On March 15, Hashimoto Ūtarō 9d defeated Rin Kaihō Meijin in the first game of the Pro Best Ten Final. Rin took the second game on March 22, and the third on March 28. (Game Records: Game One, Game Two, Game Three)
Adachi Tadashi (pictured), President of the Nihon Ki’in, passed away on March 29.
The March issue of Kidō Magazine featured a lengthy interview with Ishida Yoshio Hon’inbo. He patiently dealt with the usual “who do you like among the classic players” questions. He stated he liked Shūho when he was a new pro. Ishida opined that the classical players would quickly catch on to komi and be very competitive. The vaunted opinion of him as “The Computer” was discussed – he denied he makes constant calculations every move. “Frankly, I have no confidence in my ability to calculate in a large-scale situation but in a localized engagement I seldom make a mistake.” He also altered the perception of his nickname, suggesting it referred to his poise and calmness as opposed to calculation. There was a lot of discussion of his main rival Rin Meijin and there seemed a perceptible bias against Rin from the questioning. Kidō remarked “Strangely enough, you are the first player to say that Rin’s technique is quite good.” Ishida pushed back against this apparent bias against the young players, and particularly Rin – forcing Kidō to concede – if Rin was not strong he would not be Meijin. Ishida previewed the youth dominated future, suggesting that while players like Fujisawa Shūkō were still superior in large scale fights, over a seven game match, Rin’s consistency, and his own, would win out.
Photos from Go Review, game records from SmartGoOne
The main event of February was the veteran Sakata Eio’s defense of the Jūdan title against young challenger Takagi Shōichi 7d. It should be noted, in those pre-Kisei days, the Jūdan was the number three title, behind the Meijin and Hon’inbo (the Jūdan has since fallen to 7th). We see the two players engaged in the first game on February 14-15, which was won by Sakata. The veteran also won the second on the 21st and 22nd. Finally we see a triumphant Sakata after winning three straight on the 28th. (Game records: Game One, Game Two, Game Three)
On February 16-18, the 3rd Prague Handicap tournament welcomed 48 players. The handicap nature of the event is clearly established by the two players who shared the laurels – V Muller 10k and J. Lesak 20k.
Photos from Go Review, game records from SmartGoOne
(Dec. 22). Sumire (W) beat Nyu Eiko by resig. (34th Women’s Meijin League).
Promotions
To 9-dan: Cho Riyu (200 wins, as of Dec. 16)
To 6-dan: Yamamoto Kentaro (90 wins, as of Aug. 12). The go press missed this promotion at the time.
To 2-dan: Mito Shuhei (30 wins, as of Nov. 25)
Retirement
Takamura Tetsuro 5-dan retired as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Born in Kumamoto Prefecture on Jan. 1, 1961, he became a disciple of the late Shimohira Akio 9-dan and qualified as a professional in 1979. He reached 4-dan in 1986 and was promoted to 5-dan on retirement. He was a member of the Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in.
Obituary
Aragaki Takeshi 9-dan died on November 28. He was born in Okinawa on June 4, 1956. He became a disciple of the late 23rd Honinbo Sakata Eio and made 1-dan in 1971. He reached 9-dan in 1994 and retired in 2020. He won the 4-dan, 5-dan, and two 6-dan championships in, respectively, the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 9th Kisei tournaments.
My next report will be a statistical overview of 2022.
By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Shibano & Ichiriki win leagues
Ichiriki and Shibano win Teikei Young Stars leagues
The final section of the Teikei Young Stars tournament consists of two six-player leagues. The winners meet in a play-off to decide the title. In a tournament labeled as for “young stars”, it was a little surprising to find holders big-three titles, namely, Shibano Toramaru Meijin in the A League and Ichiriki Ryo Kisei in the B League. All the games were played from December 17 to 22, and, not surprisingly, each won his league 5-0 (each was two wins clear of the field) and will meet in the best-of-three play-off scheduled for March. Actually, Seki Kotaro Tengen also played in the B League, though he did not do very well, scoring 2-3.
Konishi wins first title
Konishi Kazuko 8-dan
The three Teikei tournaments are now in their second terms. The first to be decided was the Female Legends tournament. In the final, held on December 24, Konishi Kazuko 8-dan (B) beat Kuwahara Yoko 6-dan by resignation. The game was played in the Ryusei Studio at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo. In her fifth appearance in a tournament final, Konishi finally scored her first success. First prize is 2,000,000 yen ($15,564 at $1 = ¥128.5).
Women’s Meijin League
With three rounds completed, there are only two undefeated players in the 34th Women’s Meijin League: Ueno Asami on 3-0 and Nakamura Sumire on 2-0.
