by Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister and guest contributor John Tilley
James Kerwin at Nihon Ki’in. Photo courtesy of Go Review.
We enjoy bringing these glimpses of go history each month, and we love hearing from you.
This month we received not just thanks, but precious additional info from 50 years ago regarding July 1971. John Tilley, author of GO: International Handbook and Dictionary, worked in the overseas department of the Nihon Ki’in, and proofread many of the early Ishi Press books. And he was there…
“James Kerwin is having a paid teaching game with Takenaka 4d. You could buy a ticket for a lesson at the reception at the Nihon Ki’in Chūōkaikan and this gave you a game plus review with one of the professionals – I am guessing that the whole lesson would have been 45-60 minutes and cost about 1,000 Yen. In one of the back issues of Go Review the fact that Kerwin had a lot of lessons was mentioned.
“I remember watching Takenaka-sensei with interest, as he was waiting for his next student he would play though jōseki after jōseki using just the white stones.” The professional next to him in the photo (top right) is Matsumoto Tokuji 7-dan, giving a five stone lesson.”
John also supplemented our report regarding the 4th Asahi Best Ten Pro-Amateur Match –
GO: International Handbook and Dictionary
“Eight of the games were 2 stones and the other two were even – the amateurs who played the two even games both won – against Ishida Yoshio and Kajiwara. (I am guessing no komi). Kanazawa (the 13 year old sensation) beat Hashimoto Utarō on 2 stones by 5 points.”
We return John’s best wishes, and look forward to providing more information from our readers, in those instances where – you were there.
9/20/21 Update: This post has been updated: the pro at top right is Matsumoto Tokuji 7-dan, not Sakakibara Shoji, as previously reported. Thanks to John Power for the correction.
Due to growing concerns about the COVID outbreak across North America, the NAGF has postponed the Pro Qualification Tournament scheduled for this week.
Ryan Hunter and Justin Teng putting up the banner at the National Go Center in preparation for the now-postponed NAGF Pro Qualification Tournament
Organizers carefully considered the rapid increase in the rate of new cases particularly in Washington DC, where the tournament was to be held. The tournament would have taken place indoors at the National Go Center over many hours — which is a serious concern for viral spreading — and the Delta variant is known to make even some fully vaccinated people sick.
“I recognize this is a bitter disappointment, most especially for the players,” said AGA president/NAGF chair Andy Okun. “But the safety of the players and their families back home, as well as the tournament staff, had to our highest priority.”
The new dates of the tournament are yet to be announced.
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Kisei S League Two players were undefeated in the 46th Kisei S League on 3-0, so their clash on July 26 was the key game of the league to date. Ichiriki Ryo beat Yo Seiki, so the former took the sole lead. On 2-1, Murakawa Daisuke is still in the running if Ichiriki falters and he wins his remaining two games, as he is ranked above Ichiriki and there are no play-offs within the league. For the same reason, Yo, though on 3-1, is out of the running, but he could come second and make the knock-out tournament to decide the challenger. Takao Shinji is also in the running for second place. Results since my last report follow.
(May 31) Yo Seiki 8p (B) beat Takao Shinji 9p by resig. (June 10) Yo (W) beat Kono Rin 9p by resig. (June 17). Ichiriki Ryo Tengen (W) beat Murakawa Daisuke 9p by resig.; Takao (B) beat Yamashita Keigo 9p by 3.5. (July 15) Takao (W) beat Kono by resig. (July 26) Ichiriki (W) beat Yo Seiki by resig.
In the A League, Onishi Ryuhei 7p and Shibano Toramaru Oza share the lead on 4-2. In the B1 League, Shida Tatsuya 7p has the sole lead with 5-1. In the B2 League, So Yokoku 9p and Son Makoto 7p share the lead on 5-1. In the C League, four players have started with three straight wins: Yamashiro Hiroshi 9p, Numadate Sakiya 7p, Otake Yu 5p, and Yuki Satoshi 9p. Scores of the female players in this league are: Fujisawa Rina, Women’s Honinbo, 1-2; Xie Yimin 6p 1-1; Nakamura Sumire 2p 0-2.
