China vs. Korea in Fujitsu Cup final
The final of the 13th Fujitsu Cup World Go Championship, sponsored by the Yomiuri Newspaper and Fujitsu, will be fought between China and Korea for the third successive year. Players in the final, scheduled for 2 August, are Chang Hao 9-dan of China and Cho Hun-hyun 9-dan of Korea. The playoff for third place will be held at the same time. The semifinals were held at the Toyo Hotel in Osaka on 1 July, with the following results. Cho Hun-hyun 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Mok Jin-seuk 5-dan (Korea) by resignation. Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan (Japan) by resignation. If Chang Hao wins, it will be his first Fujitsu title, while it would be his second for Cho.
O Rissei wins 2nd Chunlan Cup
O Rissei has won his second world championship by defeating China's Ma Xiaochun 9-dan 2-1 in the final of the 2nd Chunlan Cup. All games went to Black in the final, and the final game was decided by a half-point margin. For the second year in a row, Chinese fans were disappointed when a local player failed to win the only Chinese-sponsored international tournament. O Rissei also won the 2nd LG Cup, so this is his second world championship. He is clearly maintaining the good form that secured him the Kisei title earlier this year. The results: Game 1 (18 June). Ma (B) by 4.5 points. Game 3 (20 June). O (B) by resignation. Game 3 (22 June). O (B) by half a point. The playoff for 3rd place was held on 18 June. Kong Jie 5-dan (B) defeated Yoda Norimoto 9-dan by resignation.
5th LG Cup begins
The first two rounds of the 5th LG Cup: The World King of Baduk Championship, a Korean-sponsored international tournament, were held in Seoul on 13 and 15 June. Reaching the quarterfinals are five Korean representatives, two Chinese and one Japanese. One of the Korean representatives is Rui Naiwei, playing in her second international tournament for her adopted country. Below are selected results from the opening rounds. Round 1. Seo Bong-soo (Korea) beat Michael Redmond 8-dan (North America), Yang Kong 5-dan (Korea) b. Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan), Rui Naiwei 9-dan (Korea) b. Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan (Japan), Lee Se-dol 3-dan (Korea) b. Catalin Taranu 4-dan (Europe). Second Round. Seo beat Yu Bin 9-dan (China), O Rissei 9-dan b. Yang 5-dan, Rui Naiwei b. Shao Weigang 9-dan (China), Zhou Heyang 8-dan (China) b. Yoo Chang-hyuk 9-dan (Korea), Cho Hun-hyun 9-dan (Korea) b. Cho Chikun 9-dan (Japan), Lee Chang-ho 9-dan (Korea) b. Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan (Japan), Lee Se-dol 3-dan (Korea) b. Chang Hao 9-dan (China). Pairings in the quarterfinals, scheduled to be played in Paris on 14 November, are: Seo vs. O Rissei, Rui vs. Zhou, Cho Hun-hyun vs. Lee Chang-ho, Lee Se-dol vs. Ma Xiaochun.
O Meien takes lead in Meijin league
Two games have been played since our last report on the 25th Meijin league. In the first, played on 15 June, O Meien 9-dan (B) defeated Hane Naoki 8-dan by resignation. That put O Meien in front in the league with 6-1, though he is hotly pursued by Yoda Norimoto on 5-1. At this stage, the odds seem very strong that one of these two will challenge Cho Chikun for his last remaining title. Hane, who had shared the lead most of the way, dropped back into sole third place with 4-2. He will be out of the running unless O loses his final game with Kato Masao and Yoda loses one of his remaining games. One of these games will be with Hane, so he will have the chance to do the job himself (the other is with O Rissei). The other league game was played on 22 June. Imamura Yoshiaki 8-dan (W) defeated Kobayashi Koichi by 1.5 points and so finally picked up his first win in the league after six straight losses. Kobayashi will now have to worry about keeping his place in the league. Scores: 6-1: O Meien 5-1: Yoda Norimoto 4-2: Hane Naoki 3-3: Ryu Shikun, O Rissei, Kato Masao 3-4: Kobayashi Koichi 1-6: Takemiya Masaki, Imamura Yoshiaki