October　1

Cho U starts to recover from bad start in Meijin title match

　Iyama Yuta 8-dan followed up his convincing win in the opening game of the 33rd Meijin title match with an edge-of-the seat half-point win in the second game. This gave him a surprising 2-0 lead, but Cho U started a fightback with a good win in the third game.
　 The second game was held at the Enryakuji Hall, which is attached to the Enryakuji temple, on Mt. Hiei in Otsu City in Shiga Prefecture on 17 and 18 September; the venue has a view of Lake Biwa. Hiei is a sacred mountain that is home to a great temple complex; the original temple was the Enryakuji, which was established in 805. In 1994, the mountain was designated as a Unesco Cultural Heritage Site.
　 Playing black, Iyama built centre-oriented thickness while Cho took corner profit. The game became tough for Cho when he made a forcing move that Iyama ignored in favour of setting up a moyo on the right side. When Cho invaded, he came under a severe attack, aggravated by his going for further profit in a way that let Iyama split off and attack a large group. When Cho counterattacked, Iyama compromised, giving up three attacking stones in return for a large territory to the left of centre.
　 Iyama kept the lead throughout the middle game, but he slipped up in the endgame, playing a bad-aji move that allowed Cho to make a large sacrificial invasion that gave him extra points through forcing moves. Watching the game in the pressroom, Iyama’s teacher Ishii Kunio 9-dan wailed: ‘Why not play the good-aji move?’ This slip made the game very close, but Iyama just managed to hang by the narrowest margin. After the game, Cho commented: ‘My falling behind in the opening was everything. I profited a little in the endgame and narrowed the gap, but at no stage of the game did White have a lead.’
　 There were few go fans who would have predicted that the 19-year-old Iyama would take a 2-0 lead in the title match. Even fans of Cho were happy to see Iyama bring a breath of fresh air into the Japanese go world by winning the Meijin League, but most people assumed that Cho’s greater experience would be too much for the teenager. Yet here was Cho, if not yet with his back to the wall, certainly headed in that direction. He had to find a way to halt Iyama’s momentum.
　 The third game started less than a week later, being played at the Takayama Green Hotel Tenryokaku in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, on 25 and 26 September. In this game, Cho, playing black, showed the flair that was missing from his play in the first two games. He raced to a lead in the opening, then seized the initiative in the middle-game fighting. A large-scale trade followed in which Cho secured a definite lead. There were complications, when Iyama made a severe counterattack late in the middle game, but Cho managed to tide them over by resorting to a ko. Having run out of resources, Iyama resigned after 225 moves.
　 Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan, the newspaper commentator, summed up the game as follows: ‘Cho rapidly took profit in the opening, then showed us a powerful attack in the middle game. At the end, he wrapped things up with his favourite tactic of ko. The skill of Cho Meijin shone in every phase of the game.’
　 After this game, there’s a two-week break for Iyama to recover from his setback. This week both Iyama and Cho will be playing their final games in the Kisei Leagues. However, there’s no pressure on Iyama, as he’s already won the A League, but Cho has to play a crucial game with Yoda Norimoto to decide the result of the B League.

Iyama Yuta wins 2nd game

Cho U wins 3rd game

Kisei Leagues

　Only one game has been played in the 33rd Kisei Leagues since our last report. In the B League, Hane Naoki won his fourth-round game, putting him into a theoretical three-way tie for first place, but his low rank means that the best he can hope for is second place.

(18 September) Hane Naoki Honinbo (B) beat Honda Kunihisa 9-dan by resignation.

The 33rd Kisei League
in the chart
*B=playing black
*1=win, 0=loss

League A

Place RNK Player Cho O Iyama Takao Kataoka Yuki Score   1 Cho Chikun - B1 June 0 Sep. B0 July Oct. B0 Aug 1-3   2 O Rissei 0 June - B Oct. 0 Sep. B1 Aug 1 July 2-2   3 Iyama Yuta B1 Sep. Oct. - B1 Aug 1 July B1 June 4-0   4 Takao Shinji 1 July B1 Sep. 0 Aug - B1 June Oct. 3-1   5 Kataoka Satoshi B Oct. 0 Aug B0 July 0 June - B1 Sep. 1-3   5 Yuki satoshi 1 Aug B0 July 0 June B Oct. 0 Sep. - 1-3

League B

Place RNK Player Cho Kato Yoda Hane Kono Honda Score   1 Cho U - 1 Sep B Oct. 0 Aug B1 June 1 July 3-1   2 Kato Atsushi B0 Sep - 0 July B Oct. 0 Aug B0 June 0-4   3 Yoda Norimoto Aug B1 July - 0 June B1 Sep 1 Aug 3-1   4 Hane Naoki B1 Aug Oct. B1 June - 0 July B1 Sep 3-1   5 Kono Rin 0 June B1 Aug 0 Sep B1 July - Oct. 2-2   5 Honda kunihisa B0 July 1 June B0 Aug 0 Sep B Oct. - 1-3

Link to Kisei title

Cho U reaches final of Judan winners section

　Three days before the third Meijin game, Cho U (W) defeated Akiyama Jiro 8-dan by 8.5 points in the semifinal of the Winners Section of the 47th Judan tournament. He will meet Cho Chikun in the final.

Link to Judan title

33rd Shinjin-O title

　After making a good start in the first game, Uchida Shuhei 2-dan also won the second game of the Shinjin-O (King of the New Stars) title match, held on 22 September. Taking black, he forced a resignation from Ha Yeong-il 4-dan. This gives Uchida his first title just three years after becoming a professional; he is the lowest-ranked player ever to win the Shinjin-O (Yoda Norimoto and Takao Shinji won it as 5-dans).

33rd Shinjin-O title match second game

Kono Rin wins Ryusei title

1. 　So far in his career, Kono Rin has been a one-title specialist, winning the Tengen title three years in a row. This year he is branching out, however. In March, he won the NEC Cup which carries a hefty prize of 17 million yen. Now he has also won the Ryusei Cup, making this his first year with multiple victories. Most significant for Kono was the opponent whom he overcame in the final: Cho U, against whom his previous record was a miserable 2 wins to ten losses. The game was telecast on 26 September; taking white, Kono secured a resignation. He will take this as a very good omen for their upcoming Tengen title-match clash.
   Incidentally, this is the sixth title of Kono’s career.