Iyama plays in top Chinese league The Chinese A Class League, a large-scale team tournament, probably represents the top level of go competition in the world. Unfortunately, information about it is hard to come by for people who do not know Chinese, but the ejournal published an excellent article by Yuan Zhou on July 20. This year Japan’s top player, Iyama Yuta, is participating for the first time, and he played his first game on June 12. This happened to be the day after he suffered his third successive loss in the Honinbo title match. Iyama is a member of the Zhejiang Ticai team, and his opponent was Xie Ke, one of China’s top players, who represented the Supoer Hangzhou team. Taking black, Iyama scored a good win, keeping the initiative throughout the game. This game was actually in the 10th round of the league; so far his team has three wins, four losses, and three draws, and is running 10th out of 16 teams. By the way, earlier in the year, Shiban o Toramaru and Ichiriki Ryo both played a game in this league but lost.
Last Sunday, over 50 Go players, students, and parents of Hai Li’s go school gathered in an Irvine, CA park to celebrate in-person Go for the first time in over a year.
Hai Li 5P of China relocated to Southern California about a year after bringing several of his Go students from his school in China to attend the 33rd U.S. Go Congress in San Diego in 2017. He has since has become a well-known local teacher with students in San Diego and Orange counties. His students are regular participants in tournaments and Li himself has assisted with coordination of the California and San Diego Go Championships.
The party naturally featured Go games between the students and players, but the focus of the afternoon was the reacquaintance of friends. A lavish lunch, featuring many Chinese dishes provided by the families, capped the afternoon.
Ryan Li 3P, a North American Go Federation certified professional, defeated European Go Federation professional Ilya Shikshin 4P by 2-0 in the best-of-three final of the 1st Transatlantic Pro League on August 15. Li wins the €1,000 prize along with the Transatlantic Pro League title. A recording of the live commentary on Twitch can be viewed by clicking here.
In the match to decide the 3rd place winner, Artem Kachanovskyi 2P defeated Tanguy Le Calve 1P by 2-1. For full details on the Transatlantic Professional Go League, visit the official tournament website.
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Ichiriki takes lead in Gosei title match Iyama Yuta became the challenger for the 46th Gosei title, held by Ichiriki Ryo, on May 6 when he beat Ida Atsushi 8p in the play-off (Iyama had black and forced a resignation). Iyama won this title six terms in a row, from the 37th (2012) to the 42nd (2017). He lost it to Kyo Kagen in 2018, who lost it to Hane Naoki in 2019, who lost it to Ichiriki in 2020. Perhaps Iyama thinks it’s time to bring some stability back to the title. Be that as it may, he made a good start to the title match, winning the first game, which was played on June 26. Iyama had black and forced Ichiriki to resign after 135 moves. The venue was the Mabi Contact Center, a kind of community hall, in Mabi Town, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture. This town was subjected to extensive flooding in July 2018, with a lot of damage to the area. It has taken three years to fix the damage; the Gosei game was one of the events held to commemorate the reopening of the center. Ichiriki also had his pride on the line, as his family newspaper, the Kahoku Newspaper, is one of the sponsors of the tournament, and his hometown was the venue for the second game in his hometown. It was played at the Hotel Sakanin Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, on July 12. Taking black, Ichiriki won by half a point after 242 moves. (For some information on the Ichiriki family newspaper, see my report of April 11, 2020.) The third game was played in the Hokkoku (North Country) Newspaper Hall in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on July 19. This newspaper is another of the sponsors of the tournament. Ichiriki (W) played positively and attacked strongly; Iyama had to resign after just 138 moves when he lost a group. Ichiriki is now well placed to defend his title, but there is a bit of a gap until the next game, which is scheduled for August 17.
Ichiriki wins Meijin League Ichiriki Ryo won his eighth-round game in the 46th Meijin League while his closest rival, Kyo Kagen, lost his, so the former won the league with a round to spare. This will be Ichiriki’s second challenge for a top-three title: he lost the 42nd Kisei title match to Iyama 0-4. The best-of-seven will start on August 26. Results since my previous report follow.
