By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Sumire wins 3rd Discovery Cup
The Discovery Cup is an unofficial tournament for players 18 and under and 2-dan and under, including insei. Eight players who have won their way through a preliminary compete in a three-round league. The two players on 2-0 meet in what is virtually a “final” inside the third round. The format is the same as the NHK Cup: players have 30 seconds per move plus ten minutes thinking time to be used in one-minute units. First prize is ¥200,000 ($13,956, at $1 = ¥143.3). The tournament was founded by the late Ogino Shoji, who owned an art gallery on the Ginza. His family is continuing the sponsorship after his death.
The main tournament was played on August 11, which happened to be Nakamura Sumire’s off day in the Chinese Women’s B League (see previous item)—she was certainly keeping busy. After two rounds, the players on 2-0 were Sumire and last year’s winner, Miura Taro 2-dan. Taking white, Sumire won by resignation after 172 moves. Sumire: “I’m happy: winning this tournament was one of my goals.” (Results of all three games are given below in “Sumire’s progress.)
Shin Jinseo wins Kuksu Mountains
The 8th Kuksu Mountains International Baduk Championship, a Korean-sponsored international tournament, was held from August 13 to 15, with the 16 participants playing on the net. The tournament was dominated by Korean players, with seven of the quarterfinalists and all the semifinalists being from Korea. In the final, Shin Jinseo 9-dan beat Byan Sangil 9-dan, winning his fourth big international title.
The time allowance is 30 minutes per player plus 40-second byo-yomi x 3. First prize is 75 million won ($52,891, at $1 = 1418 won). Below are the results (in most cases, full details are not available to me).
Round One (Aug. 13). Park Junghwan 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 9-dan (Japan) by resig.; Kim Jiseok 9-dan (Korea) beat Iyama Yuta 9-dan (Japan) by half a point; Shin Minjun 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Kyo Kagen 9-dan (Japan) by resig.; Shin Jinseo 9-dan (Korea) beat Mi Yuting 9-dan (China); Zhao Zhenyu 9-dan (China) beat Kim Myeonghun 9-dan (Korea); Weon Seongjin 9-dan (Korea) beat Lai Junfu 7-dan (Ch. Taipei); Kang Dongyun 9-dan (Korea) beat Wang Yuanjun 7-dan (Ch. Taipei); Byan Sangil 9-dan (Korea) beat Ding Hao 9-dan (China).
Round Two (Aug. 13). Shin Jinseo beat Kim; Park beat Zhao; Weon beat Kang; Byan beat Shin Minjun.
Semifinals (Aug. 14). Shin Jinseo beat Park; Byan beat Weon.
Final (Aug. 15). Shin Jinseo 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Byan Sangil 9-dan (Korea) on time.
New record set for youngest player
Nakamura Sumire, who became 1-dan at the age of exactly ten, has lost her record as the youngest professional ever in Japan. In April this year, the Kansai Ki-in announced that it had set up a system, the Special Induction System for Young Players, to enable talented young players to debut at a younger age in professional play in the belief that this will speed up their development. It is similar to the system under which Nakamura Sumire was chosen at the Nihon Ki-in; in her case, the system has been a resounding success. At a press conference held on August 17, the Kansai Ki-in announced that Fujita Reo, aged nine years four months, would become a professional 1-dan as of September 1. Fujita has set a new world record for the youngest professional. Previously, Cho Hunhyun of Korea and Chang Hao of China had shared the record at nine years seven months.
Fujita was born in Osaka on April 25, 2013. At the age of four, he became addicted to the game of Othello. One day, when he was four years ten months old, his mother took him downtown to find an Othello club but couldn’t (not surprising, because they don’t exist, as far as I know), so she took him to a go club instead, since it looked similar to Othello. Reo was immediately fascinated by the game and started playing it all day long. The manager of the go club commented that he made amateur shodan in ten months. He started attending classes for children and playing in youth tournaments. When he was six, he won the Osaka qualifying tournament for lower-grade elementary-school pupils for the Children’s Kisei tournament, but couldn’t play in the all-Japan tournament because kindergarten pupils were not eligible. From June in first grade to April in third grade, he enrolled as an insei at the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in. In 2021, he had the second-best results; apparently, from second grade he would occasionally play even games with low-ranked professionals and won some of them. (By the way, the Kansai Ki-in, which had some claim on Nakamura Sumire, cooperated with the Nihon Ki-in in her appointment as a pro; on this occasion, the Nihon Ki-in returned the courtesy.)
When Reo heard about the new Kansai Ki-in system, he sent in an application. He had to submit game records for vetting and play a game on black (no komi) with Seto Taiki 8-dan. Seto won the game by six points, but the Kansai Ki-in concluded he was strong enough to play as a pro. At the press conference, he commented that his ambition was to become the world’s top player. He said that his goal was to beat Shin Jinseo and that he wanted to play Iyama Yuta.
Nakamura Sumire’s reaction: “I’m astonished! I look forward to being able to play him!”
Japanese Wikipedia has some stories about Reo. He has a phenomenal memory: when he was one, he memorized all the stations in the Osaka train network (that’s at least 123 stations); when he was four, he memorized the 47 Japanese prefectures in order of size. He became a disciple of Hoshikawa Takumi 5-dan at the Kansai Ki-in. At first, he played him on the handicap of black without komi; in January this year, he played his first game on even and won it. Their results on even are 50-50. Hoshikawa: “The main feature of his go is his destructive power, based on reading. His opening is also strong; I find myself under pressure all the time.” His teacher at the go club commented: “I was often surprised by how he perfectly memorized long and complicated life -and-death sequences.”
Incidentally, Reo is the youngest male professional in Japan; he lowered the record set by Cho Chikun, who became 1-dan at 11 years nine months in 1968.
On September 2, Reo played a game to commemorate his becoming a pro. Taking black (no komi) against Yo Seiki 8-dan, he lost by resig. after 160 moves. He played a little too aggressively, creating weak groups.
Tomorrow: Seats filled in the new Honinbo League; Shibano takes lead in Meijin title match; China dominates 4th Nie Weiping tournament