Link to Ryusei title

Xie Yimin wins 2nd Net Ladies

　The final of the 2nd Daiwa Securities Cup Net Igo Ladies, to give this unofficial tournament (i.e., it’s not counted in tallies of titles won, but the money is real) its full name, was held at the Tokyo headquarters of the sponsor, Daiwa Securities. The final matched the current leading star of Japanese women’s go, Xie Yimin 4-dan, against the winner of the 1st cup, Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan. Taking white, Xie won by resignation. First prize is one million yen.

2nd Daiwa Securities Cup the final

Women’s Meijin League

　Two games in the 21st Women’s Meijin League were played on 18 September. Kato Keiko, Strongest Woman Player, (B) defeated Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan by resignation and Suzuki Ayumi 4-dan (B) defeated Mukai Chiaki 2-dan by 2.5 points.
　 Umezawa and Suzuki, both on 2-0, share the lead. Mukai and Kobayashi, both on 0-3, are in danger of losing their seats.

The 21th Women's Meijin Title Match
1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

 Link to Women’s Meijin League

Prominent players eliminated from Meijin preliminary

　Some big names have been dropping off in the round of the final preliminary of the 34th Meijin tournament held on 25 September. In the new Honinbo League, two of the four players who were eliminated from the old league regained their seats, but all three of those who dropped out of the just-completed Meijin League were eliminated. There were Yoda Norimoto, Ko Iso and Chien Kaei. On the same day, former Meijin Takemiya Masaki was also eliminated.

Most wins

　Three-quarters of the way through the year, the most winning players are as listed below.

1. Iyama Yuta 8-dan: 40-15
2. Cho U Meijin: 36-11
3. Hane Naoki Honinbo: 30-12
4. Ko Iso 7-dan: 29-14
5. 25th Honinbo Chikun: 28-23
6. Kono Rin Tengen: 27-14; Takao Shinji Judan: 27-21
8. Ryu Shikun 9-dan: 24-5
9. Rin Shien 7-dan: 22-5 (Rin had a winning streak of 11 games that came to an end last week);
Ogata Masaki 9-dan: 22-7; Suzuki Ayumi 4-dan: 22-8; Yamada Kimio 9-dan: 22-15

Correction

　The margin in the Tengen play-off was 1.5 points, not 2.5.

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September　17

Cho U and Iyama share the spotlight

　So far this month, the spotlight on the Japanese go stage has been monopolized by Cho U and Iyama. We are not referring just to the Meijin title match being fought by the two. In the period of eight days from 4 to 11 September, both played three very important games, two of them against each other. They had equal success, each winning two out of three. Perhaps Cho’s wins were more significant, as they ensured that, regardless of what happens in the Meijin title match, he will keep his place on centre stage for most of the rest of the year.

Cho　U	Iyama　Yuta

Iyama wins first game of Meijin title match

　Iyama Yuta 8-dan made a dream start to his big-title-match career by winning his first two-day game-and, moreover, doing it quite convincingly.
　The 33rd Meijin best-of-seven title match, which features the first-ever challenge by a teenager for a big-three title, got off to a start on 4 and 5 September, with the first game being played at the Hotel Aomori in Aomori City. Taking white, the 19-year-old Iyama Yuta 8-dan won by 5.5 points.
　The game featured repeated attacks by Cho U; these were parried by Iyama in a calm manner that earned him high praise from his fellow professionals. Ishida Yoshio 9-dan even said that the game was ‘a masterpiece for White’. After the game, Cho was unable to pinpoint his losing move, which certainly seems to indicate that White played well. Cho now knows that he’s got a tough match on his hands.
　The second game will be played on 17 and 18 September.

Iyama wins first game！	The final position

Cho U becomes Oza challenger

　Just a couple of days after his setback in the Meijin title match, Cho U took revenge by defeating Iyama Yuta in the play-off to decide the challenger for the 56th Oza title. The game was held at the Nihon Ki-in on 8 September; playing white, Cho defeated Iyama by resignation.
　The Oza will be Cho’s third successive title match, following the already completed Gosei (in which he rebuffed the challenge of Yamashita) and the current Meijin match.
　The first game of the best-of-five title match, in which Yamashita Keigo is the defending champion, will be held on 27 October.

Cho U to challenge for Tengen title

　The play-off to decide the challenger to Kono Rin for the 34th Tengen title was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya, Tokyo on 11 September. Taking white, Cho U defeated Ko Iso 7-dan by 2.5 points.
　This will be Cho’s first Tengen challenge, but it will be his fourth successive title match.

3rd Shinjin-O

　The finalists in the 33rd Shinjin-O are two new faces: Uchida Shuhei 2-dan of the Nihon Ki-in and Ha Yeong-il 4-dan of the Kansai Ki-in. Uchida was born on 8 September 1989 and became a professional in 2006. Ha was born 1 June 1985 and became 1-dan in 2001. Whoever wins, this will be his first title.
　The first game was played at the Kansai Ki-in in Osaka on 11 September. Taking white, Uchida won by 8.5 points.
　The Shinjin-o (King of the New Stars) title is restricted to players under 7-dan and 26 years of age.

Ha Yeong-il	Uchida Shuhei

Suzuki Ayumi to challenge for Women’s Honinbo title

　In the play-off to decide the challenger to Xie Yimin for the 27th Women’s Honinbo title, held on 4 September, Suzuki Ayumi 4-dan (W) defeated Okuda Aya 2-dan by resignation. Suzuki has twice won the Strongest Woman Player title and will be making her first challenge for the Women’s Honinbo title.
　In the play-off, Okuda took the early lead and had the initiative, but slack play later permitted an upset.
　The first game of the title match will be played on 1 October.

Iyama wins Kisei A League

　Iyama Yuta took an unbeatable lead in the 33rd Kisei A League when he defeated Cho Chikun, 25th Honinbo, in their fourth-round game on 11 September and improved his score to 4-0. Takao Shinji also scored a win, which left him with only one loss, but even if Iyama loses his final-round game, he is ranked higher than Takao, so the latter can’t catch up. O Rissei, one of the two players ranked above Iyama, suffered his second loss on 11 September, so that cleared the path for Iyama.
　In the B League, Yoda Norimoto picked up his third win to only one loss, which puts him in a tie with Cho U. Although the latter is ranked higher, the situation in the B League is a lot simpler than in the A League: Yoda and Cho play each other in the final round, so the winner will win the league and advance to the play-off with Iyama.
　Hane Naoki also has only one loss, but, because of his low rank, the best he can hope for is second place.

