Saturday May 15, 2021
The AGA Board will be meeting this Sunday from 7pm EDT until 10pm EDT. They will be discussing a number of important topics, including AGA budget and financials, COVID recommendations and reopening plan, and the status of the Strategic Plan (passed in November). Minutes of past meetings and the agenda for the upcoming meeting can be found here. If you are interested in joining, please contact Chair of the Board, Dr. Lisa Scott at lisa.scott@usgo.org.
Friday May 14, 2021
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Fujisawa enters Agon Kiriyama main tournament
Fujisawa Rina’s excellent form is also continuing. On May 6, she beat O Meien 9P in the final game of the preliminary round of the 28th Agon Kiriyama Cup. Taking black, Fujisawa won by resig. She is the first woman to reach the main tournament, that is, the best 16.
Mi Yuting wins MLily Cup
The final, a best-of-five, of the 4th MLily Cup, was held in late April and early May. This is a Chinese-sponsored international tournament held at irregular intervals, the first being in 2013, then 2016, then 2017. So far, it has been won by Mi Yuting (China), Ke Jie (China), and Park Junghwan (Korea). First prize is 1,800,000 yuan (about $279,800). This year both finalists were Chinese. Results follow.
Game 1 (April 29). Mi (W) by resig.
Game 2 (April 30). Xie Ke 8P (W) by resig.
Game 3 (May 2). Mi (W) by 2.5.
Game 4 (May 4). Xie (W) by resig.
Game 5 (May 5). Mi (W) by resig.
Sumire enters C League
In a play-off for a place in the C League of the 46th Kisei tournament, held on May 6, Nakamura Sumire 2P (B) beat Torii Yuta 3P by 5.5 points. This earned her a place in the C League; every time Sumire achieves something, she sets a new youth record. At 12 years two months four days, she is the youngest player to enter a league. The record was lowered by five days just three days earlier when Fukuoka Kotaro 2P got into the league aged 15 years four months 11 days; Sumire lowered that by more than three years. Breaking her new record will be a major challenge. She also extended her winning streak to 11 games and improved her record for the year to 22-2. Ueno Asami lost the game she played last week, so Sumire has the sole lead in the most-wins list. More details about the C League are given in my report of May 2. According to the Yomiuri newspaper, all 480 professional players in Japan compete in the Kisei tournament. Sumire is in the top 62 of that number, so this may be her biggest success so far. Sumire: “I didn’t think I could get into the league, so I am very happy. I look forward to being able to play with strong players.” To become the Kisei challenger, she will need nine wins in a row: five in the league and four in the irregular knock-out that follows it.
Next: Ichiriki Meijin League; 46th Kisei S League; Promotions & Obituaries
Friday May 14, 2021
by Keith L. Arnold, hka, and Patrick Bannister
On 14 May 1971, Goishi Day, the Kyōto Branch of Nihon Ki’in raised a burial mound for go stones and held the first Goishi Kuyō. Goishi Kuyō is a memorial service for broken Go stones, and also for the stones that were captured or died on the board that year. The attendees joined in a tournament in honor of the occasion. Rin Kaihō Hon’inbo, former Women’s Hon’inbo Inoue Minako, and that year’s Amateur Ladies’ Championship third place winner Sakaguchi Kaori attended the event, and Rin Hon’inbo gave commentaries for some of the day’s tournament games.
The event had elements of a funeral – a burial mound where attendees offered flowers, and a Buddhist priest chanted sutras on behalf of the stones – but the tone wasn’t completely solemn. After all, stones that “die” on the go board are collected at the end of the game, soon to be played again. Broken stones – even from a cherished old set, rich with memories of games with your teacher and your friends – can’t be compared to a person. Hasegawa Kō, reporting on the event for Go Club magazine, characterized the Goishi Kuyō as “unusual” and “eccentric.” Goishi Day is a rhyming pun: May 14 = 5 14 = GO I SHI.
A large celebration of the 50th anniversary was planned for 9 May 2021, but like so many events, was cancelled.
Nevertheless, let us take this opportunity, this moment, to acknowledge and mourn the stones not broken this year, the stones not captured, the stones not played. It has been a year without the sound of stones snapping on boards, subtle slides into place or intimidating slams onto what we hope are the vital points. A year where the message of our moves was not reflected on the faces of our opponents – invariably friends – old, new and soon to be.
And take this moment to remember those we will never get another, or even a first, chance to play.
So, grasp those bowls from the shelf, let the stones breathe, feel the warmth of your fingers, and roam over the board. Whether cautiously reaching out, masked and vaccinated, to friends, or within family bubbles, or simply reviewing a pro game on a board and not with bytes – let the stones play.
Wednesday May 12, 2021
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Shibano to challenge for Honinbo title
All the games in the final round of the 76th Honinbo League were played at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on April 2. Going into this round, four players were still in the running to win the league: Shibano Toramaru on 5-1 and three players, Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan), Ichiriki Ryo, and Hane Naoki, who were close behind on 4-2. Hane was slated to play Shibano; the latter had a bad record against Hane, having won only two of their eight games and none of the three they had played in the Honinbo League. Kyo and Ichiriki did what they had to do, winning their games, but it was to no avail, as Shibano overcame his nemesis.
