American Go E-Journal » Columns

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Kisei S League starts: The S League, the last of the 44th Kisei leagues to get under way, got off to a start on April 25 with a clash between two heavyweights. Takao Shinji 9P (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by resignation. The second game in the league was played on May 2. Yamashita Keigo 9P (B) beat So Yokoku 9P by resig. In the A League, Ichiriki Ryo 8P and Cho U Meijin, who are both on 2-0, share the lead. In the B1 league, Yoda Norimoto 9P, on 3-0, has made the best start, but Hane Naoki, on 2-0, is also undefeated. In the B2 League, Motoki Katsuya 8P, on 3-0, is the only undefeated player.

Otake wins 1,300 games: In a game in the 9th Masters Cup played on April 25, Otake Hideo. Hon. Gosei, (W) defeated Hane Yasumasa by resig. This was Otake’s 1,300th win in a go career lasting 63 years. He is the fourth player to reach this mark. He has 820 losses, five jigo, and one no-contest for a winning record of 61%. (Top is Cho Chikun with 1531 wins.)

Meijin League: Only three games have been played in the 44th Meijin League since my last report. On April 11, Suzuki Shinji 7P (B) beat Son Makoto 7P by 3.5 points. This result slightly improved the former’s chances of retaining his seat and worsened the latter’s. Incidentally, these two featured in the first game in the new NHK Cup, the 67th, and the result went the other way, with Son (W) winning by resignation. On April 25, Hane Naoki 9P (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P by resig. and Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Mutsuura Yuta 7P, also by resig. As before, Kono Rin, leads the league on 4-0.

Shibano wins Grand Champion Tournament: The Grand Champion Tournament is a fast-go (NHK format) knock-out tournament open to current title-holders plus, if necessary to bring the numbers up to 16, the top players in the previous year’s prize-money list. First prize is a relatively modest one or two million yen (there’s ambiguity because the Nihon Ki-in HP gives both figures). The semifinals and final of the 2018 (6th) Grand Champion Tournament were held at the Nihon Ki-in on May 6. In the semifinals, Iyama Yuta beat Ichiriki Ryo and Shibano Toramaru beat Kyo Kagen. The final was open to the public, being played on the stage of the Nihon Ki-in’s second-story auditorium with a public commentary being given on the same stage at the same time. Presumably the players are so focused on the game they shut out the commentary. Taking white, Shibano beat Iyama by resig. to win this title for the first time. This is his fourth title.

Obituary: Ing Ming-hao
Ing Ming-hao, chairman of the board of directors of the Ing Chang-ki Wei-ch’I Educational Foundation, died on April 20, just a few days after making a speech at the opening ceremony of the Changqi Cup. He was 76. As the son of Ing Chang-ki, Ing Ming-hao carried on his mission of promoting and supporting go around the world. The Chinese Weiqi Association called it “an unfortunate loss for us” and go organizations and players around the world benefited from the Ing Family’s longstanding efforts to support and promote go across the globe. Players at the Changqi Cup stood in silence to express mourning before the second round of Changqi Cup.

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Shin Minjun wins 6th Globis Cup: The Globis Cup is an international tournament sponsored by the Globis University Graduate School of Management (president Hori Yoshito) for players under 20 (as of January 1) and is held at the university’s Tokyo campus, which is quite close to the Nihon Ki-in. The professed aim of the sponsor in founding the tournament was to give younger Japanese players more international experience. This year the tournament was held from April 19 to 21 and was dominated by Korea and China. It was won by Shin Minjun (right) of Korea, who lost in the final last year. He turned 20 on January 11, so he made the most of his last chance to compete. Sixteen players start out in four mini-tournaments in which two wins earn you a seat in the main tournament (the best eight). Below are the results for the main tournament.
(Quarterfinals, April 20). Ding Hao 5P (China) (B) beat Chen Jirui 5P (Chinese Taipei) by resig.; Shin Minjun 9P (Korea) (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P (Japan) by 3.5 points; Shin Jinseo 9P (Korea) (B) beat Chen Zijian 7P (China); Wang Zejin 6P (China) (W) beat Park Sangjin 4P (Korea) by 2.5 points.
(Semifinals, April 21) Shin Minjun (W) beat Ding by resig.; Wang (W) beat Shin Jinseo by resig.
(Final, April 22). Shin (B) beat Wang by resig.
(Play-off for 3rd place). Ding (B) beat Shin by resig.

