英文トピックス

News & Topics
Hane reaches semifinals of 4th Chunlan Cup After a half-year gap (the second round was held in Beijing on 20 May), the quarterfinals of this Chinese-sponsored international tournament were held on 26 December, with the following results. Hane Naoki 9-dan (B) beat Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan (Korea) by resignation. Luo Xihe 9-dan (China) (B) beat Yuki Satoshi by 1.5 points. Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea)(B) beat Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) by resig. Chang Hao 9-dan (China)(B) beat Cho U 7-dan (Japan) by resig. Despite the large komi of 7.5 points, Black won all games. As befitting a Chinese-sponsored tournament, China got two players into the semifinals to Japan's one and Korea's one. Japan will be encouraged by the success of Hane Naoki, who has scored his best result so far in an international tournament. Pairings for the semifinals, being held on 28 December, are Hane vs. Luo and Chang vs. Yi. Okada Yumiko wins first title Okada Yumiko 5-dan, who is the daughter of Abe Yoshiteru 9-dan, won her first title when she defeated Umezawa Yukari 5-dan in the final of the 4th Strongest Woman Player title. The final was held at the Ryusei Studio in Ichigaya in Tokyo on 16 December. Playing white, Okada won by 8.5 points. Okada followed the well-established precedent in women's go in Japan of pregnant players winning titles ? she is due to have her third child next May. Umezawa failed in her bid for her first title. The time allowance in this tournament is usually three hours per player, with the final five minutes going for byo-yomi, but this game was televised, so the allowance was changed to one hour each, followed by 30-second byo-yomi. 28th Meijin league On 19 December, Rin Kaiho (W) defeated Mizokami Tomochika 7-dan by 1.5 points (komi was 6.5) in their first-round game in the league. Mizokami has got off to a bad start in his league debut. 58th Honinbo league: Cho and O Meien share lead One game in the 58th Honinbo league was played on Boxing Day. Taking white, O Meien Oza defeated Cho Sonjin 9-dan by resignation. That took O to 3-0, so he shares the lead in the league with Cho U. Cho Sonjin has dropped back to 1-2 and will have to worry about keeping his league place. Redmond's winning streak ends Michael Redmond had had a good winning streak over six games that included wins over Cho U 7-dan and Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan. Unfortunately, it came to an end last week when he lost a game in the 2nd preliminary section of the 42nd Judan tournament to Suzuki Yoshimichi 6-dan. Playing black, he lost by 1.5 points. That was the only game played by a Western professional last week, and none were played this week. Promotion To 7-dan: Mizuma Toshifumi Name change Koyama Mitsuru has changed her name a second time. Born Nishida Terumi, she played under that name until late 1999, even after marrying Koyama Ryugo 6-dan. At that point, her legal name would have changed to Koyama Terumi, and she has now adopted it as her professional name as well (as of 7 December).

News & Topics

Hane reaches semifinals of 4th Chunlan Cup
After a half-year gap (the second round was held in Beijing on 20 May), the quarterfinals of this Chinese-sponsored international tournament were held on 26 December, with the following results.

Hane Naoki 9-dan (B) beat Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan (Korea) by resignation.
Luo Xihe 9-dan (China) (B) beat Yuki Satoshi by 1.5 points.
Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea)(B) beat Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) by resig.
Chang Hao 9-dan (China)(B) beat Cho U 7-dan (Japan) by resig.

Despite the large komi of 7.5 points, Black won all games. As befitting a Chinese-sponsored tournament, China got two players into the semifinals to Japan's one and Korea's one. Japan will be encouraged by the success of Hane Naoki, who has scored his best result so far in an international tournament.
Pairings for the semifinals, being held on 28 December, are Hane vs. Luo and Chang vs. Yi.

Okada Yumiko wins first title
Okada Yumiko 5-dan, who is the daughter of Abe Yoshiteru 9-dan, won her first title when she defeated Umezawa Yukari 5-dan in the final of the 4th Strongest Woman Player title. The final was held at the Ryusei Studio in Ichigaya in Tokyo on 16 December. Playing white, Okada won by 8.5 points. Okada followed the well-established precedent in women's go in Japan of pregnant players winning titles ? she is due to have her third child next May. Umezawa failed in her bid for her first title.
The time allowance in this tournament is usually three hours per player, with the final five minutes going for byo-yomi, but this game was televised, so the allowance was changed to one hour each, followed by 30-second byo-yomi.

28th Meijin league
On 19 December, Rin Kaiho (W) defeated Mizokami Tomochika 7-dan by 1.5 points (komi was 6.5) in their first-round game in the league. Mizokami has got off to a bad start in his league debut.

58th Honinbo league: Cho and O Meien share lead
One game in the 58th Honinbo league was played on Boxing Day. Taking white, O Meien Oza defeated Cho Sonjin 9-dan by resignation. That took O to 3-0, so he shares the lead in the league with Cho U. Cho Sonjin has dropped back to 1-2 and will have to worry about keeping his league place.

Redmond's winning streak ends
Michael Redmond had had a good winning streak over six games that included wins over Cho U 7-dan and Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan. Unfortunately, it came to an end last week when he lost a game in the 2nd preliminary section of the 42nd Judan tournament to Suzuki Yoshimichi 6-dan. Playing black, he lost by 1.5 points.
That was the only game played by a Western professional last week, and none were played this week.

Promotion
To 7-dan: Mizuma Toshifumi

Name change
Koyama Mitsuru has changed her name a second time. Born Nishida Terumi, she played under that name until late 1999, even after marrying Koyama Ryugo 6-dan. At that point, her legal name would have changed to Koyama Terumi, and she has now adopted it as her professional name as well (as of 7 December).