This result would have been a big disappointment for Ichiriki: he had held the sole lead at the halfway mark with 4-0, but successive losses to Shibano and Kyo were costly. An interesting point is that the final positions in the league were unchanged from the previous league; also, it had already been decided before the final round that the bottom four players would lose their league places.
Shibano will be seeking revenge for his losses to Iyama in the Honinbo and Meijin title matches last year. The best-of-seven starts on May 11. Final-round results follow.
Shibano Toramaru (B) beat Hane Naoki by resig.; Ichiriki Ryo Tengen (B) beat Oishi Ryuhei 7P by resig.; Ko Iso 9P (B) beat Tsuruyama Atsushi 8P by resig.; Kyo Kagen 8P
Kyo wins Judan title
The rivalry in the post-Iyama generation is quite fierce. Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) took the lead when he won his first top-seven title by beating Iyama Yuta 3-0 in the 43rd Gosei title three years ago, but he failed to defend the title the following year. Since then he has fallen behind Shibano Toramaru and Ichiriki Ryo, both of whom won two titles last year. Even so, Kyo’s results have always placed him in the top group. This year, he won the right to challenge Shibano for the Judan title. The match was very closely fought, but Kyo outplayed the title-holder in the final game. Winning his second top-seven title earned him an automatic promotion to 9-dan, so in rank he drew level with Shibano and Ichiriki. The Judan is the lowest-ranked of the top-seven titles, so the pecking order now is: Iyama Yuta Kisei, Meijin & Honinbo; Ichiriki Tengen & Gosei; Shibano Oza, and Kyo Judan. Results follow.
Game 1 (March 2). Kyo (B) by resig.
Game 2 (March 24). Shibano (B) by resig. (These two games are covered in my report of April 6.)
Game 3 (April 8). Kyo (B) by 4.5 points.
Game 4 (April 20). Shibano (B) by resig.
Game 5 (April 28). Kyo (B) by resig.
Iyama to challenge for Gosei
The play-off to decide the challenger to Ichiriki Ryo for the 46th Gosei title was held at the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in on May 6. Taking black, Iyama beat Ida Atsushi 8P by resig. He held this title for six years in a row from the 42nd to the 47th terms.
Tomorrow: Mi Yuting wins MLily Cup ; Sumire enters C League; Fujisawa enters Agon Kiriyama main tournament
Monday May 10, 2021
The North American Go Federation (NAGF) is joining the European Go Federation’s (EGF) Pro League to form a new Transatlantic Pro League, starting on May 15th. All EGF-certified and NAGF-certified pros have been invited to compete. Six European pros – Ilya Shikshin 4P, Ali Jabarin 2P, Artem Kachanovski 2P, Pavol Lisy 2P, Andrii Kravets 1P, Tanguy le Calve 1P – and two North American pros – Ryan Li 3P, Calvin Sun 1P – have confirmed their participation. The EGF held a qualification round for top European amateur players, in which Remi Campagnie 6D and Oscar Vazquez 6D earned seats in the league. The ten Pro League competitors will be divided into two groups, with the top two players from each group advancing to a play-off.
The Transatlantic Pro League is sponsored by the EGF, NAGF, AI Sensei, and BadukPop. The prize money for the winner is €1000 EUR. League games will be live-streamed on the EGF Twitch Channel on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 EDT (18:00 Central European Time) starting May 15th. For more information, visit the league website.
Thursday May 6, 2021
“Regarding the Power Report for May 3, there are other indicators of ‘woman power’ in Japanese go,” writes Roy Schmidt (in response to The Power Report: Woman power hits Japanese go). “The Ki-in’s weekly educational program on NHK-TV, ‘Go Focus,’ flipped format a few weeks ago. For years, the format has been a 7 or 8 dan men’s pro assisted by a low-ranking women’s pro. During problem analysis, the woman’s role was to ask naïve questions on behalf of the TV audience and to express surprise when the man revealed a clever solution. But now the analysis is provided by a woman, Ueno Women’s Kisei, and the junior role is filled by a man. In another segment of the show, Hei Jiajia is serializing an introduction to the game, starting with the basic rules. Two weeks ago, the focus segment featured a woman manga artist (face obscured) working on a new series about teen-age go players, and this past Sunday the topic was go-related You-tubers including Fujisawa Rina.”
Thursday May 6, 2021
The North American Go Federation (NAGF) has published its new professional rank promotion system, opening the way for NAGF pros to earn higher ranks based on their performance in professional tournaments. The new system will be applied to all the NAGF-certified professional players retroactively. As a result, Ryan Li and Eric Lui have been promoted to 3P and 2P respectively. For details about the system, please refer to the official NAGF Professional Rank Promotion System document or visit the NAGF website.
-report and photos provided by Hajin Lee 4P
Sunday May 2, 2021
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
The highlight of this month’s report is the extraordinary recent success of Nakamura Sumire, who leads three statistic-related lists for all Nihon Ki-in pros: most wins, best winning percentage, and best winning streak. However, it is not only the youngest pro who is making waves; her seniors are also doing very well. While contemporary women players benefit from the recent increase in women-only tournaments, this is certainly beginning to look like a golden age for women’s go in Japan. This report focuses on Nakamura Sumire and Fujisawa Rina.
