4th Ing Cup: O Meien stars for Japan, but Lee Chang-ho the favourite
The opening rounds of the 4th Ing Cup were held in Shanghai at the end of April and the beginning of May. Participation in this tournament is by invitation, which accounts for why some familiar faces are missing. From Japan's point of view, the star so far has been O Meien 9-dan, who is enjoying marvellous form this year. He's just become the Honinbo challenger and last week he took the lead in the Meijin league; in the Ing Cup, he defeated two former world champions, Cho Hun-hyun of Korea and Ma Xiaochun of China. This performance shows that he must be given a chance of winning the Cup, but the favourite must be, as always, Lee Chang-ho. China's Chang Hao, whom O plays next, is also a strong contender. Rui Naiwei and her husband, Jiang Zhujiu, played for Korea, but unfortunately both lost in the first round. Results of opening rounds: Round 1 (30 April). Choi Myung-hun (Korea) b. Cao Dayuan (China), Chang Hao (China) b. Jiang Zhujiu (Korea), O Meien (Japan) b. Yang Jaeho (Korea), Awaji Shuzo (Japan) b. Chou Chun-hsun (Zhou Junxun) (Chinese Taipei), Otake Hideo (Japan) b. Catalin Taranu (Japan), Yu Bin (China) b. Seo Bong-soo (Korea), Shao Weigang (China) b. Rui Naiwei (Korea), O Rissei (Japan) b. Liu Xiaoguang (China). Round 2 (2 May). Rin Kaiho (Japan) b. Choi Myung-hoon (Korea), Chang Hao (China) b. Takemiya Masaki (Japan), O Meien b. Cho Hun-hyun (Korea), Ma Xiaochun (China) b. Awaji (Japan), Otake (Japan) b. Yoo Chang-hyuk (Korea), Yu Bin (China) b. Cho Chikun (Japan), Yoda Norimoto (Japan) b. Shao Weigang (China), Lee Chang-ho (Korea) b. O Rissei (Japan). Quarterfinals (4 May). Chang Hao (China) b. Rin (Japan), O Meien (Japan) b. Ma (China), Yu Bin (China) b. Otake (Japan), Lee Chang-ho (Korea) b. Yoda (Japan). Semifinal pairings: Chang Hao vs. O Meien, Yu Bin vs. Lee Chang-ho. The semifinals are best-of-three and the final is best-of-five. Ing rules This tournament is known for its unusual rules. The komi is 7.5 points, the largest in a professional play. The time allowance is three and a half hours each. If you use up this time, you must buy an extension of 35 minutes for two points komi. The maximum is three extensions, which would cost you six points. After that, you lose on time.
Yu Bin wins 4th LG Cup
Yu Bin 9-dan of China has scored his first victory in international go, defeating Yoo Chang-hyuk 9-dan of Korea 3-1 in the final. Yu has been a member of the top group in China for a decade now (he was 6th in the Chinese rating system at the beginning of this year), but this is his first big success. Incidentally, he is the third player to take 2nd place in a World Amateur Go Championship and subsequently win a professional world championship -- the others were his opponent in the LG Cup, Yoo, and Ma Xiaochun. We hope to have exact details of the match later.
Kobayashi Koichi wins 13th Japan-China Tengen Play-off
After losing for eight years in a row, Japan has finally broken its jinx in the annual Tengen play-off with China. The victorious Japanese representative was Kobayashi Koichi, who took revenge for his loss last year to China's Chang Hao, defeating the same player 2-1 this year. The 13th playoff was held at the Keio Plaza Hotel Sapporo in Hokkaido on 10, 12, and 13 May. In his speech at the Opening Ceremony the night before the first game, Kobayashi pointed out that this was his home ground (he was born in Asahikawa City in Hokkaido), so he expected to do better than last year. He did made a good start, playing black and forcing Chang Hao to resign in the the first game. However, Chang made a comeback in the second game; playing black, he in turn forced Kobayashi to resign. That made the third game, played without a rest day, as is customary in these playoffs, on the 13, the decisive one and also indicated that the nigiri might be the most important part of the game. Kobayashi guessed correctly, securing black, and he duly won the game, forcing Chang to resign. Japan won the first four play-offs, so it has now won a total of five to China's eight.
O Meien first to score five wins in Meijin league
O Meien is enjoying fantastic form at the moment: first, he won the Honinbo league, then he reached the semifinals of the 4th Ing Cup, and now he has taken a slight lead in the 25th Meijin league. By defeating O Rissei Kisei on 11 May, he became the first to score five wins (he has one loss), so he is the closest to becoming the challenger to Cho Chikun. He doesn't have a proper lead yet, because three other players have also lost only one game, but at least psychologically he is in front.
