American Go E-Journal » Japan

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Kim wins TV Asia: The 30th TV Asia Cup was held at the Mayfield Hotel & Resort in Seoul from May 1 to 4. The tournament was won by Kim Ji-seok 9P of Korea; he beat last year’s winner, Na Hyeon 9P, also of Korea, in the final. Kim has long been one of the top players in Korea, but this is only his second international victory, following on his win in the 19thSamsung Cup in 2014. First prize is 2,500,00 yen (about $23,000).
Results follow (I don’t have full details for some of the games).
Round 1. (May 1) Kim Ji-seok 9P (Korea) beat Fan Yunruo 6P (China); Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) (B) beat Shida Tatsuya 7P (Japan) by resig.; (May 2) Fan Tingyu 9P (China) (W) beat Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) by resig.
Round 2. (May 2) Kim beat Park; (May 3) Na Hyeon 8P (Korea) beat Fan.
Final (May 4) Kim (W) beat Na by 2.5 points.

Iyama takes lead in Honinbo title match: The 73rd Honinbo title match got off to a start in mid-May. Iyama Yuta, also known as Honinbo Monyu, has held the title for six years in a row. A successful defence will bring him level with Sakata Eio for the third best winning streak in this title (Cho Chikun won ten in a row and Takagawa Shukaku nine). Hoping to stand in Iyama’s way is the challenger, Yamashita Keigo, who held the title for two terms before losing it to Iyama. Yamashita has not won a top-seven title since 2012, which will give him added motivation. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, which led to the opening up of Japan to the world and the beginning of its rise to major-power status. This year some of the playing venues are being selected with that in mind. The first game was played at the Meirin Gakusha in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on May 15 and 16. Hagi was the main city of the Choshu clan, one of the four “outside” clans (that is, not allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu when he founded the Tokugawa regime) that played a major role in bringing about the restoration. The Meirin Gakusha is an elementary school that was built on the site of a school for the children of clan leaders called Meirinkan. It is associated with some of the intellectual leaders of the restoration movement. The elementary school was closed four years ago, and the building became a tourist site, with historical displays and a museum.
Yamashita drew black in the nigiri. The game featured complicated fighting from early on. Although Iyama played skillfully in rescuing some groups that had come under severe pressure, Yamashita used his attack to take a very small lead. He wavered a little in the endgame, but managed to hang on and score a half-point win. This loss put an end to Iyama’s winning streak in title matches of 17 games (he just failed to match his personal record of 18).
The second game (above) was played in the Nijo Castle in Kyoto (Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities laid out as a grid; Nijo, which runs from east to west, means Second Avenue). The castle was built in 1603 for the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, and was used by shoguns visiting Kyoto. Moreover, the famous castle games were played at the Nijo Castle until 1626. The Honinbo title-match game was set up as a recreation of the castle games. It was played on May 23 and 24 in the main audience room. The mayor of Kyoto took the place of the shogun, sitting in an elevated part of the room where the shogun would sit. The players, dressed Japanese style, played in the lower part of the room. (Later in the game, they changed to suits and moved to an ordinary playing room.)
The game started out with Iyama (left), playing black, taking territory and Yamashita building a moyo. Initially, play was more peaceful than in the first game, but fierce fighting started as Iyama moved into White’s moyo. Iyama took the lead, putting so much pressure on Yamashita that he had to play riskily. Eventually, White lost a group and resigned after 171 moves.
The third game (middle right) was played in the former Japanese restaurant Kaneyu (left) in Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture on June 2, 3. The name of the venue may seem a little strange. It’s an historical building which formerly housed a Japanese restaurant; when that went out of business, it was donated to Noshiro City, which uses it as a tourist attraction. (It has no connection with the Meiji Restoration, having been built in 1890 and rebuilt in its present form in 1937.) This game was played on a Saturday and a Sunday, which in one way might seem natural but is actually very unusual. Taking white, Iyama forced a resignation after 244 moves, so he now leads the match 2-1. The fourth game, which is scheduled for June 12 and 13, will be crucial for Yamashita. If Iyama wins, the match could be over very quickly, so Yamashita’s good start would go to waste.

Part 3 of 4; tomorrow:  Korea wins Tiantai Mountain Cup; Kyo wins Gratitude Cup; Kyo to challenge for Gosei; Xie to challenge for Hollyhock Cup

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Kisei S League starts: The S League of the 43rd Kisei tournament got off to a start on April 19, with all six members in action. This is a small league, so it’s important not to stumble at the beginning.
Results to date:
(April 19) Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Cho U 9P by resig.; Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) 7P (B) beat Takao Shinji 9P by resig.; Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P by resig.
(May 10) Kyo (B) beat Cho U by resig.; Yamashita (B) beat Kono by resig.
(May 24) Takao (W) beat Ichiriki by resig.
The last game above completed the second round. Yamashita and Kyo have made good starts with two wins each, but the previous challenger, Ichiriki, has got off to a disastrous start with two losses.

