Monday July 8, 2019
Registrations are now being accepted for the 24th Pandanet Cup Internet World Amateur Go Tournament. The deadline is July 17. Registration is free; click here. Prizes are awarded for all divisions.
There are five divisions: Main Class (6-dan and up); A Class (5-dan~2-dan); B Class (1-dan~3-kyu); C Class (4-kyu~7-kyu); D Class (8-kyu~).
Sunday July 7, 2019
In round eight of the Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship, played on July 7, Ilya Shikshin 3P of the EGF defeated the AGA’s last standing player, Ryan Li 1P. With this critical victory, the EGF team claimed the first Transatlantic Championship and the €10,000 Euro prize.
Black (Shikshin) opened by building a strong moyo on the right side, while white secured territory at the top and lower left. White (Li) split a left-side black group into two parts, and a fight ensued. White’s attack seemed severe, but black managed to live without incurring too much damage to his right-side territory. After the black group secured its life, the two players were neck-and-neck. White stumbled with move 152, a sente push played under time pressure, which forced white spend another move on O5 instead of responding to black on the left side. An intense endgame followed. Black wrapped up the game, winning by 3.5 points in the end.
The Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship was the first team match between professional players of the European Go Federation and American Go Association. Each team was represented by five players in a win-and-continue format. All games were broadcast live on the American Go Association’s Twitch channel, including commentary by strong players from both North America and Europe. This last round, featuring players Ilya Shikshin and Ryan Li, attracted more than 4,400 simultaneous viewers, a record for the Transatlantic Championship.
– report by Hajin Lee
Friday July 5, 2019
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Shin Jinseo wins 31st TV Asia: This year Japan hosted the TV Asia, a fast-go tournament for the top-two place-getters in TV titles in China, Korea, and Japan. With Japan being eliminated in the first round, the tournament became exclusively a clash between China and Korea, and the latter came out on top. In the final, Shin Jinseo 9P (aged 19) beat Ding Hao 6P of China, who is the same age. Taking white, Shin won by resignation after 276 moves. First prize is 2.5 million yen (about $22,700). Ironically, Shin came only third in the Korean KBS title, but he stood in for Park Junghwan, who came second, when the latter gave priority to competing in the tournament below. Although he has not yet won a large-scale international tournament, Shin has recently passed Park to become the number one in the Korean (world?) ratings. Full results:
Round 1 (June 21). Ding Hao 6P (China) (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P (Japan) by resig.; Shin Minjun 9P (Korea) (B) beat Iyama Yuta (Japan) by resig.; Shin Jinseo 9P (Korea) beat Xu Jiayang 8P (China).
Semifinals (June 22). Ding beat Kim Jiseok 9P (Korea, seeded as last year’s winner); Shin Jinseo beat Shin Minjun.
Final (June 23). Shin (W) beat Ding by resig.
Park Junghwan wins Chunlan Cup: One thing was certain going into the final of the 12th Chunlan Cup: the winner was going to be Park of Korea. But which Park? The final, a best-of-three, was held in Zhejiang Province in China, at the end of June and featured a clash between Park Junghwan 9P and Park Yeonghun 9P. The first game, played on June 27, was won by Junghwan, playing black. In the second, played on June 27, Junghwan (white) won by resignation after 210 moves. However, the game was not smooth sailing. With 96, White made an uncharacteristic blunder, letting Black take the initiative. However, Yeonghun also made a blunder with 147, letting White play a brilliancy that led to an upset. This was the first time Junghwan won this title; Yeonghun had to be content with second place for the second time in a row. First prize is worth about $22,000.
Hane wins first Gosei game: In the 44th Gosei title match, the 42-year-old Hane Naoki is challenging the 21-year-old Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) for the title he took from Iyama Yuta last year. The first game was played at the Konkai Komyoji temple in Kyoto on June 30. Playing black, Hane forced a resignation after 155 moves. The second game will be played on July 19.
Promotions
To 9-dan: Yanaka Katsunori (Nihon Ki-in Kansai Headquarters) (200 wins, as of June 4)
To 8-dan: Endo Yoshifumi (150 wins, as of June 7), Shida Tatsuya (150 wins, as of June 28)
To 2-dan: Nishioka Masao (NK Nagoya HQ) (30 wins, as of June 7), Muramoto Wataru (30 wins, as of June 28)
Obituaries
Tanida Harumi: Tanida Harumi 8P, a member of the Kansai Ki-in, died of heart disease on May 9. He was born on October 6, 1947 and became a disciple of Kubouchi Shuchi 9P. He made 1-dan in 1964 and reached 8-dan in 19823. He won the rating tournament once.