(11 September)
(A League)
Iyama Yuta 8-dan (B) defeated Cho Chikun, 25th Honinbo, by resignation.
Takao Shinji Judan (B) d. O Rissei 9-dan by resignation.
Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan (B) d. Yuki Satoshi 9-dan by resignation.
(B) League)
Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (B) d. Kono Rin Tengen by resig.

B=playing black
*1=win, 0=loss

League A

Place RNK Player Cho O Iyama Takao Kataoka Yuki Score   1 Cho Chikun - B1 June 0 Sep. B0 July Oct. B0 Aug 1-3   2 O Rissei 0 June - B Oct. 0 Sep. B1 Aug 1 July 2-2   3 Iyama Yuta B1 Sep. Oct. - B1 Aug 1 July B1 June 4-0   4 Takao Shinji 1 July B1 Sep. 0 Aug - B1 June Oct. 3-1   5 Kataoka Satoshi B Oct. 0 Aug B0 July 0 June - B1 Sep. 1-3   5 Yuki satoshi 1 Aug B0 July 0 June B Oct. 0 Sep. - 1-3

League B

Place RNK Player Cho Kato Yoda Hane Kono Honda Score   1 Cho U - 1 Sep B Oct. 0 Aug B1 June 1 July 3-1   2 Kato Atsushi B0 Sep - 0 July B Oct. 0 Aug B0 June 0-4   3 Yoda Norimoto Aug B1 July - 0 June B1 Sep 1 Aug 3-1   4 Hane Naoki B1 Aug Oct. B1 June - 0 July B Sep 2-1   5 Kono Rin 0 June B1 Aug 0 Sep B1 July - Oct. 2-2   5 Honda kunihisa B0 July 1 June B0 Aug Sep B Oct. - 1-2

Takanashi reaches Agon Kiriyama final

　Takanashi Seiken 8-dan has reached his first final. In the first semifinal of the 15th Agon Kiriyama Cup, held on 4 September, Takanashi (W) defeated Mizokami Tomochika 8-dan by resignation.
　Cho U Meijin meets Yuki Satoshi 9-dan in the other semifinal.

Umezawa takes lead in Women’s Meijin League

　Umezawa Yukari, Women’s Kisei, has, at least temporarily, taken the sole lead in the 1st Women’s Meijin League. In a game played on 4 September, Umezawa (W) defeated Mukai Chiaki 2-dan by 4.5 points. On the same day, Yoshida Mika 8-dan (B) defeated Chinen Kaori 4-dan by resignation.

The 21th Women's Meijin Title Match
1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

Promotion

　Thanks to a cumulative score of 150 wins, Nishimura Keiji has earned promotion to 8-dan.

International
13th Samsung Cup

　The opening two rounds of the 13th Samsung Cup, a Korean-sponsored international tournament, were held in the city of Taejon early this month. The tournament was another success for China, which took five of the quarterfinal places. However, not everything went its way, as its Fujitsu Cup champion Gu Li was ambushed by a relatively unknown Korean 3-dan, Chin Se-young. Moreover, both the Yis, Ch’ang-ho and Se-tol, survived, so the Chinese players will not be counting their chickens.
　The complicated seeding system of this tournament means that Japan, because of its past poor results, gets few places. However, the tournament sponsors have some seats at their disposal; they gave one to Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan, so he played in his first international tournament for a while (without success, however). He was joined by the national seeds Takao Shinji and Yamashita Keigo. The latter enjoyed some rare international success, defeating Xie He, who had played so well in the Toyota & Denso Cup, and Zhou Heyang to make the quarterfinals.

Round One (3 September, Taejon City)
Takao Shinji 9-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Ms. Rui Naiwei 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) (W) d. Xie He 7-dan (China) by resig.
Zhang Li 4-dan (China) (B) d. Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan (Japan) by 2½.
Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Shi Yue 4-dan (China) by resig.
Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) d. Ms. Zheng Yan 2-dan (China) by resig.
Cho Han-seung 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Li Tang 6-dan (China) by 1.5.
Huang Yizhong 6-dan (China) (W) d. Hong Seong-chi 7-dan (Korea) by resig.
Ding Wei 9-dan (China) (B) d. Mok Chin-seok 9-dan (Korea) by half a point.
Chen Yaoye 9-dan (China) (B) d. Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan (Korea) by 1.5.
Wang Xi 9-dan (China) (B) d. Pak Cheong-sang 9-dan (Korea) by 3.5.
Kong Jie 7-dan (China) (B) d. Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) (B) d. Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan (Korea) by half a point.
Chin Se-yeong 3-dan (Korea) (B) d. Gu Li 9-dan (China) by half a point.
Li Zhe 6-dan (China) (W) d. Pak Chung-hwan 2-dan (Korea) by resig.
Yi Yeong-ku 7-dan (Korea) 7-dan (W) d. Chang Hao 9-dan (China) by half a point.
Zhou Ruiyang 5-dan (China) (W) d. Yun Chun-sang 7-dan (Korea) by resig.

Round Two (5 September, Taejon City)
Yamashita (W) d. Zhou Heyang by resig.
Kong Jie (W) d. Takao by resig.
Yi Se-tol (B) d. Zhang by resig.
Yi Ch’ang-ho (B) d. Cho Han-seung by 1.5.
Huang (B) d. Ding Wei by 2.5.
Wang Xi (W) d. Chen by half a point.
Li (B) d. Chin by half a point.
Zhou Ruiyang (B) d. Yi Yeong-ku by half a point.

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September　5

Cho U defends 33rd Gosei title

　Cho U has successfully rebuffed the challenge of Yamashita Keigo Kisei for his Gosei title, defeating him 3-1 in the best-of-five title match.
　 Game Two was played at the Nagaoka Grand Hotel in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, on 27 July. Cho U (B) won by resignation. Game Three was played in Naha City in Okinawa just four days later on 31 July. The hectic scheduling is mainly because of Cho's tight schedule. It worked to the advantage of Cho, who, taking white, again won by resignation.
　 The fourth game was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on 15 August. Playing black, Cho forced a resignation after 153 moves. Cho has now won this title three years in a row.
　 So far, these two have played each other in four title matches, of which Cho has won three. In each case, Cho was defending a title. In the victory interview, Cho said: ‘Next time, I'd like to attack him.' He was presumably referring to the Oza tournament, in which he has to win just one more game to become the challenger to Yamashita Oza. Looking further ahead, we could also take it as referring to the Kisei title, as Cho is leading in one of the leagues (see story below)..