China starts well in 9th Huanglongshi Cup: The first round of this team tournament for five-women teams from China, Korea, and Japan was held in Taizhou City from 23 to 26 April. This continue-until-beaten Chinese-sponsored tournament is similar in format to the Nong Shim Cup, but one difference is that two games are played on most days.  China is threatening to dominate the tournament in the same way their male players did the most recent Nong Shim Cup. After the seven games of the opening round, China has four players left while both Korea and Japan have only two. Japan’s team leader, Rin Shien 8P commented that he was surprised how closely the play of the Chinese players matched the style of AI programs, especially in the opening. He comments that the Chinese players not only study AI go intensively but also share the fruits of the study with each other. Results follow.
Game 1 (April 20). Gao Xing 4P (China) (W) beat Cho Seungah 2P (Korea) by resig.
Game 2 (April 20). Gao (B) beat Xie Yimin 6P (Japan) by 4.5 points.
Game 3 (April 21). Gao (W) beat O Jeongah 4P (Korea) by resig.
Game 4 (April 21). Mannami Nao 4P (Japan) (W) beat Gao by resig.
Game 5 (April 22). Kim Chaeyoung 5P (Korea) (W) beat Mannami by resig.
Game 6 (April 23). Zhou Hongyu (China) (W) beat Kim by 3.5 points.
Game 7 (April 23). Zhou (B) beat Fujisawa Rina 4P (Japan) by resig.

Nakamura Sumire makes pro debut: After all the waiting and the advance publicity, Japan’s youngest-ever go professional Nakamura Sumire has finally made her debut, by which time she was ten years one month old. Her first professional game was in Preliminary B of the 29th Ryusei tournament and her opponent was another debutante and member of the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in, Ms. Omori Ran 1P, who was all of 16. On the morning of April 22, when the game was played, 100 members of the press, from 40 different media organizations, turned up to cover the game, which was also telecast live on the Igo & Shogi Channel. This was probably a first for a game from the preliminary round. It was also one of the top items on TV news programs that day, which shows that public interest in Sumire is not waning.
Although Sumire lowered Fujisawa Rina’s record for the youngest professional, she did not set a new record for the youngest player to win a pro game. Omori, who had white, outplayed her in the middle-game fighting and forced her to resign after 174 moves. Some people, myself included, have been worried that the excessive media attention may put too much pressure on her, but there were no signs of this on the day. Both she and Omori were relaxed and smiling at the press conference before the game and afterwards Sumire did not appear too upset by her loss. Unfortunately, with the way debutantes are slotted into the opening rounds of tournaments in progress, Sumire will not play her second official game until some time in June, but a week later she took part in an unofficial tournament. This was the 2nd Young Bamboo Cup, a tournament for 16 “young” players (40 and under) at the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in. The first two rounds were held on April 28. Forty members of the press turned up to report on Sumire. Seeing the level of interest, a representative of the sponsor, the Iida Group, who was present, doubled the first prize to 200,000 yen (about $1800) on the spot. In Round One, Sumire beat (Ms.) Tanemura Sayuri 2P but lost in Round Two to Muramatsu Hiroki 6P (who, ironically, is a disciple of her father’s), although this was reported to be a tight game. According to the tournament referee, Goto Shungo 9P, Sumire had the lead at one stage, but was tricked by Muramatsu’s superior technique. In any case, this was clearly a professional-level performance. On May 1, Sumire fever reached a new level when she was tapped for the ceremony of “pitching the first ball” at the first Giants baseball game of the Reiwa era at Tokyo Dome. Her pitch didn’t quite reach the catcher, who was standing closer than on the home base, on the full stretch, but the direction was good, and she got a warm round of applause from the crowd. Sumire was wearing a special Giants uniform with “15” on the back, as this number can be read “igo.”

Gosei challenger: Ichiriki or Hane:  Ichiriki Ryo’s good form against Iyama Yuta continues after his NHK win. In the second semifinal of the 44th Gosei title, played on April 23, Ichiriki (B) beat Iyama by resig. He will meet Hane Naoki 9P in the final; Hane beat Yo Seiki 8P in the first semifinal on April 1; taking white, Hane won by resig.