Sumire leads lists of top performers
With the tournament year almost a third completed, Sumire and her female colleagues are dominating the statistical categories. Lists are given below (dated to April 30).
Most wins
1. Nakamura Sumire 2P: 21 wins 2 losses; Ueno Asami, Women’s Kisei: 21-7
3. Nyu Eiko 3P: 18-8
4. Kyo Kagen Judan: 16-7
5. Fukuoka Kotaro 2P: 15-3; Motoki Katsuya 8P: 15-5
7. Seki Kotaro 3P: 14-2; Shibano Toramaru Oza: 14-6; Suzuki Ayumi 7P, Kato Chi
e 2P: 14-8
11. Ida Atsushi 8P, Fujisawa Rina Women’s Honinbo: 13-3; Kondo Toshiki 1P: 13
-4; Xie Yimin 6P: 13-7; Mukai Chiaki 6P: 13-12
The top three are all women, as are eight of the top 15, so they have a majority. Offhand, I can’t recall this happening before.
Best winning streaks
10: Nakamura Sumire (since March 18)
7: Fujisawa Rina (since March 29), Otani Naoki 3P (since March 8), Seki Kotaro
(since March 22)
6: Ito Masashi 5P (since March 8)
5: Ichiriki Ryo Tengen (since March 18)
Best winning percentage: On 91.3%, Sumire has no rivals in sight.
Sumire’s progress
Below are the results of games Sumire has played since my last report (posted on April 6).
(April 1) Sumire (W) beat Yoshihara Yukari 6P by 7.5 points (main tournament, round 1, 40th Women’s Honinbo). This was her first game on entering junior high.
(April 5) Sumire (W) beat Okada Yumie 6P by resig. (Prelimin. C, 47th Meijin tournament).
(April 12) Sumire (W) beat Mizuno Hiromi 5P by resig. (prelim. final, 6th Senko Cup).
(April 14) Sumire (W) beat Hara Masakazu 3P by 6.5 (semifinal, First Tournament, 46th Kisei).
(April 15) Sumire beat Sakaguchi Ryuzo 9P (Prelim. C2, 60th Judan).
(April 17). Sumire beat Yang Zixuan 4P by resig. and Yu Lijun (W) by resig. Yang and Yu are two of the top women players in Taiwan. These games were played as part of an unofficial match (more details in my next report).
(April 22) Sumire (B) beat Nobuta Shigehito 6P by resig. (Prelim. C, 47th Meijin).
(April 28) Sumire (B) beat Konishi Kazuko 8P by resig. (main tournament, round one, 8th Women’s Hollyhock Cup; played at the Kansai Ki-in). At 12 years, one month of age, Sumire set a new record for the youngest player to reach the best four in a women’s tournament. (The previous record was 15 years eight months, set by Fujisawa Rina in the Women’s Meijin.)
(April 29) Sumire (B) beat Goto Shungo 9P by 12.5 points (Prelim. C, Judan). This gave Sumire a winning streak of ten games in official games, but if you include unofficial games it was 15 in a row. Her record for the year is 21-2.
Fujisawa Rina’s good run
Fujisawa Rina has also been doing very well and has maintained her place as the top woman player. Three recent successes are described below.
1. Promoted to 5-dan: On April 8. Fujisawa Rina scored her 70th win as a 4-dan and so qualified for promotion to 5-dan (effective as of the following day). This takes her halfway up the promotion ladder.
2. Defends Women’s Meijin title: The 32nd Hakata Kamachi Cup Women’s Meijin title match ended in another triumph for Fujisawa. The best-of-three was scheduled to be played at the Tokyo headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in on April 16, 18, and 20, but, as it turned out, the third day wasn’t necessary. In the first game, Fujisawa, the defending title holder, drew black and beat Ueno Asami, Women’s Kisei, by 1.5 points. In the second game, Fujisawa (W) won by resignation after 216 moves. According to Go Weekly, the games were tougher for Fujisawa for longer periods than for her opponent, but she played with greater precision in the crucial fights and overturned Ueno’s lead in each game. Fujisawa has now held this title for four terms in a row, but there was a gap of a year before it secured a new sponsor. She also holds the Women’s Honinbo and Hollyhock titles. In all, she has won 17 titles.
3. Enters Kisei C League: On April 29, Fujisawa (W) beat Matsumoto Takehisa 8P by 1.5 points in the final round of the 46th Kisei First Tournament and so won a seat in the C League for the first time. Xie Yimin has already qualified for the league, and Ueno Asami and Nakamura Sumire have also reached the final round. This is a notable achievement, though this league is not on a par with the Honinbo or Meijin leagues. The Kisei tournament actually has five leagues, with the S League (six players) on top, followed by the A League (eight) and two B Leagues (eight players each). Next is the five-round C League, which has 32 players; the top finishers are promoted up and players drop out immediately on suffering their third loss.