33rd Gosei title match(in Tokyo) Left side player Cho,Right side player Yamashita	The final position

China triumphs in 4th Toyota & Denso Cup

　Chinese players harnessed the momentum from the just completed Olympic Games in Beijing to completely dominate the 4th Toyota & Denso Cup, a Japanese-sponsored international tournament that is held once every two years. This is the largest-scale world title, being the only one to give the other go-playing centres besides South America in the southern hemisphere a chance to compete for a seat in the main tournament.
　 The scale of the Chinese triumph can be measured in one simple statistic: they played nine games with players from the leading go power, Korea, and won eight of them. It's unlikely Korea has ever done so badly against another country before on the international stage. With just five players competing, China took three of the semifinal places and both places in the final.
　 Japan had a dismal tournament, with only one player, Cho U, performing up to the level required. Cho reached the semifinals after a satisfying win in the quarterfinals against Liu Xing 7-dan, one of the new Chinese stars, who has beaten him twice in a row in the Japan-China Agon Kiriyama Cup play-off. However, his luck then ran out.
　 One of the finalists is Gu Li 9-dan, who has been China's number one for a couple of years now. He had a good tournament, beating Pak Yeong-hun of Korea in Round 2 and Cho U in the semifinal. However, even more sterling work was done by lower-ranked Chinese players. The other finalist, the 20-year-old Piao Wenyao 5-dan, scored a convincing win over Yi Ch'ang-ho in the second round. The 24-year-old Xie He 7-dan also made a big contribution to China's success by defeating Yi Se-tol in the quarterfinal before losing to Piao in the semifinal.
　 The final will be held in Tokyo early in January next year.

Left side player PIAO,Right side player GU

Preliminary round (Nihon Ki-in)
(21 August) Yang Shihai 8-dan (Singapore) (B) beat Joanne Missingham (Australia) by resignation.
(Joanne was given in the program as amateur 6-dan, but actually she qualified as professional 1-dan in the Chinese promotion tournament this summer.)
(22 August) Yang (W) beat Victor Chow am. 6-dan (South Africa) by resig.

Round One (Nihon Ki-in, 23 August)
Cho Han-seung 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) by 7.5 points.
Cho U 9-dan (Japan) (W) d. Jiang Mingjiu 7-dan (North America) by 6.5.
Mok Chin-seok 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Hane Naoki 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
Takao Shinji 9-dan (Japan) (W) d. Yang Shihai 8-dan (Singapore) by 1.5.
Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Kono Rin 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Taiwan) (B) d. Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) by half a point.
Han Sang-hun 3-dan (Korea) (B) d. Yamada Kimio 9-dan (Japan) by 1.5.
Gu Li 9-dan (China) (B) d. Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
Piao Wenyao 5-dan (China) (W) d. Ogata Masaki 9-dan (Japan) by resig..
Iwamura Toshiya 9-dan (Japan) (W) d, Cristian Pop am. 7-dan (Europe) by resig.
Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Kim Shujun 8-dan (Japan) by 5.5.
Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Fernando Aguilar am. 6-dan (South America) by resig.
Pak Cheong-sang 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Chang Hao 9-dan (China) by 4.5.
Xie He 7-dan (China) (W) d. Ilja Shikshin am. 6-dan (Europe) by resig.
Liu Xing 7-dan (China) (B) d. Hong Seong-chi 7-dan (Korea) by 1.5.
Alexandre Dinerchtein 3-dan (Europe) (W) d. Li Jie am. 7-dan (North America) by resig.

Round Two (Nihon Ki-in, 25 August)
Cho U (B) d. Dinerchtein by 23.5.
Cho Han-seung (W) d. Takao by resig.
Gu (W) d. Pak Yeong-hun by resig.
Liu (B) d. Han by 6.5.
Yi Se-tol (B) d. Iwamura by resig.
Piao (W) d. Yi Ch'ang-ho by resig.
Xie (B) d. Pak Cheong-sang by 4.5.
Mok (W) d. Zhou by resig.

Quarterfinals (Nihon Ki-in, 27 August)
Cho U (B) d. Liu by resig.
Gu (B) d. Cho Han-seung by 2.5.
Xie (W) d. Yi Se-tol by 2.5
Piao (B) d. Mok by resig.

Semifinals (Nihon Ki-in, 29 August)
Gu (B) d. Cho by resig.
Piao (W) d. Xie by resig.

Oza challenger: Cho U or Iyama

　Quite often, when two players clash in a big title match, such as a best-of-seven, they seem to run into each other in other important games as well. That's certainly true of Cho U and Iyama Yuta, who will meet in this year's Meijin title match. Iyama recently beat Cho in the final of the Daiwa Securities Cup Grand Champion tournament. They will also meet in the final of the play-off to decide the challenger to Yamashita Keigo for the 56th Oza title.
　 In the second semifinal, held on 24th July, Iyama 8-dan (W) defeated Nakano Hironari 9-dan by resignation. He took advantage of a shinogi failure by Nakano to kill a large group.
　 The play-off with Cho will be held in early September. Since the first game of the Meijin title match will be played on 4 and 5 September, it will probably be played the following week. Whoever wins will find himself engaged in two title matches at the same time.

Honinbo League seats

　The third of the vacant seats in the 64th Honinbo League went to Cho U, who thus makes an immediate comeback after dropping out of the previous league. In the play-off, held on 21 July, Cho (B) beat Kono Rin Tengen by half a point. The fourth seat was decided on 31 July, when Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan (B) defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan by half a point.
　 Cho and Kataoka will join Nakaonoda Tomomi and So Yokoku in the new league.

Cho U reaches Tengen play-off

　In a semifinal of the 34th Tengen tournament, Cho U Meijin defeated Cho Chikun, 25th Honinbo, on 24 July. Taking black, Cho U won by 1.5 points. His opponent in the play-off to decide the challenger to Kono Rin will be the winner of the semifinal between Hane Naoki Honinbo and Ko Iso 7-dan.
　 Cho U has never done well in this tournament and it is the first time he has reached the play-off. Yamashita Keigo, who has played in the last five Tengen title matches, was eliminated by Ko in the quarterfinals.