(June 7) Ichiriki Ryo Tengen (B) beat Hane Naoki 9p by resig. (June 10) Kyo Kagen Judan (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9p by 4.5. (June 14) Motoki Katsuya 8p (W) beat Kono Rin by resig. (June 17) Shibano Toramaru Oza (W) beat Yo Seiki 8p by 3.5. (July 1) Ichiriki (B) beat Kono by half a point. (July 5) Anzai Nobuaki 7p (B) beat Yo Seiki by 5.5. (July 8) Hane (W) beat Kyo by resig. (This win made sure of Hane’s seat in the 47th league.) (July 15) Yamashita (W) beat Motoki by resig. (This win made sure of Yamashita’s seat in the next league.)
The San Diego Go Club participated in the Japanese Friendship Garden’s celebration of its ancestors at the annual Toro Nagashi Festival in honor of the tradition of Bon Odori. Toro Nagashi (floating lanterns) is a ceremony in honor of those who have passed. The floating lanterns commemorate loved ones and wish them peace.
SDGC took over the exhibition hall during the festival to teach Go, recruit new members, and demonstrate how the game is played. Over 65 copies of “The Way to Go” (provided by the American Go Foundation) were handed out to those festival participants who asked for a Go lesson. All were required to wear masks in the indoor spaces. The eight-hour event, attended by thousands of people on a perfect 73-degree San Diego day, also included food vendors, dancers, singers, sales of Japanese products, and ended with the traditional floating of lanterns down the creek running through the garden.
For over ten years, the SDGC has been giving weekly Go lessons at the Japanese Friendship Garden (JFG), located in Balboa Park. Based on it volunteer work, the SDGC is invited to participate in the JFG’s special celebrations.
-report and photos provided by Ted Terpstra, President of the San Diego Go Club
The final round of the 1st Transatlantic Professional Go League will feature a showdown between North American pro Ryan Li 3P and European pro Ilya Shikshin 4P. The players will compete for a first-place prize of €1,000.
In the semi-final round, Li defeated Artem Kachanovskyi 2P and Shikshin defeated Tanguy Le Calve 1P to earn their seats at the final table. Kachanovskyi and Le Calve will play on Saturday, August 14 to determine the third- and fourth-place finishers. The final best-of-three match between Li and Shikshin will begin on Sunday, August 15.
All games will begin at 11AM EDT (5PM CEST). The European Go Federation will broadcast the match with professional commentary on its Twitch channel. For full details on the Transatlantic Professional Go League, visit the official website.
The Evanston Go Club returned to in-person competition with a tournament on Saturday, July 31. “Turnout was excellent, with 36 players ranging from 30 kyu to 8 dan, including 15 first-timers and seven players from out of state,” says club president and TD Mark Rubenstein. “I wasn’t sure whether attendance would be low due to COVID concerns, or high due to people eager to get out and play in person. But I had an inkling it would be the latter, since attendance at our weekly club meetings in the last month has been much higher than normal.” Rubenstein also notes that this may be a very good time for clubs to reach out to new players. “We’re seeing lots of first-time players, and they’re coming back each week!” Winners received cash prizes, and the winner of the low dan band also received a copy of Albert Yen’s new book “Overcoming Human Igo” (available on Amazon).