Hoshino Masaki: Hoshino Masaki 9-dan died of a cerebral hemorrhage on May 14. He was born on Jan. 11, 1967, became a disciple of Oka Nobumitsu 7P and made 1-dan in 1985. He reached 9-dan in 2015. He reached the landmark of 500 wins earlier this year.
Thursday July 4, 2019
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Ueno to challenge for Hollyhock Cup: The semifinals and finals of the main tournament in the 6th Aizu Central Hospital Women’s Hollyhock Cup were held in the Konjakutei inn in Higashiyama Hot Spring, Aizu Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 18 and 19. The final was won by the 17-year-old Ueno Masami, who has already won two Women’s Kisei titles. She will challenge Fujisawa Rina for the title, with the first game of the best-of-three being played on June 16. Results follow:
(Semifinals) Ueno Asami, Women’s Kisei, (B) beat Hoshiai Shiho 2P by resig.; Suzuki Ayumi 7P (W) beat Nannami Nao, Senko Cup-holder, by resig.
(Final) Ueno (W) beat Suzuki by resig.
The result of the title match is given later.
Nakamura Sumire update: Sumire is still waiting to play her second official game in Japan. In the meantime, she received a special invitation from the tournament sponsors to take part in the international qualifying tournament for the 4th MLily Cup. This is a Chinese-sponsored international tournament; the official name seems to have changed a little: it is now the MLily Dream Lily Pressureless Mattress Cup Open Tournament (“MLily” is in Roman letters and means “Dream Lily”). Sumire took part in the 2nd round, held on May 21, where she played Wang Chenxing 5P, a top Chinese woman player. Taking black, Wang won by resignation after 185 moves. Games in the qualifying tournament have no game fees and are not recognized as official games by the Nihon Ki-in. Subsequently, the tournament sponsor invited Sumire to play in the main tournament, in which 64 players start out. The first round will be played on October 8.
On June 6, Sumire visited Seoul to play a game with Korea’s number two woman player, Oh Yujin 6P. The game was played at the Han Jongjin dojo, where Sumire was formerly a pupil. Playing time was 40 minutes each plus byo-yomi of 40 seconds x 3. Sumire took white; presumably there was a komi, but Go Weekly does not mention it. Inevitably Oh won, with Sumire resigning after 153 moves. In Japan, the game was broadcast on the Net. Like the game above, it was an unofficial game, so Sumire’s official professional record remains 0-1.
On June 30, Sumire was invited to attend a go event, the World Go Festival, organized by Takarazuka City in Hyogo Prefecture. She played yet another unofficial game, this time against Murakawa Daisuke, holder of the Judan title, before an audience of about 300 fans. Taking black, with no komi, Sumire played aggressively. She handled the early fighting fairly well, but fell behind on territory and resigned after 154 moves.
The two international games above show that there is a lot of interest in Sumire’s debut in China and Korea. The go media are making a great fuss over her, but is arranging games for her with top players whom she has little chance of beating really beneficial? It might be kinder to give her a year or two to secure her place in the professional go world in competition with her peers in the early rounds of the professional tournaments.
Tomorrow: Ueno to challenge for Hollyhock Cup; Nakamura Sumire update; Korea wins 9th Huanglongshi; Fujisawa defends Hollyhock; Ueno tops Most Wins list; Mixed success for Japanese team in Chinese B League
Thursday July 4, 2019
With the recent closing of Pie by the Pound (Gotham Go Group’s new location, 6/30 EJ), “this is a good time to remind everyone where in-person go can be played in NYC,” reports local organizer Peter Armenia.
Tuesday evenings 6-10:45p: Hungarian Pastry Shop – 1030 Amsterdam Ave – between 110th and 111th
Wednesdays evenings 6-10p: Barnes & Noble (Union Square) – 33 E 17th St. In the cafe on the 3rd floor.
Sundays 12:30p: Barnes & Noble (Union Square) – 33 E 17th St. In the cafe on the 3rd floor.
Anytime: Fat Cat – 75 Christopher St, at 7th Ave. – They have a couple sets of boards and stones behind the bar.
Korea Baduk Club –Daily 11AM-12 Midnight – 36-18 Union Street (Flushing) – Call Sammy Park (718-353-4646) for more info. – Old school, smoky and English sporadically spoken, strong players routinely humbled.
Wednesday July 3, 2019
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
24th LG Cup: The first and second rounds of the 24th LG Cup were held in Gimpo City in Korea on May 27 and 29. As in the previous cup, China took five of the quarterfinal places and Korea the other three. Iyama Yuta survived the first round, but lost to Ke Jie of China in the second. Some of the results are given below.