Kisei Leagues

　In the A League, Iyama Yuta 8-dan has taken the undisputed lead by defeating Takao Shinji Judan, the only other player with no losses, on 14 August. Iyama now has an excellent chance of winning the league, but both the players he has yet to play are ranked above him. If the league ends in a tie, the higher-ranked player takes precedence.
　 In the B League, three players, Cho U Meijin, Yoda Norimoto 9-dan, and Hane Naoki Honinbo, all have only one loss, but Cho has two advantages, having played one more game and being the top-ranked player.

Recent results:
(24 July) O Rissei (W) beat Yuki Satoshi by resignation.
(31 July) Takao Shinji (W) beat Cho Chikun by resignation.
(7 August) Hane Naoki (B) beat Cho U by 3.5 points.
(14 August) Iyama Yuta (B) beat Takao Shinji Judan by resig.
O Rissei (B) beat Kataoka Satoshi by resignation.
Yoda Norimoto (W) beat Honda Kunihisa by 3.5 points.
(21 August) Yuki Satoshi (W) beat Cho Chikun by half a point.
(1 September) Chou U (W) beat Kato Atsushi by resignation.

The 33rd Kisei League
in the chart
*B=playing black
*1=win, 0=loss

21st Women's Meijin League

　This is the first league ever in a women's tournament in Japan. With just one and a half rounds having been played so far, it's too early to make any predictions.

Recent results:
(24 July) Suzuki Ayumi, Women's Strongest Player, (B) d. Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan by resig.
(21 August) Chinen Kaori 4-dan (B) beat Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan by resig.

The 21th Women's Meijin Title Match
1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

2nd Daiwa Securities Cup Net Igo Ladies

　Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan has followed up her success in winning the 1st Cup by reaching the final of the 2nd. In the first semifinal, played on 16 August, she defeated Kato Keiko 6-dan (black) by resignation. In the second semifinal, played on 23 August, Xie Yimin defeated Suzuki Ayumi. The final will be played on 27 September.

Kobayashi Izumi	Hsieh Yi Min

Cho Chikun doing well in Judan tournament

　On 14 August, Cho Chikun, 25th Honinbo, defeated So Yokoku (B) in the first semifinal in the Winners' Section of the 47th Judan tournament by 1.5 points. It looks as if Cho is making a determined effort to regain the title he lost to Takao Shinji earlier this year. The pairing in the other semifinal is Cho U Meijin vs. Akiyama Jiro 8-dan.
　 Progress in this year's Judan tournament is being speeded up to make room in the tournament calendar for the World Mind Sports Games in October.

Correction

　In our report on Hane Naoki's winning the Honinbo title, we wrote that only once has the player winning the 4th to 6th games of a best-of-seven failed to win the seventh game, but actually this has happened twice. We overlooked Hane's own effort in the 28th Kisei title match in 2004. Hane, the challenger, won the first three games, but then Yamashita Keigo Kisei won the next three. However, Hane won the final game.

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July　24

Hane wins Honinbo title

63rd Honinbo title match(in Niigata) Right side player Hane, Left side player Takao	The final position

Hane takes Honinbo title after ‘miraculous fightback'

　Hane Naoki's challenge for the 63rd Honinbo title seemed to be on the point of ending prematurely when he started with three straight losses. His play was lacklustre and his usual tenacity was missing. However, that started to change when he faced and survived his first kadoban (a game that can lose a series). After he had saved three of them, there was no doubt that he was back in top form.
　 With the score level at 3-all, the seventh game was held at the Akakura Sightseeing Hotel in the hot spring of Akakura, located in Myoko City in Niigata Prefecture on 22 and 23 July. Since it was the final game, the nigiri (in which the players draw for colours) was held again and Hane drew black.
　 A difficult centre fight started on the afternoon of the first day. Takao seemed to have the advantage, but on the second day Hane played a brilliant tesuji, an atetsuke, that enabled him to seize the initiative. A ko fight that started soon after ended disastrously for Takao, causing him to fall so far behind in territory that his only remaining option was to attack and kill Hane's large centre group. However, killing large groups is usually possible only when you can make a double or splitting attack, which was not the case here. At 6:30 p.m., Takao ran out of options for attacking the group, so he resigned. At this moment, Hane won his first Honinbo title and rejoined the ranks of the titleholders after two and a half years in the ‘wilderness' (we're referring just to top-seven titles here). Hane is the first player from the Central Japan or Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in to win the Honinbo title.

The four stars of the 21st century

　In the new century, Japanese go has been dominated by a group dubbed ‘the four Deva kings', a Buddhist term popularly used to mean ‘the four top stars'. (The term, shitenno, refers to four warrior guardians who protect the Buddhist laity by guarding the four points of the compass. Fierce-looking statues of them can usually be found in Buddhist temples in Japan, often standing beside the altar and trampling a demon underfoot.) Hane's success shows that he and the other three members of the group, Takao, Cho U, and Yamashita, who are all around 30 years of age, remain a dominant force. Recently, Kono Rin's consistent success in the Tengen title has led to suggestions that the group be expanded to five. It remains to be seen whether Iyama Yuta, who is just 19, will be able to break their virtual monopoly on the titles.

The 63rd Honinbo Title Match

Takao Shinji HONINBO vs. Hane Naoki
Date(2008)		Venue	Result
1st	14, 15 May	Hokkaido	Takao (B) won by 3.5
2nd	27, 28 May	Hyogo	Takao won by resign.
3rd	11, 12 June	Fukuoka	Takao (B) won by resign.
4th	23, 24 June	Mie	Hane　(B) won by resign.
5th	1, 2 July	Chiba	Hane　(B) won by resign.
6th	16, 17 July	Shizuoka	Hane　(B) won by resign.
7th	22, 23 July	Niigata	Hane　(B) won by resign.

‘Miraculous fightbacks' in Japanese tournament go

　The first comeback from a 0-3 deficit in a title match was staged by Rin Kaiho in 1973; his feat was dubbed a ‘miraculous fightback'. Rin did it one more time, but the term has really become associated with the name of Cho Chikun, who did it three times.
　 There's no denying that it's an extraordinary recovery to come back from three straight losses, but the interesting point is that only once has the player winning the 4th to 6th games failed to win the 7th. That was Kobayashi Satoru, when he challenged Cho U for the 30th Meijin title in 2005. Three successive failures to win a game that would clinch a title would put enormous pressure on the player who started out with three straight wins.