Results: High dan 1st place: Albert Yen High dan 2nd place: Alexander Qi Low dan (three-way tie): Wanqi Zhu, Lee Huynh, Sungsoo Kim Low kyu 1st place: Aaron Soley Low kyu 2nd place: Mike Neigebauer High kyu 1st place: Robert Qi High kyu 2nd place: Lewis Herman
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Iyama Yuta celebrates 10th consecutive Honinbo win
Yu Zhiying 7p (China)
Iyama defends Honinbo title, matches Cho’s record As of our previous report (June 4), the 76th Honinbo title match between Iyama Yuta, also known as Honinbo Monyu, and Shibano Toramaru Oza was tied 1-1. When the defending champion won the first game, Shibano fans would have been worried that this match might follow the path of last year’s Honinbo and Meijin title matches, both of which were one-sided, ending in 4-1 victories for Iyama. However, Shibano roared back in the second game, crushing Iyama in 96 moves. The third game was played at the Hotel Agora Osaka Moriguchi in Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture, on June 1 and 2. Taking black, the challenger, Shibano Toramaru Oza won by resignation after 149 moves. In the opening, Shibano staked out a large moyo. Iyama was confident he could erase it, but a large group of his inside the moyo got into trouble. When he was unable to save it, he had to resign. This was another convincing win for Shibano, who incidentally took a lead over Iyama for the first time in a best-of-seven. The fourth game was held at the Art Hotel Kokura New Tagawa on June 10 and 11. This game also featured aggressive fighting and once again Shibano came out on top, capturing a large group. Iyama (black) resigned after just 124 moves. O Meien 9P, the newspaper commentator, said: “I felt Shibano’s reading was awesome. Iyama can’t often have been outread like this. It was a convincing win for Shibano.” This was the first time Iyama had fallen behind 1-3 in the Honinbo title. Game Five was the first kadoban (a game that can lose a series) for Iyama.It was played at the Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, on June 21 and 22. The game started peacefully. In the middle game, a kind of trade took place, with Iyama (white) capturing a group in exchange for letting Shibano put a large white group into ko. The game was dominated by this ko, which went on for 90 moves. In the end, Shibano captured the group, but was forced to let White take a fair bit of profit with his ko threat. Shibano resigned after White 218. Yamashita Keigo, the newspaper commentator, said: “There’s no move that I can clearly label as bad among the Honinbo’s moves.” This convincing win by Iyama changed the flow of the match. Game Six was played at the Todaya hotel in Toba City, Mie Prefecture, on June 29 and 30. Iyama (B) took a small lead on the first day. In the middle game, the lead became confused, but Iyama was saved by a mistake made by Shibano, who resigned after move 153. Iyama saved his second kadoban and tied the match. He now seemed to have better momentum than the challenger. The final game was held at the Tokiwa Hotel, Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, on July 6 and 7. Iyama drew white in the nigiri. He convincingly outplayed Shibano and won by resignation after 180 moves. He made an excellent recovery after losing three games in a row by returning the courtesy to his opponent. Having won the title ten years in a row, he matched Cho Chikun’s record. Shibano missed out on his chance to become the youngest tournament Honinbo. First prize is 28 million yen (about $254,500).
4th Wu Qingyuan Cup The opening rounds of the 4th Wu Qingyuan (Go Seigen) Cup World Women’s Go Tournament were held on the Net on July 18 to 20 with 16 players competing. Of these, three Chinese players and one Korean survived to make the semifinals. For Japanese fans, the highlight of the tournament was Nakamura Sumire’s scoring her first international win. The best performer for Japan was Fujisawa Rina, who picked up two wins. The dates of the semifinals and final have not yet been decided. Below are the results so far.
Round 1 (July 18). Fang 4p (China) (B) beat Stephanie Yin 1p (US) by resig.; Oh Yujin 7p (Korea) (W) beat Natalia Kovaleva 5d (Russia) by resig.; Cho Seunga 3p (Korea) (W) beat Hei Jiajia 7p (Ch. Taipei) by resig.; Li Xinyi 3p (China) (W) beat Manuela Marz 3d (Germany) by resig.; Lu Minquan 6p (China) (B) beat Xie Yimin 6p (Japan) by 1.5; Ueno Asami 4p (Japan) (W) beat Luo Yuhua 3p (Ch. Taipei) by 0.5; Suzuki Ayumi 7p (Japan) (W) beat Feng Yun 9p (US) by resig.; Nakamura Sumire 2p (Japan) (W) beat Kim Jaeyoung 6p (Korea) by 0.5. Round 2 (July 19). Fujisawa Rina 5p (W) beat Li by 2.5; Yu Zhiying 7p (China) (W) beat Ueno by resig.; Wang Chenxing 5p (China) (W) beat Suzuki by resig.; Zhou Hongyu 6p (China) (W) beat Nakamura by resig.; Choi Jeong 9p (Korea) (W) beat Lu by resig.; Fang (B) beat Rui Naiwei 9p (China) by resig.; Cho (B) beat Tang 4p (China) by 1.5; Oh (W) beat Li He 5p (China) by 2.5. Quarterfinals (July 20) Yu (W) beat Fujisawa by resig.; Fang (W) beat Cho by resig.; Wang (W) beat Oh by resig.; Choi (B) beat Zhou by resig. Semifinal pairings (date undecided). Wang v. Yu; Choi v. Fang