Below are results since my previous report.
(Nov. 7) Ueno Asami, Women’s Hollyhock title-holder, (B) beat Ueno Risa 2-dan by resignation. This is the first official game between the sisters.
By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Iyama saves Japan in Nongshim Cup
Iyama wins
The second round of the 24th Nongshim Cup was held on the net in late November. Japan did badly, but in the final game of the round, Iyama Yuta, who won four games in a row in the previous cup, once again saved their bacon, picking up the first Japanese win. Results follow.
Game 5 (Nov. 25). Kang Dongyun 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
Game 6 (Nov. 26). Kang (W) beat Tuo Jiaxi 9-dan (China) by resig.
Game 7 (Nov. 27). Kang (B) beat Yo Seiki 8-dan (Japan) by half a point. (This was Kang’s fifth win in a row.)
Game 8 (Nov. 28). Lian Xiao 9-dan (China) (W) beat Kang by resig.
Game 9 (Nov. 29). Iyama Yuta 9-dan (Japan) (B) beat Lian by resig.
The third round is scheduled for February 20~24.
Shin wins Samsung Cup
The 27th Samsung Cup will always be remembered as the first tournament in which a woman player, Choi Jeong 9-dan, reached the final. In the best-of-three title match, however, she lost 0-2 to Shin Jinseo 9-dan, the world’s number one rated player. The first game was played on November 7; taking black, Shin won by resignation. The second game was played on the following day; taking white, Shin again won by resig. Shin finally won this title after coming second in the 25th and 26th cups. The first game was a convincing win for Shin, but in the second the lead switched back and forth. Shin seemed to prevail because of his greater powers of concentration.
Kawabata Yasunari inducted into Hall of Fame
Kawabata Yasunari, author of “Meijin” (Master of Go), was inducted into the Go Hall of Fame on November 11. He is the second literary figure inducted after the haiku poet Shiki. “Meijin” is a novel based on newspaper commentaries Kawabata wrote about the retirement game played by Shusai Meijin with Kitani Minoru and is the most famous literary work dealing with go.
Chinese players meet in LG Cup final
Two more rounds in the 27th LG Cup were played in mid-November. In the quarterfinals, the last remaining Japanese player was eliminated, then the world number one was eliminated in the semifinals. Details follow.
Quarterfinals (November 13 & 14). Shin Jinseo 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Mi Yuting 9-dan (China) by resig.; Kang Dongyun 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Ke Jie 9-dan (China) by resig.; Yang Dingxin 9-dan (China) (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 9-dan (Japan) by resig.; Ding Hao 9-dan (China) (W) beat Kim Myonghoon 9-dan (Korea) by 2.5 points.
Tomorrow: Ichiriki and Shibano win Teikei Young Stars leagues; Konishi wins first title; Women’s Meijin League
By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Ida sets new record in Crown
Ida Atsushi 9-dan
The Crown title is a regional title, open only to the members of the Central Japan (Nagoya) branch of the Nihon Ki-in. The one-game final of the 63rd title was held on November 22. Ida Atsushi 9-dan (B) beat Mutsuura Yuta 7-dan by resignation. This was his seventh successive Crown title, a new record (though other players have won it more often). First prize is 1,700,000 yen.
China wins 23rd Agon Kiriyama Play-off
Li Qincheng 9-dan
The annual Japan-China Agon Kiriyama Cup Play-off was held on the net on December 17. Li Qincheng 9-dan of China, who held white, beat Hirata Tomoya 7-dan of Japan by resignation. Actually, the Chinese go world has apparently been in a chaotic state because of covid-related restrictions, and there were repeated changes in the arrangements for this play-off. In the end, the Chinese managed to hold their Agon-Kiriyama Cup the day before this play-off (Li beat Xie Erhao 9-dan in the final). The chaos didn’t seem to affect Li’s play.
The final of the 31st Ryusei title was telecast on December 26. Iyama Yuta (B) beat Yuki Satoshi 9-dan of the Kansai Ki-in by resignation after 111 moves. This is his fourth Ryusei title, but his first for ten years. Most title matches in 2022 featured at least one young player, but this was an exception: Iyama is 33 and Yuki 50. This is Iyama’s 71st title, so he is just four behind Cho Chikun. His pace has slowed considerably, so it no longer seems so certain that he will reach three digits.