1. Rin Kaiho vs. Ishida Yoshio: 12th Meijin title match, 1973
2. Cho Chikun vs. Fujisawa Shuko: 7th Kisei title match, 1982
3. Rin vs. Cho Chikun: 38th Honinbo title match, 1983
4. Cho Chikun vs. Otake Hideo: 9th Meijin title match, 1984
5. Cho Chikun vs. Kobayashi Koichi: 47th Honinbo title match, 1992
6. Hane Naoki vs. Takao Shinji: 63rd Honinbo title match, 2008

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July　22

Hane evens the score in Honinbo title match
　Hane Naoki's remarkable recovery in the 63rd Honinbo best-of-seven title match continues. In the first three games,Hane looked badly out of form as Takao swept to a three-game lead. However,in the next three games he seemed to be a ‘completely different player' (in the words of Ishida Yoshio) and he has now evened the score.
　In the sixth game,played at the Gyokushouen Arai inn in Toi Hot Spring in Izu City on 16 and 17 July,Hane (B) forced a resignation after 211 moves. The game had started quietly on the first day,but on day two Hane gradually seized the initiative. A fierce fight started that ended up as a capturing race,but unfortunately for White it involved an approach-move ko,which meant that there was much more pressure on him than on Black. In the end,White was unable to find a big enough ko threat,so he had to resign.
　This result has delighted go fans,of course,as they always like to see a best-of-seven go the full distance. There is nothing more exciting in go than the seventh game in a match with two-day games.
If Hane wins the final game,this will be the sixth ‘miraculous fightback' in Japanese tournament go. The game is scheduled for 22 and 23 July.

The final position
(the marked stone was the last move)

Link to Honinbo title

Yamashita wins first game in Gosei title match
　Yamashita Keigo Kisei has made a good start in his challenge to Cho U for the 33rd Gosei title,winning the first game,which was played on 11 July. Taking black,Yamashita secured a resignation after 155 moves. Yamashita shone in the two areas that are Cho's forte: ko fighting and life and death. Regarding the former,he started a ko with just the right timing and played a well-judged ko threat that gave adequate compensation for the ko. As for the latter,the game ended after an uncharacteristic mistake by Cho,when he let Yamashita kill a group by setting up a five-point large eye (nakade).
　 The second game will be played on 27 July.
　 Cho U had a big lead over Yamashita in previous encounters,having won 22 games and lost 14 before this match started. He has also won two out of the three title matches (all in the Oza tournament) that they have played. This is Yamashita's chance to redress the balance.

Link to Gosei title

Iyama to challenge for Meijin title
　Iyama Yuta 7-dan won the Meijin League with one game to go when Cho Chikun 9-dan defeated Yamada Kimio 9-dan on 10 July (Cho had black and won by 2.5 points). Yamada,who had been in sole second place,dropped to 4-3,which put him out of the running even if Iyama were to lose his final game.
　 Iyama turned 19 on 24 May this year. He will be not only the youngest player ever to challenge for the Meijin title,but the first teenager to challenge for any of the current top seven titles. He breaks the record of Cho Chikun,who challenged for the 24th Oza title in 1976 at the age of 20. (However,Cho won the 12th Pro Best Ten title,which at the time was ranked higher than the Oza title,in 1975 when he was 18.)
　 The day after winning the league,Iyama was promoted to 8-dan. The title match with Cho U will begin on 4 September

Iyama wins 1st Daiwa Securities Grand Champion tournament
　Immediately after Iyama earned the right to challenge Cho U for the Meijin title,there was a preliminary skirmish between the two when they met in the final of the 1st Daiwa Securities Grand Champion tournament.
　 The Grand Champion tournament is a Net tournament for the top place-getters in the three Daiwa Securities cups,the 1st Daiwa Ladies,and the Daiwa Amateur tournament,all played on the Net. The game that attracted most attention was actually one in the second round,in which Kobayashi Izumi,winner of the Ladies Cup,clashed with her husband Cho U. As mentioned in our report at the beginning of May,this game was won by Cho. After that,Cho beat Kono Rin in one semifinal and Iyama Yuta beat Komatsu Hideki in the other. In the final,played on 13 July,Iyama (B) defeated Cho by resignation. This could be a good omen for Iyama,as previously he had scored only one win against Cho in six encounters.

Kisei Leagues
　Iyama Yuta 7-dan has taken the sole lead,at least temporarily,by defeating Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan in the A League. In a game played on 10 July,Iyama (W) defeated Kataoka by resignation.
　 In the B League,Cho U has the sole lead with two wins. Everyone else has lost at least one game.

The 33rd Kisei League
in the chart
*B=playing black
*1=win, 0=loss

Link to Kisei title

Cho U reaches Oza Play-off
　The first semifinal in the 56th Oza tournament was held on 7 July. Cho U,taking black,defeated Yuki Satoshi 9-dan by resignation. His opponent in the play-off to decide the challenger to Yamashita Keigo Oza will be the winner of the semifinal between Iyama Yuta 8-dan and Nakano Hironari 9-dan.

64th Honinbo League
　The first of the four vacant seats in the 64th Honinbo League has gone to Nakaonoda Tomomi 9-dan,who defeated Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan in the play-off,held on 10 July. Taking white,Nakaonoda won by resignation. This will be his first Honinbo league,but he has played in a Kisei league.
　 The second vacant seat was taken by So Yokoku 8-dan,who,taking white,defeated Ogata Masaki 9-dan on 17 July. So won his way back into the league immediately after dropping out. He will be playing in his fifth league in a row.
　 The pairings in the other play-offs are: Cho U Meijin vs. Kono Rin Tengen and Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan vs. Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan.

Yamashiro reaches 1,000 wins

　 On 7 July,Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan became the 10th player in Japan to score 1,000 wins in official games. His record at this point was 1,000 wins,492 losses,7 jigos.

Women's Meijin League
　This year,in its 21st term,the Women's Meijin League has instituted a league as the final section of the tournament. This is a first for a women's tournament in Japan. There are seven players in the leagues,which means each player plays six games,and the league will last from July to December.
　 The first game in the league was played between Kato Keiko 6-dan and Mukai Chiaki 2-dan on 10 July and was won by the former. In the second,played on the 17th,Umezawa Yukari,Women's Kisei,defeated Yoshida Mika 8-dan (B).

The 21th Women's Meijin Title Match
1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

 Link to Women's Meijin title

Judan: semifinal pairings in Winners' Section
　The semifinalists in the Winners' Section of the 47th Judan tournament have been decided. The semifinal pairings are: So Yokoku 8-dan vs. Cho Chikun,25th Honinbo,and Cho U Meijin vs. Akiyama Jiro 8-dan. In his quarterfinal,Cho Chikun defeated Iyama Yuta 7-dan in a game played on 17 July.