Next: Kisei S League starts; Otake wins 1,300 games; Meijin League; Shibano wins Grand Champion Tournament; Obituary: Ing Ming-hao

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Murakawa takes Judan title: The third game of the 57th Judan title match was held at the Kuroyon Royal Hotel in Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture, on April 11. In the second game (March 29), Murakawa had finally put an end to a losing streak of 13 games against Iyama, but the following week Iyama had reasserted his supremacy with a win in the Meijin League (details in our last report), so this was an important game for Murakawa. Early in the game, Murakawa made an oversight, letting Iyama take the lead in territory. However, Iyama also went wrong, making a forcing exchange based on an oversight. He then played aggressively, but for once his policy of always playing the strongest move backfired. The above-mentioned dubious exchange handicapped him in a large-scale fight that broke out, so he had to resign after 151 moves. This is only the second time Murakawa has taken the lead in a title match with Iyama.
The fourth game was played on April 18. Taking white, Murakawa won by resignation after 226 moves, so he won his first Judan title and his second top-seven title (he won the 62nd Oza title in 2014, beating Iyama 3-2). This game was played at the Kansai headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in in Osaka on March 19. There was an interesting start to the game: Iyama played his first move on the 3-3 point and Murakawa immediately did the same in the opposite corner. That did not lead to a territorial contest, however, as the game was marked by continuous fighting. It featured an unresolved ko fight in the opening, that is, a potential ko that neither side could start until they were sure of their ko threats. Murakawa eventually started it on move 100 and ignored Iyama’s ko threat. After hectic middle-game fighting, the outcome was decided by a much bigger ko fight; it was a big white group at stake, but White had good ko threats, so he also won this fight. Black’s compensation was inadequate, so Iyama resigned. Murakawa had turned his losing streak into a winning streak.  “Before when I won a title,” Murakawa said, “I was lazy after that, so this time I’m going to be serious and study to get stronger.” The Judan prize is 7,000,000 yen (about $63,000). It is the last of the top seven open titles. (It used to be ranked fourth when the prize money was 15,000,000 yen. It was reduced as of the 51st term.)
This loss leaves Iyama with “just” four titles: Kisei, Honinbo, Oza, and Tengen. It also puts a third simultaneous grand slam out of reach for some time. Incidentally, this was the last title match of the Heisei era, which yielded to the Reiwa era on May 1.

Ke Jie wins new tournament: The first Japan-China-Korea Ryusei tournament was held in the Ryusei Studio, located in the basement of the Nihon Ki-in, from April 11 to 13. This is where the Go and Shogi Channel, which sponsors the Ryusei tournament, makes many of its go programs. The new tournament is for the holders of the Ryusei titles in the above-mentioned three countries and follows the NHK format (30 seconds per move plus ten minutes thinking time to be used in one-minute units) and is an irregular knock-out. Previously it was the China-Japan Ryusei Play-off, but recently a Korean Ryusei tournament was also founded, so it has become a three-way play-off. The tournament started well for Japan, with Ichiriki Ryo 8P defeating Ke Jie 9P of China, who is one of the world’s top two, but Ke survived the play-off with Kim Jiseok 9P of Korea and took revenge on Ichiriki in the final. The tournament proceeded as follows.
Round 1 (April 11). Ichiriki (W) beat Ke by resig.
Round 2 (April 12). Ke (W) beat Kim Jiseok 9P (Korea) by resig.
Round 3 (April 13). Ke (W) beat Ichiriki by resig.
It’s hard for a knock-out among three players to be fair. The players in the first game get two chances, but the player seeded into the second game gets no second chance if he loses.

Takao wins 1,000 games: Takao Shinji 9P scored his 1,000th win on April 18 when he beat Onishi Kenya 3P in Preliminary A of the 75th Honinbo tournament (Takao had white and won by resig.). He is the 26th player to reach this mark. He has 468 losses, two jigo and one no-contest, for a winning record of 67.9%