Xu of China wins Globis Cup: The 5th Globis Cup was held on the Tokyo campus of the Globis Management Graduate School from April 20 to 22. In the final (left), the 18-year-old Xu Jiayang 6P (right) of China beat the 19-year-old Shin Minjun 7P of Korea. Playing white, Xu won by 1.5 points. He earned a prize of 3,000,000 yen (about $27,700). The best results for the host country were the quarterfinal places earned by Fujisawa Rina 3P and Yo Chito 4P. Fujisawa picked up a win over Xie Ke 5P of China; taking black, she won by resignation. The 18-year-old Xie is a formidable player, having recently challenged (though unsuccessfully) for the Chinese Tianyuan title and having reached the best eight in the Chunlan Cup, so Fujisawa had reason to be pleased with her win. Actually this was her 50thwin as a 3-dan, so it earned her promotion to 4-dan. In the quarterfinals, she was eliminated by Shin Jinseo 8-dan, winner of the previous Globis Cup.

Yo keeps Honinbo seat: The second play-off to decide who would be the fourth player to retain his seat in the Honinbo League for the upcoming 74thterm was held on April 23. Taking white, Yo Seiki 7P beat Ida Atsushi by 1.5 points. This was Yo’s fourth Honinbo league but the first time he kept his place. Ida had started off with four straight wins and looked a good bet to become the challenger, but, including his two play-off games, he then lost five in a row. This is not often mentioned, but membership of a league will earn you enough in game fees, win or lose, to secure your livelihood for the year, so league seats are very valuable.

Shibano wins Japan-China Ryusei: The 4th Japan-China Ryusei play-off was held in Beijing on April 29. Shibano Toramaru 7P (Japan) (W) beat Ke Jie 9P (China), at present the world’s number two, by resig. This is Japan’s first win in this play-off. Although the 18-year old Shibano is a rising star in Japan, probably not many fans expected him to win this game. It’s undoubtedly the biggest win of his career so far. Shibano’s results in April had not been very good. He commented: “I was not expecting much from this game. That may, on the contrary, have been good, as I was relaxed.” First prize was 3,000,000 yen (about $27,500).

Part 2 of 4; tomorrow: Kim wins TV Asia; Iyama takes lead in Honinbo title match

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Kobayashi Koichi receives decoration: In the spring honors list, announced on April 28, Kobayashi Koichi became the 27th go player to receive a decoration from the Japanese government, being awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon. Aged 65, Kobayashi holds three honorary titles, the Kisei, Meijin, and Gosei. He was a late starter, not winning his first big-three title, the Meijin, until he was 33, but he went on to win 60 titles, including the Kisei eight years in a row, the Meijin seven years in a row, eight times in all, and the Gosei six years in a row, nine times in all. His only major failure was not winning the Honinbo title, despite challenging three years in a row.

Go Seigen Cup: The first Wu Qingyuan (Go Seigen) Cup World Women’s Championship is a new tournament for woman players founded by Fuzhou City in Fujian Province in honor of its most famous son, at least in the go world. The rounds up to the final were held from April 26 to May 1. Twenty-eight players took part; of these eight were from Europe and American and they played a preliminary round, with the top four entering the main tournament. This was an irregular knock-out with five rounds, but with eight players seeded into the second round. The finalists are two Korean players, Kim Chaeyoung 3P and Choi Jeong 9P. The final will be held in July. Four Japanese players took part. Two reached the quarterfinals, but were eliminated there. However, Ueno Asami 2P will probably remember fondly her win against Rui Naiwei 9P.

Cho U retains sole lead in Meijin League: Some important games have been played in the 43rdMeijin League since my last report. The results are given below.
(April 16) Yo Seiki (Yu Chengqi) 7P (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke 8P by resig. Yo raised his score to 2-3 and Murakawa dropped to 1-4.
(April 26) Takao Shinji 9P (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P by resig. This was Shibano’s first loss; he lost his chance of drawing level with the league leader, Cho U, who was in lone first place with 4-0. Two players followed him with just one loss: Shibano and Hane Naoki 9P, both on 3-1.
(May 3) Cho (B) beat Shibano by resig.; Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Yo by resig.
(May 10) Murakawa (B) beat Takao by 2.5 points.
(May 24) Hane (W) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig. This game concluded the 6th(May) round. Cho U keeps the lead, on 5-0, with Hane in second place on 4-1. They are followed by two players on 3-2, Kono and Shibano. At present, it seems likely one of these four will be the challenger; the only other player theoretically still in the running is Yamashita on 2-3.