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July　9

Gu of China wins 21st Fujitsu Cup
　　Gu Li 9-dan of China has broken the decade-long monopoly of the Fujitsu Cup held by Korea by defeating Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan in the final, held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on 7 July. Taking black, Gu forced a resignation after 205 moves. Yi was the player who started the ten-year winning streak for Korea.
　 This year, the latter stages of the Fujitsu Cup were dominated by China, with all three of its players who made it to the quarterfinals winning their games. Chang Hao beat the then titleholder Pak Yeong-hun, while Gu Li showed impressive form in defeating Yi Se-tol. Liu Xing also won, so that meant that China was guaranteed a place in the final. Gu certainly made the most of it.
　 Surprisingly, this is only China’s second victory in the Fujitsu Cup (the first was by Ma Xiaochun in 1995). It has lagged behind Korea and Japan in the individual international championships, having won a total of 13 to Korea’s 55 and Japan’s 20, but recently it has been making up for lost time. Judging by its recent results, China has a good chance of catching up with Japan before too many more years pass.
　 In the play-off for third place, Chang Hao beat Liu Xing. First prize is 15 million yen, second is five million, third, three million, and fourth 1.5 million. The winner of third place gets a personal seed into the next cup.
　 In the victory interview, Gu spoke of his joy at winning the Fujitsu Cup in a landmark year for China. In his hometown of Chongqing, he was one of the runners in the relay of the Olympic torch. He was also happy to even the score at four wins each in his rivalry with Yi Ch’ang-ho.

Quarterfinals (Beijing, 7 June)
Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (W) d. Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Gu Li 9-dan (China) (B) d. Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) by 3.5 points.
Liu Xing 7-dan (China) (B) defeated Cho Han-seung 9-dan (Korea) by 1.5 points

Semifinals (5 July)
Gu (W) d. Chang by resign.
Yi (W) d. Liu by resig.

Final (7 July)
Gu (B) d. Yi by resig.

Play-off for 3rd place
Chang d. Liu.

Hane recovers from bad start in Honinbo title match
　　Hane Naoki made a terrible start in the 63rd Honinbo title match, losing the first three games to the defending champion Takao Shinji, but he has made a good recovery, saving kadobans in the fourth and fifth games.

Results to date:
Game 1 (14, 15 May). Takao (B) by 3.5 points.
Game 2 (27, 28 May). Takao (W) by resignation.
Game 3 (11, 12 June). Takao (B) by resignation.
Game 4 (23, 24 June). Hane (B) by resignation.
Game 4 (2, 3 July). Hane (W) by resignation.

Iyama close to winning Meijin League
　　Iyama Yuta 7-dan has kept winning in the 33rd Meijin League and is now very close to securing the right to challenge Cho U for the title. Iyama scored two key wins recently, defeating Cho Chikun 9-dan in the sixth round, then Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan in the seventh. He is the only player with only one loss, so he has a big advantage. If he defeats Yoda Norimoto 9-dan in the final round, he will win the league outright. Even if he loses, he is guaranteed to tie for first place, but his only rival, Yamada Kimio 9-dan, still has two games to play, so there is more pressure on him. His remaining opponents are Cho Chikun and Chien Kaei.

The 33rd Meijin Challenger's League
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

New Kisei Leagues get under way
　　The 33rd Kisei Leagues started on 5 June. In the A League, Cho Chikun, Iyama Yuta and Takao Shinji have made good starts; in the B League, Cho U, Yoda Norimoto, Hane Naoki, and Honda Kunihisa have all scored a win.

The 33rd Kisei League
in the chart
*B=playing black
*1=win, 0=loss

1st World Mind Sports Games
　　Board games will enter a new era with the holding of the 1st World Mind Sports Games in Beijing in October, after the summer Olympics.
　　 For the first time, the major board games — or mind sports — will gather in one place to hold large-scale international tournaments. Represented will be go, bridge, chess, checkers, and Chinese chess.
　　 There will be six major go tournaments: men’s individual, men’s team, women’s individual, women’s team, open, and Pair Go, spread over two weeks
　　 The games are being held under the auspices of IMSA, the International Mind Sports Association, which comprises the international organizations for go (the International Go Federation) bridge, chess, and checkers. The actual organization is being carried out by the Chinese Weiqi Association, which has done a remarkable job of securing government backing (from the Chinese national and Beijing city governments) and which has also been very successful in securing sponsorship. Participants in the go events have to pay a light participation fee and transportation, but all their expenses during their stay are being borne by the sponsors.
　　 The Japanese have announced the selection of a 20-member team, made up of 12 male and eight female players. Judging by the comments made at the press conference announcing the selections, the main weight is going to be placed on the team events.
　　 Members of the Japanese teams are:

Male) Yamashita Keigo, Takao Shinji, Kono Rin, Kobayashi Satoru, Hane Naoki, Yoda Norimoto, Hikosaka Naoto, Imamura Toshiya, Mimura Tomoyasu, Yamada Kimio, Sakai Hideyuki, and Iyama Yuta

Female) Umezawa Yukari, Suzuki Ayumi, Aoki Kikuyo, Konishi Kazuko, Koyama Terumi, Tsukuda Akiko, Yashiro Kumiko, and Mannami Kana.

Ogawa Tomoko scores 500 wins

　　When she defeated Mitani Tetsuya in a game in the C Preliminary of the Kisei tournament on 5 June, Ogawa Tomoko 6-dan became the second woman player in Japan to score 500 wins in official games (the first was Sugiuchi Kazuko 8-dan). Ogawa’s record at this point was 500 wins, 511 losses, 9 jigos. She became a professional in 1970.

Cho Chikun scores 1,300 wins

　　 Cho Chikun has reached a notable landmark by becoming only the second player in Japan to score 1,300 wins. He did this by defeating O Rissei in the opening round of the new Kisei Leagues on 19 June. At this point, Cho had an impressive winning percentage of 65.6 (he had 681 losses, 3 jigos and 4 no-results). It shouldn’t be long before he overtakes Rin Kaiho, who is in first place with 1,324 wins.
No one in Japan is close to Cho Hun-hyeon of Korea, who has scored 1,765 wins. In second place in Korea is his disciple, Yi Ch'ang-ho, with 1,411 wins. In Korea, players play more games per games per year and they have shorter time limits.