Round 1 (May 27) Iyama (B) beat Li Xianhao 7P (China) by resig.; Zhao Chenyu 7P (China) (B) beat Cho U 9P (Japan) by resig.; Tao Xinran 7P (China) (B) beat Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) 8P (Japan) by resig.
Round 2 (May 29). Ke Jie 9P (China) (W) beat Iyama by resig.
Korea wins 9th Huanglongshi: Unlike the Nong Shim Cup, the women’s team tournament Huanglongshi is split into just two rounds. The second round was played in Taizhou City in the province of Jiangsu in China from June 9 to 12. The opening round was dominated by China (see my report of May 11), but, thanks mainly to the efforts of Oh Yujin 6P, backed up by Choi Jeong 9P, the tournament was won by Korea. This is its fourth win in this tournament. First prize is about $65,000. Results in the second round:
Game 8 (June 9) Oh Yujin (Korea) (B) beat Zhou Hong 4P (China) by resig.
Game 9 (June 9) Oh (B) beat Nyu Eiko 2P (Japan) by resig.
Game 10 (June 10) Oh (B) beat Li He 5P (China) by resig.
Game 11 (June 10) Oh (W) beat Ueno Asami 2P (Japan) by resig.
Game 12 (June 11) Lu Minquan 5P (China) (W) beat Oh by resig.
Game 13 (June 12) Choi Jeong 9P (Korea) (B) beat Lu by resig.
Game 14 (June 12) Choi (B) beat Yu Zhiying 6P (China) by 4.5 points.
Fujisawa defends Hollyhock: With three titles to her name (Women’s Honinbo, Women’s Hollyhock, and Women’s Meijin), Fujisawa Rina is Japan’s top woman player. This year the challenger for the 6th Aizu Central Hospital Women’s Hollyhock Cup was the number three player, Ueno Asami, holder of the Women’s Kisei title (Mannami Nao is number two by virtue of holding the Senko Cup), so this was a good pairing. However, the Hollyhock Cup is a best-of-three and the games are not spread out, so the match seemed to be over in a flash. In the first game, held at the Konjakutei inn in Aizu-Wakamatsu City in Fukushima Prefecture on June 14, Fujisawa (W) won by resignation after 174 moves. In the second game, played two days later at the same venue, Fujisawa (B) won by resignation after 211 moves. She has now held this title for three years in a row and it is her 11th title overall. This puts her in a tie for second place with Aoki Kikuyo (top is Xie Yimin with 27 titles). First prize is worth 7 million yen (about $64,000).
Ueno tops Most Wins list: For the fourth week in a row, Ueno Asami has topped the list of most wins. As of June 7, her record was 21-10. Ironically, she suffered four losses over the next two weeks, but no one caught up with her wins. This week she won two games and is still on top of the list with 23-14. I can’t confirm this, but it’s the first time I can recall a woman player topping this list.
Mixed success for Japanese team in Chinese B League: Tournaments for teams representing localities, as in soccer, have not caught on in Japan, but they seem to one of the most important activities in Chinese go. There are three levels and also a women’s team tournament, and they all attract a lot of an interest. In recent years, overseas teams from Japan and Chinese Taipei have also been invited to take part. A Japanese team, participating for the eighth year, has been playing in the B League and so far has been frustrated in its ambition to earn promotion to the A League, though it did ascend from its starting point in the C League. This year the B League tournament was held in Zhejiang Province from June 14 to 23. Over those ten days, the teams each played eight matches, making it a pretty heavy schedule, at least by Japanese standards. The Japanese team was made up Kyo Kagen, Shibano Toramaru, Motoki Katsuya, and Yo Seiki. It won three matches, drew one, and lost four, earning it 9th place out of 16 teams (only the top two get promoted to the A League). Each member of the team had four wins to four losses.
Players are also recruited individually by these teams. In one of their games, the team ran across Onishi Ryuhei, playing on board one for a Hebei team. He also scored 4-4, but his team came fourth.
Tomorrow: Shin Jinseo wins 31st TV Asia; Park Junghwan wins Chunlan Cup; Hane wins first Gosei game; Promotions; Obituaries
Tuesday July 2, 2019
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Kono keeps lead in Meijin League: As of my previous league report, (May 12) Kono Rin was the sole undefeated player. He tripped up in the May round, but his nearest rivals, Shibano Toramaru and Hane Naoki, also suffered losses. Kono won his June game, and, on 5-1, retains the sole lead. He is followed by three players on 4-2: Iyama Yuta, Shibano, and Yamashita Keigo. Recent results:
(May 16) Iyama Yuta (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by resig.; Son Makoto 7P (B) beat Kono Rin 9P by resig.