There’s a strange story attached to this triumph, though. In his quarterfinal game with Kato Atsushi 9-dan, both Iyama and Kato hallucinated that one of Kato’s groups was dead when it could live with one move. As a life-and-death problem, it could easily be solved by an average amateur. Having assumed it was dead, neither player took another look at it. At the end of the game, Iyama took this group of six stones off the board and counted the score. He and Kato had agreed the game was over and the latter made no objection when the former took the group off the board (it needed another move to live). The result was a 3.5-point win for Iyama. Kato accepted this result, so there was no problem as far as the rules were concerned. Takao Shinji 9-dan, who did the commentary for the TV program, said that in 30 years as a professional he had never seen anything like it.
Iyama confided to Cho U, who later became the commentator for the final, that he was deeply upset by his oversight and felt that he had lost the trust of go fans. He told Cho that he was determined to win the final while playing a good game to regain the trust of fans.
By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Ueno repeats as Young Carp champion
The main section (for the best 16) of the 17th Hiroshima Aluminum Cup Young Carp Tournament was held in the Central Japan Newspaper Headquarters Building on November 26 and 27. For the third year in a row it was won by a woman player and for the second year in a row that woman player was Ueno Asami. In the final, Ueno (W) defeated Koike Yoshihiro 7-dan by resignation. (The winner of the 15th Cup was Fujisawa Rina.)
This tournament is open to players 30 and younger and 7-dan and under. First prize is 3,000,000 yen.
New members of the Meijin league
The play-offs for the new seats in the 48th Meijin League were held on November 18. Cho U 9-dan (B) beat Koike Yoshihiro 7-dan by resignation. Cho, who has won the Meijin title five times, is making a return after missing two leagues. Fujita Akihiko 7-dan (W) beat Kono Rin 9-dan by half a point. Sada Atsushi 7-dan beat Ida Atsushi 9-dan by resig. Both Fujita and Sada are making their debuts in the league.
48th Meijin League
The first round was completed during December. Results follow.
(Dec. 8) Cho U (B) beat Kyo Kagen Judan by resignation. (Dec. 15) Shida Tatsuya 7-dan (B) beat Fujita Akihiko by half a point. (Dec. 19) Iyama Yuta (B) beat Yamashita Keigo 9-dan by resignation. (Dec. 24) Sada Atsushi (W) beat Yo Seiki 8-dan by 2.5 points.
Honinbo League
The following games have been played since my last report. (Nov. 7) Yo Seiki (B) beat Otake Yu 7-dan by 1.5 points. (Nov. 10) Shibano Toramaru (W) beat Fujita Akihiko by resig. (Nov. 17) Kyo Kagen (B) beat Tsuruyama Atsushi 8-dan by resig. (Nov. 24) Ichiriki Ryo Kisei (W) beat Motoki Katsuya 8-dan by resig. (Dec. 8) Yo Seiki (W) beat Tsuruyama by resign. (Dec. 12) Shibano (B) beat Otake by resig. (Dec. 15) Ichiriki (B) beat Kyo Kagen by resig. (Dec. 22) Motoki (W) beat Fujita by resignation.
As of the end of 2022, Ichiriki, Yo, and Shibano were tied on 3-0. (In my previous report, I wrote that I would present the league this time, but a software malfunction prevents me from keeping my promise.)
Tomorrow: Ida sets new record in Crown; China wins 23rd Agon Kiriyama Play-off; Iyama wins Ryusei title after life-and-death hallucination
By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Seki defends Tengen
48th Tengen; Ida vs. Seki (right)
The 48th Tengen title match started off with Black winning both games (see my report of October 24). There was a gap of over three weeks before the next game, which was played at the Hotel Marital Sosei Kurume in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, on November 14. Taking white, Ida Atsushi 9-dan, the challenger, beat Seki Kotaro Tengen by resignation after 202 moves. This gave Ida a 2-1 lead, so Seki’s grip on the title seemed to have been loosened.
The fourth game was played at the Hotel New Awaji in Sumoto City on the island of Awaji in Hyogo Prefecture. Seki (B) fought strongly and evened the series.
The final game was played at the Tokushima Grandvrio Hotel in Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku (not far south of the venue for the fourth game) on December 15. Seki drew black when they redid the nigiri. The initial fighting seemed good for White, but when the dust settled, Seki had the lead. After that, however, he made a series of small mistakes, so the game became very close. At a crucial point in the endgame, Ida made a mistake, miscalculating the value of a move: he played a one-point move because he thought it was worth two points. That was his last chance to pull off an upset. Seki managed to hold on for a half-point win.
At 21 years zero months and 18 days of age, Seki set a new record for the youngest player to defend a top-seven title. (When Shibano Toramaru defended the Oza title in 2020, he was seven days older.)
Winning his second top-seven title earned Seki promotion to 9-dan.