Tomorrow: Shin Minjun wins 6th Globis Cup; China starts well in 9th Huanglongshi Cup; Nakamura Sumire makes pro debut; Gosei challenger: Ichiriki or Hane

by John Power, Japan Correspondent of the E-Journal

Takemiya and Kikuchi receive awards: Every year awards are presented by the Agency for Cultural Affairs honoring persons and bodies who have made significant contributions to Japanese culture. This year the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Awards for 2018, as they are called, were given out at a ceremony held on March 18 and for the first time go players were included. Takemiya Masaki 9P, who, as the great exponent of cosmic or center-oriented go, has been one of the most popular Japanese professionals over the last four decades, was recognized for his success in local and international tournaments. Also receiving an award was Japan’s top postwar amateur player, Kikuchi Yasuro, who has made major contributions to spreading go. As a player, he won many Japanese amateur championships and also won the World Amateur Go Championship. He has held posts in a number of organizations, including one that is active in popularizing go amongst children. He is probably best known for founding the Ryokuseien Go School, whose most famous graduate is Yamashita Keigo. He will turn 90 on August 20. Kumasu Ken’ichi, a maker of traditional go and shogi boards, also received an award. Three honorees in the go world may sound good, but actually awards were handed out to 86 individuals and three organizations. If that many people get awards every year, it’s a little strange go has had to wait so long.

World Go Championship results: A report on this tournament was given on March 20 in the ejournal. Some time has passed, but, for those interested, here are details of the results.
(March 18) Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) (B) beat Jiang Weijie 9P (China) by resig.; Shin Jinseo 9P (Korea) (W) beat Cho U 9P (Japan) by resig.; Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) (B) beat Liao Yuanhe 7P (China) by resig.; Ke Jie 9P (China) (W) beat Yu Changhyuk 9P (Korea) by resig.
(March 19) Ke (B) beat Iyama by resig.; Park (W) beat Shin by resig.
(March 20) Park (B) beat Ke by 1.5 points.
First prize is 20,000,000 yen (about $180,000).

Fujisawa defends Women’s Meijin: The third game of the 31st Women’s Meijin title match was held at the headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on March 22. Fujisawa drew white in the nigiri and won by resignation after 282 moves, so she defended her title 2-1. She won this title for the third year in a row. Xie Yimin remains in her unaccustomed state of having no title to her name.

Ichiriki wins NHK Cup: The final of the 66thNHK Cup was telecast on March 24. The finalists were Iyama Yuta, Quintuple Crown, who was bidding for his third successive cup, and Ichiriki Ryo 8P, who was hoping that this would be third time lucky. Ichiriki lost the 62nd final to Ida Atsushi in 2015 and the 64thfinal to Iyama in 2017. The latter is part of a lopsided record against Iyama of six wins to 18 losses. Ichiriki, aged 21, is often spoken of as the top player of the post-Iyama generation; fittingly, he beat two other top players of that generation on his way to the final: Yo Seiki in the quarterfinals and Kyo Kagen Gosei in the semifinals. As usual, the opening showed the influence of AI go in various places. Ichiriki (white) did well in the early fighting and took the initiative, but the lead then changed hands a number of times. Iyama took the lead, thanks to a slip by Ichiriki, but his policy of always playing the strongest move backfired, letting Ichiriki back into the game. To save a group, Iyama had to resort to a gote seki, which meant that Ichiriki scored a success. In turn, the latter chose the strongest move: instead of solidifying territory with a safety-first move, he made a strong attack on a black group. There were more twists and turns, but in the end the game was even on the board, so Iyama resigned after move 182. This is Ichiriki’s second title win against Iyama, following the 25thRyusei final in 2016. In “fast” games (defined as two hours and under), he now has a lead of 4-1 against him. First prize in the NHK Cup is 5,000,000 yen (about $46,000). Both players will represent Japan in the 31st TV Asia Cup.

Tomorrow: Murakawa wins second Judan game; Kono leads Meijin League; Change at top of Nihon Ki-in board

The second game in the play-offs to decide the challenger to Honinbo Monyu, otherwise known as Iyama Yuta, for the 74th Honinbo title was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on April 10. Kono Rin (W) beat Shibano Toramaru by 1.5 points after 294 moves. Kono will be making his first challenge for the Honinbo title. Kono won the 31st to 33rd Tengen titles (2005 to 2007), the Agon Kiriyama Cup once, the Ryusei twice, the JAL New Stars once, and the NEC Cup twice, for a total of nine titles. This will be his fifth title match with Iyama Yuta. He lost the 39th Meijin (2014) 2-4, the 41stKisei (2017) 2-4, and the 38th (2013) and 39th (2014) Gosei, both 2-3. He always picks up two wins.
– John Power

