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By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

New Honinbo League starts

The first game in the 78th Honinbo League was played on October 3. Yo Seiki (W) 8-dan beat league newcomer Fujita Akihiko 7-dan by 3.5 points.

Ueno doing well in 1st Hoban Cup

The Hoban Cup Seoul Newspaper World’s Women’s Baduk Championship is a new international tournament for female teams. Its main sponsors are the Hoban Construction company and the Seoul Newspaper and it is organized by the Korean Baduk Association. First prize is 100,000,000 won (about $69,400 at $1 = 1440.8 won).

The second round was held on the net in mid-October. China dominated the first round, with Wu Yiming earning a promotion to 4-dan by winning five games in a row. After that, China and Japan each won a game. (See my report of June 22.) In the second round, Li He of China won two games in a row, then Ueno Asami of Japan won three in a row. However, China still has two players left.

Results to date:

Game 8 (Oct. 15). Li He 5-dan (China) (B) beat Fujisawa Rina 5-dan by resig. (193 moves).

Game 9 (Oct. 16) Li (W) beat Oh Yujin 9-dan (Korea) by resig. (166 moves).

Game 10 (Oct. 17). Ueno Asami 4-dan (Japan) (B) beat Li by resig. (183 moves).

Game 11 (Oct. 18). Ueno beat Choi Jeong 9-dan (Korea) by resig. (Korea was eliminated).

Game 12 (Oct. 19). Ueno (W) beat Lu Minquan 6-dan (China) by resig. (266 moves).

Sumire promoted to 3-dan

A win in the Teikei Young Stars tournament over Takei Taishin (see next item) on October 13, earned Sumire promotion to 3-dan. It was her 40th win in a game that counts toward promotion. At this stage, her career record was 120 wins to 60 losses, a statistic of interest for two reasons. One is that Sumire has a winning record of exactly two thirds, which is quite respectable. The other is that it shows that 50 of her wins (women’s tournaments, unofficial tournaments, etc.) don’t count for promotion. 

Moving on to new records: at 13 years seven months, Sumire is the second youngest 3-dan at the Nihon Ki-in, the record being held by Cho Chikun, at 13 years four months. However, she makes a big dent in the previous record for youngest female 3-dan, which was 16 years four months, set by Xie Yimin.

Sumire’s progress

The two wins in the TK Young Stars tournament listed below not only earned Sumire a promotion but also secured her a share of the lead in the most-wins list—see below. 

(Sept. 29) Sumire (B) beat Tsuji Hana 2-dan by resig. (Prelim., 10th Women’s Hollyhock Cup). 

(Oct. 6) Sumire (W) lost to Motoki Katsuya 8-dan resig. (Prelim. A, 48th Gosei).

(Oct. 13) Sumire (W) beat Yo Chito 6-dan by 5.5 points; Sumire (W) beat Takei Taishin 2-dan by resig. (prelim., 2nd TK Young Stars).

Tomorrow: Most wins; Most successive wins; Winning streaks recently ended; Promotion; Quasi-professionals; Retirement
UPDATE: The post has been updated to reflect Sumire’s promotion at 13 years seven months, making her the second youngest 3-dan at the Nihon Ki-in, the record being held by Cho Chikun, at 13 years four months (we had switched the promotion ages in our original post)

By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Tengen title match tied

The 49th Tengen best-of-five got off to a start on October 3, with the 20-year-old titleholder Seki Kotaro meeting the challenge of Ida Atsushi 9-dan, aged 28. Ida’s main claim to fame is that he challenged (unsuccessfully) for the Honinbo title in 2014; the previous year he won the 53rd Judan title and the 62nd NHK Cup. He won the latter at the age of 20 years 11 months, a youth record he still maintains. However, this is his first title match for six years.

The first game was played at the Ise Kaguraba Resort in Ise City, Mie Prefecture. Ida, who had white, played his first move on the centre point or “tengen.” He continued positively, sacrificing a group on the side so he would wall off one side of the center. Ida achieved his aim of starting large-scale fighting in the center, but at a crucial point he played a purely territorial move instead of continuing the fight and this may have cost him the game. Black was able to maintain his territorial lead. Ida resigned after Black 199.

The second game was played at the Keio Plaza Hotel Sapporo on October 18. Ida (B) won by 1.5 points. The third game will be played on November 14. 

Fujisawa makes good start in Women’s Honinbo

The 41st Women’s Honinbo title match, a best-of-five, features the most common pairing in women’s go in Japan: Fujisawa Rina vs. Ueno Asami. The 24-year-old Fujisawa and 20-year-old Ueno (21 on October 26) have met in nine title matches; Fujisawa has enjoyed more success so far, having won six of these. Overall, Fujisawa has won 21 titles to Ueno’s nine, but her longer career accounts for some of that. This is the ninth year in a row she has played in this title match.