(May 30) Mutsuura Yuta 7P (B) beat Suzuki Shinji 7P by 4.5 points.
(June 13) Yamashita Keigo (B) beat Murakawa Daisuke Judan by resig.
(June 27) Iyama (B) beat Son by resig.; Kono (B) beat Hane by resig.
44th Kisei Leagues
S League: This league is proceeding slowly, so there is not much to report. After just two rounds, there is only one undefeated player: Murakawa Daisuke. Recent results:
(May 9) Murakawa Daisuke Judan (W) beat Kyo Kagen Gosei by resig.
(May 30) Kono Rin 9P (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by 1.5 points; Murakawa Daisuke Judan (B) beat So Yokoku 9P by resig.
A League: Ichiriki Ryo, on 4-0, has the sole lead. Two players follow him on 3-1: Cho U 9P and Shida Tatsuya 8P.
B Leagues: In the B1 league, Hane Naoki has the provisional lead with 4-1. He is followed by Yoda Norimoto 9P, Tsuruyama Atsushi 7P, and Onishi Ryuhei 4P, all on 3-1. In the B2 league, Motoki Katsuya 8P has the sole lead on 4-0.
Shibano wins 10th Gratitude Cup: This is a tournament for players 30 and under. The 16 players who survive the preliminary round meet in the main tournament, which this year was held in “Gratitude Alley” in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, on May 14 and 15. The sponsors are a group of tourism-related restaurants and shops. Conditions are NHK-style, with 30 seconds per move plus ten minutes of thinking time (to be used in one-minute units). First prize is 3 million yen (about $27,000), which is quite reasonable for a unofficial junior tournament. In the semifinals, held on the morning of the second day, Adachi Toshimasa 6P (B) beat Kyo Kagen Gosei by resig.; Shibano Toramaru 7P (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P (I don’t know the margin). In the final, Shibano (W) beat Adachi by resig. In the play-off for 3rd place, Ichiriki (W) beat Kyo by resig.
Tomorrow: Ueno to challenge for Hollyhock Cup; Nakamura Sumire update
Tuesday July 2, 2019
The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Summer Quarterly at the Arden-Dimick library in Sacramento on June 29th . The upper division was won by Ki Young Choi 2d (left) and Valerie Wong 19k won the lower division. Both had 3-1 records.
Sunday June 30, 2019
In round seven of the Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship, played on June 30, EGF pro Artem 2P defeated Eric Lui 1P, ending Lui’s streak at three wins. The AGA team now has only one player remaining – Ryan Li 1P – while the EGF team has Artem Kachanovskyi 2P and Ilya Shikshin 3P.
In the opening, Eric Lui, playing black, built up a wide area on the right side. White approached lightly, trying to limit black’s potential. Black launched a full-on attack of white’s group, surrounding it from the outside. However, black’s shape had some weaknesses. White allowed black a small ponnuki, then cut on L16, forcing black to give up one or the other of his surrounding groups. Black chose to give up both, and instead swallowed the upper-left corner, keeping game balanced. Complicated fights ensued, but white was slightly ahead. White then successfully invaded the upper-left corner, leading black to resign.
The EGF has announced that Ilya Shikshin 3P will substitute for Artem in the next round under the wildcard rule*. Kachanovskyi is unable to play next round due to his upcoming wedding in Romania. If Shikshin defeats Ryan Li, the AGA’s last remaining player, this championship will be over. If Ryan Li wins, he will face Artem Kachanovskyi in the final game.
The next round, Ryan Li 1P vs. Ilya Shikshin 3P, will take place on July 7, starting at 14:00 US Eastern time. The game will be played on OGS and live-streamed on Twitch.
*Wildcard rule: Each team has one wildcard that can be used in an emergency. When a currently winning player is not able to play the next round, a team can nominate any not-yet-defeated teammate to substitute for one game. The original winning player must come back in the following round, regardless of the substitute player’s result.
Sunday June 30, 2019
Although Pie by the Pound is closing on Sunday, New York City Go organizer Peter Armenia reports that he’s “found a new place where folks can play go on Wednesday evenings from 6-10.” The new meeting place will be the Barnes & Noble at 33 E 17th St (in the cafe on the third floor) right on the north side of Union Square. “So please do come out for the inaugural meeting at the new location this Wednesday!” Armenia urges. “And remember to thank the good folks at B&N by purchasing something at the cafe or the bookstore while there!”