by resig.; Yu (W) beat Lu by resig.; Zhou (W) beat Oh by resig.
Semifinals (Nov. 30): Yu (W) beat Wang by resig.; Zhou (B) beat Rui by resig.
Final (Dec. 2, 3, 4): (Game 1) Yu (W) by resig.; (Game 2) Zhou (W) by 6.5 points; (Game 3) Zhou (W) by resig.
Tomorrow: Seki wins 45th King of New Stars title; Cho U scores 1,000 wins; Fujisawa wins Young Carp in first for a woman player; Fujisawa Rina wins Women’s Honinbo; Iyama wins Agon Kiriyama Cup; Ichiriki sets new record for Ryusei title; Ichiriki leads Honinbo League