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Fujisawa evens score in 31^st Women’s Meijin
In recent years, the first game of the Women’s Meijin title match has been linked with the first Judan game, being held at the same venue, the Osaka University of Commerce, on the following day. This year it featured yet another title-match clash, the eighth, between Fujisawa Rina, holder of three women’s titles, and Xie Yimin 6P, who has had no title to her name since she lost the Women’s Honinbo to Fujisawa last December. She has memories of this title, as she held it for nine years in a row, so she will be hoping to make a comeback. Fujisawa actually had the better start, but Xie caught up by living inside White’s sphere of influence, then took the lead by reducing White’s main territory. Fujisawa resigned after 241 moves.
The second game was played in the Arisu Pavilion on the campus of Heian Jogakuin University (also known as St. Agnes’ University) on March 14. Fujisawa (black) beat Xie by resignation after 189 moves. Xie took the initiative in the opening, but Fujisawa made a successful attack in the middle game and drew level with her. At the end, Xie slipped up in time trouble, so Fujisawa took a big lead. Up to this loss, Xie had won nine games in a row. The third game will be played at the Nihon Ki-in on March 22.

Fujisawa & Ichiriki win Pair Go
The final of the Professional Pair Go Championship 2019 was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on March 3. Taking white, the pair of Fujisawa Rina and Ichiriki Ryo beat Osawa Narumi and Kyo Kagen by resignation.

Hane takes sole lead in 74^th Honinbo League
This is one of the closest leagues in memory, with six players still in contention after five rounds; after three games in the sixth round, that number has been reduced by only one. These days, according to a new rule, only the top two players in a multiple tie qualify for the play-off, but in an earlier decade there was a five-man play-off, so it was like a mini-tournament in its own right.
With two wins since our last report, Hane Naoki 9P has improved his score to 5-1, giving him the sole lead. If he can beat Yamashita Keigo in the final round in April, he will be the challenger. Still in the running if he slips up are Shibano Toramaru 7P and Ichiriki Ryo, both on 4-2, and Yamashita and Kono Rin 9P, both on 3-2. One of these four players, though, will lose his place in the league, joining Ko Iso and Anzai Nobuaki. Actually, at this point Hane is the only player immune from demotion. For the first time, all of the games in the final round will be held on the same day, April 5, at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo with a public commentary being held from 6 to 9 p.m. (to be extended if necessary).
Recent games:
(Feb. 11) Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Yo Seiki 7P by resig. This was Yo’s second loss, so he fell behind Shibano and Kono (both on 3-1 at this point).
(Feb. 21) Hane Naoki (B) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig.; Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P by 3.5 points.
(March 7) Ko Iso 8P (B) beat Anzai Nobuaki 7P by 3.5 points.
(March 14) Hane (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P by resig.; Shibano Toramaru (B) beat Yo Seiki 8P by resig.

Kono leads 44^th Meijin League
After three and a half rounds, Kono Rin, on 4-0, is the only undefeated player, so he has a theoretical chance of playing in two best-of-sevens this year. His March 14 win detailed below is also his 13thwin in a streak that began last December. The Go Weekly report on the league went off topic in an interesting aside. The reporter wrote that if you were to publish a new book on josekis, the star point would probably take over half the space, as recently star-point variations have evolved a lot and become remarkably complicated. A novel variation appeared in the Kono v. Murakawa game.
Recent results:
(Feb. 21) Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Suzuki Shinji 7P by resig.; Mutsuura Yuta 7P (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke by resig. At this point, Kono, on 3-0, was the sole undefeated player.
(March 7) Shibano Toramaru 7P (W) beat Son Makoto 7P by resig.
(March 14) Kono Rin (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke 8P by 2.5 points.

Promotions  
To 9-dan: Komatsu Fujio (200 wins, as of Feb. 26)
To 8-dan: Sano Takatsugu (150 wins, as of March 5)
To 2-dan: Kuwabara Shun (30 wins, as of March 15)

Retirements
Kusunoki Teruko 7P will retire as of March 31. Born on September 3, 1939, she became 1-dan in 1956 and reached 7-dan in 1984. She won the Women’s Honinbo three years in a row and five times overall and the Women’s Kakusei two years in a row. She is one of the three Honda sisters; her oldest sister, Sugiuchi Kazuko 8P, is still active at the age of 92. The second sister, Honda Sachiko 7P, aged 88, retired in 2000.
Yoshida Harumi 1P will also retire at the end of this month. Born on November 28, 1957, she became a disciple of Iwamoto Kaoru 9P and became a professional in 1981.