Part 1 of 4; tomorrow: Kisei S League starts; Xu of China wins Globis Cup; Yo keeps Honinbo seat; Shibano wins Japan-China Ryusei

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Yamashita Keigo becomes Honinbo challenger: Yamashita Keigo 9P turns 40 on September 6 this year, but he is still a member of a small top group that functions in Iyama Yuta’s shadow. At present, the other candidates for membership would be Murakawa Daisuke and Ichiriki Ryo, and players like Shibano Toramaru and Yo Seiki are vying to join it; Cho U (see next news item) is hoping to rejoin it. Members of this group were active in the final round of the 73^rdHoninbo League. As the round started, on April 5, three players were still in the running to become the challenger: Yamashita, Ko Iso 8P, and Ida Atsushi 8P. The possibility of a tie, requiring a play-off, seemed quite high, but Yamashita beat Ko and Ida lost his game, so Yamashita won the league outright on 5-2.
Results follow: Yamashita (W) beat Ko Iso by resig.; Shibano (W) beat Ida by resig.; Yo (W) beat Kobayashi Satoru 9P by resig.; Motoki Katsuya (W) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig.

The most disappointed of these players could be Ida, who won his first four games, taking the sole lead, then fizzled out with three losses. In contrast, Yamashita had reason to be happy, because he started out with two losses in the first three rounds and must have thought he was out of the running. Ko Iso (4-3) came second and retained his place because of his original ranking at no. 4. Motoki (3-4), Hane (2-5, and Kobayashi (2-5) all lost their places, but on the day there was no third- or fourth-place getter in the league. It’s a long time since this last happened. In 1999, there was a play-off among three players for one seat; the last time three players competed for two seats was in 1972. It became less likely in 1978, as in that year the system of ranking players according to their results in the previous league was adopted; only the four “newcomers,” all ranked #5, could now figure in such a tie. That’s what happened this year, presumably for the first and only time. Three of the league newcomers, equally ranked at no. 5, tied on 4-3, so there was a complicated play-off. This was decided by drawing lots to offset the unfairness of the fact that one player will get two chances. First, on April 12, Ida played Shibano; taking white, the latter won by 4.5 points, so Shibano keeps his place. Ida will play Yo on April 2, with the winner getting the fourth place. Yo drew the booby prize, that is, he gets just one chance. The title match starts on May 15.

Cho U takes sole lead in Meijin League: The first game in the fifth or April round of the 43rd Meijin League was played on April 5. Taking black, Cho U 9P (B) beat Kono Rin 9P by resignation. A second game was played on April 12, with Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beating Ko Iso 8P by resig. Cho now has the sole lead in league, though his nearest rival, Shibano Toramaru 7P, can join him if he wins his fifth-round game. Perhaps Cho is finally coming out of his slump of recent years.  Usually the league is dominated by the top-ranked players, but this year they are doing badly. Numbers 1 to 3 are Takao, Yamashita Keigo, and Murakawa Daisuke 8P; Takao and Murakawa are on 1-3, which comes close to putting them out of contention for the challengership, and Yamashita is on 2-3. No. 5 Kono is on 2-2, and no. 6, Ko Iso 8P, is on 1-2. The two newcomers to the lead besides Shibano are Hane Naoki 9P, on 3-1, which puts him in third place, and Yo Seiki 7P on 1-3.

8th Huanglongshi Cup starts: The 8th Huanglongshi Cup, a team tournament for five-woman teams from China, Korea, and Japan, got off to a start in Taizhou City on April 9. Unlike the Nong Shim Cup, two games a day are played on the first two days, then one on the third day, then two on the fourth, making a total of seven games in the opening round. The time allowance is one hour per player, followed by byo-yomi of one minute per move. The first round was dominated by Li He of China, who scored five wins. The second round starts on June 5.
(April 9) Nyu Eiko 2P (Japan) (W) beat O Cheonga 3P (Korea) by resig.; Li He 5P (China) beat Nyu.
(April 10) Li beat Kim Miri 3P (Korea); Li beat Xie Yimin 6P (Japan)
(April 11) Li beat Kim Tae 3P (Korea)
(April 12) Li beat O Keii 3P (Japan); O Yujin 5P (Korea) beat Li.