Members of Kisei leagues decided
The remaining four places in the two Kisei leagues have now been decided. The last four players are Ryu Shikun 7-dan, Hasegawa Sunao 9-dan (Kansai Ki-in), Miyazawa Goro 9-dan, and Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan. On 12 May, lots were drawn at the Nihon Ki-in to decide the composition of the two leagues. The members of A Leagnue are: Cho Chikun Meijin, Awaji Shuzo 9-dan, Imamura Toshiya 9-dan (KK), Yo Kagen 9-dan, Ishida Atsushi 8-dan, and Ryu Shikun 7-dan. B League is made up of: Cho Sonjin Honinbo, Ishida Yoshio 9-dan, Miyazawa Goro 9-dan, Hasegawa Sunao 9-dan (KK), Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan, and Cho U 6-dan. The youngest player in the leagues is Cho U, 20, who starred in this year's Fujitsu Cup. There are 10 Nihon Ki-in and two Kansai Ki-in players. Notable absences? Yoda Norimoto and Kobayashi Koichi. Play in the leagues will start in June. The Kisei challenger will then be decided by a one-game play-off between the two winners, scheduled for November. The title match with O Rissei Kisei will then start in January 2001. The new Kisei system As we reported in November last year, the Kisei system has been completely changed. The main reason was that the distribution of dan levels had changed considerably since the Kisei tournament started, so the individual dan championships were no longer a fair reflection of the composition of the professional go organizations. For example, 9-dans now make up a quarter of the joint membership of the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in, a much higher proportion than when the tournament started. The new preliminary tournaments are now more similar to those of other tournaments--but not as simple: the Yomiuri doesn't seem to like simplicity. At the Nihon Ki-in, instead of three successive preliminary rounds, there are four separate ones, the winners of which gain places in a final knockout preliminary. The four preliminaries are organized as follows: 1- to 4-dans (two winners), 5- and 6-dans (six winners), 7- and 8-dans (seven winners), and 9-dans (nine winners). One big difference is that the winners in the first preliminary don't then go into the next preliminary, as in other tournaments. That system is actually weighted against the lower dans, who have to win around nine successive games to get into the main round or a league. In the case of the Kisei, the 24 winners all go into the final knockout tournament preceding the two leagues. Here the 24 Nihon Ki-in winners are joined by eight winners from the Kansai Ki-in preliminaries. Previously, Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in players played together in the individual dan tournaments, but under the new system they hold separate preliminaries. The winners of the knockout section win places in the two leagues (the Kisei is the only Japanese tournament with a double league). Just now, we don't have full details of the Kansai Ki-in system, but we do know of a couple of important differences from the Nihon Ki-in. In the interests of fairness, all players, from 1-dan to 9-dan, except for the top 22 players (decided by the prize money rankings from the previous year), start out together in the first preliminary round. So far as we know, this is the first time that the built-in advantage enjoyed by the top dan ranks has been eliminated. Secondly, there are no game fees in the first preliminary round. In Japanese tournaments, the basic concept is not that you win a prize for winning a game but that you earn a game fee -- both the winner and the loser. The 'prize' for the winner is the chance to earn another game fee. This continues up to the actual title match, where both the winner and the loser are paid match fees. Commentators have applauded the courage of the Kansai Ki-in in making these changes, though the Nihon Ki-in has shown no interest in following suit.
38th Judan tournament starts
The first game in the winners' section of the 38th Judan tournament was played on 11 May. The previous challenger, Nakano Hironari 9-dan, made a bad start, losing by half a point to Ogaki Yusaku 8-dan. Perhaps Nakano hasn't yet recovered from his painful initiation into title-match play. He will now have to go all out in the Losers' Section.
Western players at the Nihon Ki-in
Western players at the Nihon Ki-in had mixed results last week. Catalin Taranu 4-dan, a member of the Nagoya branch, playing black, defeated Kirimoto Kazuo 3-dan by half a point in the first preliminary round of the 40th Judan tournament. Hans Pietsch 3-dan of the Tokyo branch (B) lost by resignation to Takemiya Yoko 2-dan, the son of Takemiya Masaki, in the same tournament. Michael Redmond did not have a game.
Promotions
The following players won promotions last week: To 6-dan: Kanazawa Hideo (born 1975) To 4-dan: Takano Hideki (born 1970) To 2-dan: Ms. Koda Akiko (born 1976)
Oza quarterfinalists
Only 16 players qualify for the final section of Oza tournament, so after one round the number is down to eight. The pairings for the quarterfinals in the 48th Oza title are as follows: Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan vs. Yoda Norimoto 9-dan, Awaji Shuzo 9-dan vs. Kudo Norio 9-dan, Cho Chikun Meijin vs. Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan, Kobayashi Koichi Judan vs. Kato Masao 9-dan. One of these players will challenge O Rissei for the title.