The first game was played at the Kashoen, a traditional Japanese inn, in Hanamaki Hot Spring, Iwate Prefecture, on October 4. Fujisawa drew black in the nigiri and won by resignation after 253 moves. The second game will be played on October 23.

47th Kisei tournament

First of all, Shibano Toramaru 9-dan finished off the S League with a perfect record. The last remaining game in the 47th Kisei S League was played on September 26. Shibano (B) beat Yo Seiki 8-dan by resignation to end on 5-0. The two Kansai Ki-in players, Yo Seiki and Murakawa Daisuke, drop down to the A League.

The final irregular knock-out to decide the Kisei challenger is now under way. Results follow. 

(Oct. 6). Otake Yu 7-dan (C League winner) (B) beat Suzuki Shinji 7-dan (B League winner) by 1.5 points.

(Oct. 13) Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (winner of A League) (W) beat Otake by half a point.

Nong Shim Cup

China has made the best start in Round 1 of the 24th Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup. Only four games are played in the opening round and Fan Tingyu of China has won three of them. Actually, the surprise was to see him lose in the 4th game, as he has twice won seven games in a row in this tournament.

Game 1 (Oct. 11). Fan Tingyu 9-dan (China) (W) beat Ichiriki Ryo 9-dan (Japan) by resig.

Game 2 (Oct. 12). Fan (W) beat Shin Minjun 9-dan (Korea) by resig.

Game 3 (Oct. 13). Fan (B) beat Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) 9-dan (Japan) by resig.

Game 4 (Oct. 14). Kang Dongyun 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Fan by resig.

The second round will start on November 25.

Tomorrow: New Honinbo League starts; Ueno doing well in 1st Hoban Cup; Sumire promoted to 3-dan; Sumire’s progress

By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Oh wins Go Seigen Cup

The best-of-three final of the 5th Go Seigen Cup was held on the net at the end of September. Oh Yujin 9-dan of Korea beat Wang Chenxing 5-dan of China 2-0. This is Oh’s first victory in this tournament. She also won the 7th Bingsheng Cup in 2016.

Game One (Sept. 27). Oh (B) by resig.

Game Two (Sept. 28). Oh (W) by resig.

Sakai wins King of the New Stars

The best-of-three final of the 47th King of the New Stars was fought between Otake Yu 7-dan and Sakai Yuki 3-dan. Otake had been enjoying good results this year, so he was the favorite, but Sakai showed that his rank was lagging behind his real strength. As noted in my previous report, his win in the first game of this match put an end to a winning streak by Otake of thirteen.

The second game was played at the Tokyo headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya on September 30. Taking black, Otake took the lead, but in the endgame, which is supposed to be his forte, he blundered, allowing Sakai to stage an upset. The latter won by 1.5 points after 285 moves. This is the 18-year-old Sakai’s first title.

Here are details of the tournament. Players are eligible if they are 6-dan and under and 25 and under on August 1 when a new term of the tournament starts. Since the 32nd term, winners graduate from the tournament. Before this rule came in, many players won a number of terms, the record being five times, achieved by Yoda Norimoto, closely followed by Yamashita Keigo, who won it four times in a row. Playing time is 3 hours each for the main tournament and the title match. First prize is ¥2,000,000 (about $13,450 at $1 = ¥148.7).

Hirata wins Agon Kiriyama Cup

The final of the 29th Agon Kiriyama Cup was played in a tea house called the Kagyuan (Snail’s Hermitage) in the grounds of the headquarters of the Agon sect in Yamashina Ward, Kyoto City, on October 1. Playing black, Hirata Tomoya 7-dan prevailed in a tight endgame contest and beat Iyama Yuta Meijin Honinbo by 1.5 points. This is Hirata’s first win in a tournament open to all players; the game was his first ever with Iyama. He won the 14th Hiroshima Aluminum Cup Young Carp tournament in 2019. Iyama has won this tournament five times.

Shibano increases lead in Meijin title match, Iyama fights back

The fourth game in the 47th Meijin title match was held at the Takarazuka Hotel, Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, on October 6 and 7. Taking white, Shibano Toramaru won by resignation after 208 moves. Iyama Yuta did not make any big mistakes, but some of his play in the middle game was a little dubious. Shibano took the lead and was able to hang on to it until the end. He now led the match 3-1, so his chance of making a comeback as Meijin looked good.

The fifth game was played at the Imai Residence in the town of Kawazu in Shizuoka Prefecture on October 12 and 13. Iyama suffered from a hallucination in the middle-game fighting, so Shibano took the lead. However, he made a miscalculation later on in the middle game, and that allowed Iyama to pull off an upset. 

With a 3-2 lead, Shibano still has the advantage, but he will have bitter memories of last year’s Honinbo title match in which he lost three games in a row after taking a 3-1 lead. The sixth game will be played on October 24 and 25.

Tomorrow: Tengen title match tied; Fujisawa makes good start in Women’s Honinbo; 47th Kisei tournament; Nong Shim Cup