Iyama defends Judan: The third game of the 56th Judan title match was held at the Kuroyon Royal Hotel in Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture, on April 12. Taking white, Iyama Yuta (right) won by 4.5 points after 234 moves. Iyama has now won this title three years in a row and for the fifth time overall. The defeated challenger Murakawa Daisuke (left) commented: “Compared to the previous two games, this one was the most regrettable.” In other words, he has some winning chances. According to the Go Weekly commentary, the game was even after the first major fight, involving a ko, ended in a large-scale trade, but in a subsequent border fight, Iyama found a clever move that secured more territory than the spectators had been counting for him. The Grand Champion tournament doesn’t seem to be counted as an official title, so the Judan is Iyama’s 51st title. Incidentally, he has now won 17 games in a row in title matches.

by John Power, special Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Chunlan Cup starts: The Chunlan Cup is a Chinese international tournament held every two years and sponsored by the Chunlan Group, which started out manufacturing electrical goods and which is said to be one of the 50 biggest industrial groups in China. The first two rounds of the 12th Cup were held in Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, on March 21 and 23. Five young players from Japan took part; four of them were eliminated in the first round, but Motoki Katsuya picked up a win he will remember all his career when he beat the legendary Lee Sedol of Korea by 3.5 points. However, he was eliminated in the second round. Five Chinese and three Koreans made it to the quarterfinals, including the world’s top two, Park Junghwan and Ke Jie. Full results are given below. We do not have a date for the quarterfinals.
Round 1 (March 21): Kim Jiseok 9P (Korea) (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo (Japan) by resig.; Motoki Katsuya 8P (Japan) (B) beat Lee Sedol 9P (Korea) by 3.5 points; Xie Ke 5P (China) (B) beat Kyo Kagen (Xiu Jiayuan) 7P (Japan) by resig.; Peng Liyao 5P (China) (W) beat Shibano Toramaru 7P (Japan) by resig.; Kang Dongyun 9P (Korea) (B) beat Yo Seiki (Yu Zhengqi) 7P (Japan) by resig.; Lian Xiao 9P (China) (W) beat Chen Qirui 5P (Chinese Taipei) by resig.; Dang Yifei 9P (China) (W) beat Shin Jinseo 8P (Korea) by resig.; Pavol Lisy 1P (Europe) (W) beat Eric Lui 1P (North America) by resig.
Round 2 (March 23): Gu Zihao 9P (China) (W) beat Motoki by resig.; Dang (B) beat Tan Xiao 7P (China) by resig.; Chen Yaoye 9P (China) (W) beat Lisy by resig.; Xie (W) beat Tang Weixing 9P (China) by resig.; Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) (W) beat Peng by resig.; Ke Jie 9P (China) (B) beat Kang by resig.; Kim (W) beat Xie Erhao 9P (China) by resig.; Park Younghoon 9P (Korea) (B) beat Lian by half a point.

Ueno receives prize: The photo shows Ueno Asami at the Prize Ceremony for the 21st Women’s Kisei title. Ueno won it on January 29 this year by defeating perennial women’s champion Xie Yimin 2-0. At 16 years three months, she became the youngest-ever holder of this title. The award ceremony was held at the Tokyo Dome Hotel on March 28. In the photo, Ueno is flanked by Iyama Yuta (on the left), who gave a congratulatory speech in Ueno’s honor, and Takao Shinji, who proposed the toast. Ueno’s bright red kimono, a furisode, which is worn by unmarried women, matches the youthful optimism of the new titleholder.

Iyama wins 2017 Grand Champion tournament: The Grand Champion tournament is a tournament for all the current titleholders plus some of the top players in the prize-money list. The semifinals and semifinal of the 2017 version were held on March 31. The semifinals were played in the morning. Kono Rin 9P, playing white, just barely managed to edge Ichiriki Ryo, winner of the previous tournament, by half a point. In the other game, Iyama Yuta (W) beat Motoki Katsuya 8P by resig. Iyama later commented that he was lucky to eke out a win in this game.
The final was played in the afternoon and telecast on the Igo Shogi Channel and also relayed on the Nihon Ki-in’s net channel Yugen-no-ma. Taking black, Iyama secured a resignation after 195 moves. In the key fight of the game, Iyama flattened out White’s moyo; some white stones cut off his group, but he set up a one-eye vs. no-eye capturing race with them, so this was a big gain.
Here are more details for those interested. The tournament follows the NHK format: 30 seconds per move plus ten minutes of thinking time, to be used at will in one-minute units. Up to the third round, games are played on the net; the final is a public game, played on a stage in front of an audience, with a public commentary being given on another part of the same stage. (Just for the record, the tournament name until two years ago was Go Tournament Winners Championship.)
Tomorrow: Yamashita Keigo becomes Honinbo challenger; Cho U takes sole lead in Meijin League; 8th Huanglongshi Cup starts; Iyama defends Judan