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By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Yoda suspended by the Nihon Ki-in

This is not a matter one wants to get involved in, the reason being that, with the paucity of information available, it’s not possible for an outsider to make any meaningful judgment, but I can give some details. My report on the Masters Cup published on August 23, 2019, gives the bare bones of the dispute. More details are given in my report of February 22, 2020. The Nihon Ki-in board of directors suspended Yoda from play for six months. At the time, he missed some games, but when Yoda launched a legal appeal against the ruling, making the matter sub judice, the Nihon Ki-in reinstalled him until the court case was finished. The court gave its decision on October 14 and found in favor of the Nihon Ki-in, which announced that Yoda had been suspended for six months, from October 15 to March 16 next year. When he turned up at the Ki-in to play a game the next day, a director blocked his way to the playing room and he was informed in person of the ban. Yoda had won a seat in the Samsung Cup in the Japanese domestic qualifying tournament, but had to give this up. Nakamura Sumire was selected to replace him.

Most wins (as of Nov. 4)

1. Ueno Asami Women’s Hollyhock: 43-20

2. Nakamura Sumire 3-dan: 42-20

3. Fujisawa Rina Women’s Honinbo: 41-15

4. Koike Yoshihiro 7-dan: 36-10; Nyu Eiko Senko Cup: 36-18; Ichiriki Ryo Kisei: 36-21

7. Otake Yu 7-dan: 33-12; Ida Atsushi 9-dan: 33-14

9. Suzuki Ayumi 7-dan: 32-22

10. Shibano Toramaru Meijin: 31-16

(This week Go Weekly listed only the top six. 7th to 10th are my best guesses.)

Best winning streaks

7: Cho U 9-dan, Kono Rin 9-dan

6: Kobayashi Izumi 7-dan, Nishioka Masao 3-dan,

Winning streaks recently ended

10: Koike Yoshihiro 7-dan

9: Rin Kanketsu 8-dan

8: Motoki Katsuya 8-dan, Sakai Yuki 3-dan

7: Shida Tatsuya 8-dan, Muramatsu Daiki 6-dan, 

6: Akiyama Jiro 9-dan, Yamashita Keigo 9-dan

5: Iyama Yuta Honinbo, Ogaki Yusaku 9-dan, Kono Takashi 8-dan, Anzai Nobuaki 8-dan, Konishi Yoshiakira 1-dan, Takao Shinji 9-dan 

Retirement

Makihata Taeko 5-dan retired as of November 5. She was born in Tokyo on February 9, 1980. She became 1-dan in 1997 and reached 4-dan in 2014. She was promoted on 5-dan after retiring. 

By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Honinbo League

As I reported on October 25, the 78th Honinbo League got off to a start on October 3 when Yo Seiki beat Fujita Akihiko. 

(Oct. 20) Ichiriki Ryo Kisei (B) beat Tsuruyama Atsushi 8-dan by resig.; Shibano Toramaru 9-dan (B) beat Motoki Katsuya 8-dan by 1.5 points.

(Oct. 24) Kyo Kagen Judan (W) beat Otake Yu 7-dan by resig. 

That completes the first round. I will give the league chart in my next report.

Women’s Meijin League

Kobayashi Izumi, a newcomer to the league, and Nakamura Sumire, the previous challenger, have both made good starts. Results to date:

Kobayashi Izumi 7-dan (B) beat Suzuki Ayumi 7-dan by 7.5 points.

(Oct. 27) Nakamura Sumire 3-dan (W) beat Xie Yimin

Sumire’s progress

Nakamura Sumire’s results for the year so far are 42-20 (see “Most Wins” item below). Her overall results as a pro are 123 wins to 62 losses, so she has won a fraction under two thirds of her games.

(Oct. 17) Sumire (W) lost to Xie Yimin 7-dan by 2.5 points (Prelim. B、71st Oza).

(Oct. 20) Sumire (B) beat Tsukuda Akiko 6-dan by resig. (main tournament, 26th Women’s Kisei).

(Oct. 27) Sumire beat Xie Yimin – see Women’s Meijin League article above.

(Oct. 28) Sumire beat Kwon Hyojin – see Samsung article above.

Reo loses first game

Fujita Reo 1-dan, who set a new record by becoming professional 1-dan at nine years four months, played his first official game on October 25. His opponent was a fellow member of the Kansai Ki-in, Watanabe Koki 4-dan and the game was in the first round of the King of the New Stars preliminary. Taking white, Reo lost by resignation. His play was perhaps a little too reckless; his more experienced opponent was able to take charge of the game. 

Record win?

On October 17, Sugiuchi Kazuko 8-dan (W) beat Koda Akiko 4-dan by resig. in the preliminary round of the 10th Women’s Hollyhock Cup. She was born on March 6, 1927, so that makes her age 95 years eight months. Her husband, Masao 9-dan, played his last game at the age of 97. He holds the record for the oldest professional to win a game: 96 years 10 months. His wife is surely the oldest woman professional to win a game.