Iyama defends Oza
Iyama Yuta made a good start in the 70th Oza title match, beating the challenger, Yo Seiki 8-dan of the Kansai Ki-in, in the first game, played on October 21, by the narrow margin of 1.5 points. The second game was played at the Westin Miyako Hotel Kyoto on November 11. The game featured a struggle between large groups, but it ended up even closer than the first game, with Iyama (B) winning by just half a point.
The third game was played at the Hotel Okura Kobe in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, on November 18. Like the first two games, this one was also very closely contested, but Yo (B) made a blunder while attacking a white group. He resigned after 180 moves.
Iyama thus defended his title with straight wins. He maintained his triple crown with the Honinbo and Gosei titles. This is also his 70th title. He commented that, what with losing the Kisei and Meijin titles, 2022 was not a great year for him, so he was relieved to have ended it with a success.
Shibano wins 47th Kisei play-off
The first game of the “best-of-three” play-off to decide the Kisei challenger was held on November 18. Taking black, Yamashita Keigo 9-dan, the winner of the A League, defeated Shibano Toramaru Meijin, the winner of the S League by resignation. However, the S League winner is gifted a win in this play-off, so Yamashita couldn’t afford to drop a game. The second game was played on November 21. Taking black, Shibano beat Yamashita by resignation, so he became the challenger.
Incidentally, since the current Kisei tournament system came into effect in the 40th term, the S League winner has always become the challenger. (In this report, I am focusing on 2022, but I can reveal that Ichiriki Ryo Kisei won the first game of the title match.)
Tomorrow: New members of the Meijin league; Meijin & Honinbo League updates; Ueno repeats as Young Carp champion
Ceremonial game for the Uchizomeshiki at Nihon Ki’in
We begin the New Year with the Uchizomeshiki, a ceremony held at the Nihon Ki’in in Ichigaya on January 5. The event, which Go Review compared to a “purification ceremony,” is an essential kick off for the tournament year. Pictured is a ceremonial game. Your editor recognizes some of the faces of the “old guard” of Japanese go at the time.
The action began promptly on January 7 with the Nihon Ki’in Championship. The title holder, Ōhira Shūzō 9d, entered the New Year one game down after losing Game One in December. Ōhira had dominated this title since winning it from Sakata Eio in 1966, winning it every year except one. However, faced once again with an in-form Sakata, Ōhira had to summon all his fighting strength to kill shinogi expert Sakata’s huge group to even the series in Game Two. (Game record: Game Two.) We see Sakata during the third game on January 16, once again going ahead. (Game record: Game Three.) Finally, Sakata ended his eight year drought in this title on January 25-26 by a 3-1 score. (Game record: Game Four.)
As of January 10, we note that Ishida Hon’inbo was leading the Meijin League with a 2-0 record.
On January 11, Ōtake Hideo 9d began his defense of the All Japan 1st Place Tournament which he had defended five times in a row. Here we see him react to the confident play of Kajiwara Takeo. He sorted out the problem and won this first game. (Game record: Ōtake vs. Kajiwara.)
On the same day, Takagi Shōichi 7d defeated Takagawa to win the “losers bracket” and went on to defeat Rin Meijin for the right to challenge Sakata for the Jūdan title. Pictured during the match against Takagawa, Takagi was the author of Beyond Forcing Moves and attended the 1993 U.S. Go Congress. (Game records: Takagi vs. Takagawa, Takagi vs. Rin.)
Sakata was presented with the 9th Shūsai Prize as the past year’s outstanding player on January 16. With the Meijin and Hon’inbo titles divided between Rin and Ishida, Sakata’s dominance of the lesser titles made him a unanimous choice for the third time.
The month began with the 4th Bled International Go Masters event in Yugoslavia (now Slovenia) on December 1-3. The undefeated winner was a Japanese visitor, a Mr. Takahashi. Second was Mr. Merrissert of France on five wins.
On December 20, challenger Honda Sachiko 4d defeated Kitani Reiko 6d to take a one game lead in the Ladies’ Hon’inbo title. (Game record available here.)
Sakata Eio continues his domination of the smaller titles with a victory over Hashimoto Utarō in the Ōza title on December 14, winning the 3 game series 2-1. (Game record available here.)
Ōhira Shūzō 9d (author of the Ishi Press Classic Appreciating Famous Games) defeated Yamabe Toshirō 9d for the right to challenge Sakata in the Nihon Ki’in Championship. The first game was held on December 20-21. Sakata won by resignation. (Game record available here.)
Photos courtesy of Go Review, game records from SmartGoOne.