Tomorrow: Yoda suspended by the Nihon Ki-in; Most wins; Best winning streaks; Winning streaks recently ended; Retirements

By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

China wins 1st Hoban Cup

I submitted my previous report (uploaded on October 25) in the midst of the final round. Ueno Asami had just won three games in a row, including a win over the world’s number one woman player, Choi Jeong 9-dan. In game 13, played on October 20, Zhou Hongyu 6-dan (B) beat her by resignation, so China won the 1st Cup with one player, Yu Zhiying, still in reserve. First prize is 100,000,000 won ($71,225 at $1 = 1404 won). Japan came second and Korea third. Ueno received a prize of for winning three games in a row.

Shibano wins Meijin title

The sixth game of the 47th Meijin title match was held at the Atami Sekitei Inn in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, on October 24 and 25. Taking black, Iyama Yuta Meijin, who was facing his second successive kadoban, played solidly in the opening. The challenger, Shibano Toramaru 9-dan, played aggressively, making attack after attack. In the middle game, a black group suddenly got cut off. It looked as if the fate of this group would decide the game: Iyama’s response was to play a tenuki, that is, to switch elsewhere.

There was an incident in this game that won’t appear in the game record. After Black 31, Shibano suffered a nosebleed. Usually it’s a breach of etiquette for the player whose turn it is to leave the go board, but, after seeking Iyama’s approval, Shibano returned to his room and somehow stopped the bleeding. He also changed his mask, as the previous one was spotted with blood. Of course, all this happened on his time, though Go Weekly doesn’t say how long Shibano was absent.

Iyama’s tenuki strategy worked well for him. Gradually he seized the initiative. Shibano was unable to find a good way of attacking the group Iyama had left to fend for itself. He resigned after 215 moves. The title match was now even. Iyama was displaying great tenacity, just as he did in last year’s Honinbo title match with Shibano.

The final game was played at the Tokiwa Hotel in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, on November 2 and 3. Iyama drew black. From the opening, Shibano launched fierce attacks on black, but Iyama displayed his customary skill at looking after his groups and took the lead. However, Shibano made a relentless attack on a large black group and was able to kill it. Iyama resigned after 202 moves.

After a gap of two terms, Shibano was Meijin again. Iyama still had three titles—the Honinbo, Oza, and Gosei—but he dropped to third place in the official rankings, after Ichiriki Kisei and Shibano Meijin. Shibano commented that beating Iyama in a big-three title match had been one of his major goals, so he was very happy at finally being able to pull it off. The top seven titles are now divided among five players.

2022 Samsung Cup

The highlight of this year’s Samsung’s Cup, the 27th, was the extraordinary performance of Korea’s Choi Jeong 9-dan. She has long been the world’s top woman player, but this time she surpassed herself, becoming the first woman to reach the final of an international tournament. In Round 2, she beat Japan’s number one, Ichiriki Ryo, then beat two players who have won international tournaments. Japan started out well, with three out of four players making the second round, but no one went further. Still, it was encouraging to see Nakamura Sumire win her first game against an 18-year-old Korean 4-dan. She was a late entry for the tournament when Yoda Norimoto was suspended and became unable to play (see story below). Selected results followed. 

Round 1 (Oct. 27, 28). Ichiriki Ryo 9-dan (Japan) (W) beat Oh Yujin 9-dan (Korea) by resig.; Kyo Kagen 9-dan (Japan) beat Han Woojin 5-dan (Korea) by resig.; Yang Dingxin 9-dan (China) (B) beat Shin Minjun 9-dan (Korea) by resig.; Choi Jeong 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Sada Atsushi 7-dan (Japan) by resig.; Nakamura Sumire 3-dan (Japan) (W) beat Kwon Hyojin 4-dan (Korea) by resig.; Shin Jinseo 9-dan (Korea) beat Mi Yuting 9-dan (China); Fan Tingyu 9-dan (China) beat Kang Dongyun 9-dan (Korea).

Round 2 (Oct. 31, Nov. 1) Choi (W) beat Ichiriki by resig.; Byun Sangil 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Gu Jihao 9-dan (China) by resig.; Kim Myonghoon 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Tang Weixing 9-dan (China) by half a point; Kim Jiseok 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Xu Haohong 8-dan (Ch. Taipei) by half a point; Yang (W) beat Kyo by resig.; Lee Hyeonjin 6-dan (Korea) (B) beat Nakamura by 1.5 points; Park Jeonghoon 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Tan Shui 9-dan (China) by resig.; Shin (W) beat Fan Tingyu 9-dan (Korea) by 1.5 points.

Quarterfinals (Nov. 2, 3). Kim Myonghoon (W) beat Kim Jiseok by resig.; Shin (W) beat Park by resig.; Choi (B) beat Yang by resig.; Byun (W) beat Lee by resig. Semifinals (Nov. 4, 5). Choi beat Byun; Shin plays Kim in the other semifinal—it must have been played by now, but the result is not given on the Nihon Ki-in HP.

Tomorrow: Fujisawa defends Women’s Honinbo; Iyama makes good start in Oza; Kisei challenger: Shibano or Yamashita; Tsuruyama wins first title