Hane scores 1,100 wins

　　 Hane Yasumasa 9-dan, father of Hane Naoki, reached this landmark on the same day as Cho reached his. His record at this point was 1,100 wins, 568 losses, 5 jigos (65.9%).

Japanese seats in 3rd Toyota & Denso Cup
The last of the nonseeded Japanese seats in the 4th Toyota & Denso Cup, which is scheduled to start on 23 August, were decided last week. The eight players winning these seats are: Hane Naoki 9-dan, Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan, Yamada Kimio 9-dan, Kono Rin Tengen, Imamura Toshiya 9-dan, Kim Shujun 8-dan, Ogata Masaki 9-dan, and Yoda Norimoto 9-dan. The seeded players are: Cho U Meijin, Yamashita Keigo Kisei, and Takao Shinji Honinbo.

Top game winners
　 Just after the halfway point for the year (as of 3 July), the top winners in Japan are:

1. Iyama Yuta: 29 wins, 9 losses
2. Hane Naoki: 22-6; Takao Shinji: 22-13
4. Kono Rin: 20-8; Cho Chikun: 20-17
6. Cho U: 19-5; Yamada Kimio: 19-10
8. Yamashita Keigo: 18-10; Ko Iso: 18-11

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June　5

Takao takes lead in Honinbo title match
　 This year’s Honinbo title match features yet another clash between two members of the quartet that has been leading Japanese go in the 21st century, but it is the first match between Takao Shinji and Hane Naoki (the other two members of the quartet are Cho U and Yamashita Keigo).
　 The match promised to be a hard-fought one, as both players were in outstanding form. A little earlier in the year, Takao had made a successful challenge for the Judan title, defeating Cho Chikun 3-0. This made him once again a dual title-holder. Hane, who had not appeared in a best-of-seven for two years, was in just as good form. He won the Honinbo League before the final round was even played and his record for the year before the title match started was 16 wins to just two losses. He is the same age (31) as Takao and became a professional in the same year. His achievements, with two Kisei titles to his name, are not much inferior to Takao’s (three Honinbo titles and one Meijin title), considering that the Kisei is the top title. Results in games between the two were reasonably close, with Takao leading 8-5.
　 However, Hane’s well-balanced, territory-oriented go has not had an impact on Takao’s bold and resolute style, which is based on thickness. In the first game, which was played in Takigawa City in Hokkaido, Hane got a weak group that Takao was able to harass sufficiently to take a territorial lead. In the second game, played at Kasenkyo hot spring in Hyogo Prefecture, Takao once again used thickness to good effect and forced a resignation after 146 moves.
　 Hane’s challenge is in trouble. If he doesn’t recover in the third game, to be played on 11 and 12 June, he will be faced with a kadoban.

Results to date:
Game One (14, 15 May). Takao (B) won by 3.5 points.
Game Two (27, 28 May). Takao (W) won by resignation.

Korea, China and Japan share quarterfinal seats in 13th LG Cup
　　The opening rounds of the 13th LG Cup were held in Korea at the end of May and once again the hosts scored a triumph, taking half of the semifinal seats. Perhaps this is only natural though, as the home side had an overwhelming advantage, with half the places in the 32-player opening round. China, which started out with 11 players, has won two quarterfinal seats. The other two went to Japan; since it had only four players, this is a creditable effort.
　　In any international tournament, there are bound to be many notable pairings, so we will just mention two of the most interesting results. First of all, Yi Se-tol has maintained the edge over Cho U that he secured when he beat him in the final of the 3rd Toyota & Denso Cup. Kono Rin made the quarterfinals for the second year in a row after beating last year’s runner-up, the newest Korean prodigy Han Sang-hun, in the first round. Han made an extraordinary debut last year in the LG and Samsung Cups, but he may find it hard to match those performances.
　　The quarterfinals are scheduled for November. Below are the full results for the first two rounds.

Round One (26 May)
Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Cho U 9-dan (Japan) by resignation.
Cho Chikun 9-dan (Japan) (B) d. Kang Tong-yun 7-dan (Korea) by resignation.
Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) (W) d. Kim Seung-chae 1-dan (Korea) by resignation.
Kono Rin 9-dan (Japan) (B) d. Han Sang-hun 3-dan (Korea) by resig.
Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Xie He 7-dan (China) by resig.
Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Taiwan) by 5½ points.
Cho Han-seung 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Tuo Jiaxi 3-dan (China) by resig.
Gu Li 9-dan (China) (B) d. Mok Chin-seok 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Shi Yue 4-dan (China) (W) d. Ch’oe Ch’eol-han 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (B) d. Pak Cheong-sang 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
Weon Seong-chin 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Li Tang 6-dan (China) by resig.
Pak Hong-seok 6-dan (Korea) (B) d. Wang Lei 8-dan (China) on time.
Kim Hyeong-hwan 4-dan (Korea) (B) d. Kong Jie 7-dan (China) by 1.5 points.
Kim Chi-seok 4-dan (Korea) (W) d. Wang Tao 2-dan (China) by 3.5 points.
Kim Hyeong-u 2-dan (Korea) (B) d. Qiu Jun 8-dan (China) by resig.
Wang Yao 6-dan (China) (B) d. Ch’oe Ki-hun 1-dan (Korea) by resig.

Round 2 (28 May)
Yi Ch’ang-ho (B) d. Cho Chikun by resig.
Kono (B) d. Pak Hong-seok by resig.
Yamashita (W) d. Kim Hyeong-hwan by resig.
Chang (W) d. Cho Han-seung by resig.
Pak Yeong-hun (B) d. Wang Yao by resig.
Yi Se-tol (W) d. Kim Chi-seok by resig.
Gu (B) d. Weon by 2.5 points.
Kim Hyeong-u (W) d. Shi on time.

Quarterfinal pairings
Chang vs. Pak, Gu vs. Kim, Kono vs. Yi Se-tol, Yamashita vs. Yi Ch’ang-ho.

 

Ha of Korea wins World Amateur Go Championship
　　Ha Sung-bong, a former insei at the Korean Go Association, demolished the opposition in the 29th World Amateur Go Championship, winning all eight games. Second place was taken by Guo Yuzheng of China on 7-1; Guo lost to Ha in the fifth round, so at this point Ha established himself as the favourite, as he had already beaten Tsuchimune Yoshiyuki of Japan in the fourth round. In the seventh round, Ha defeated the only other remaining undefeated player, Fernando Aguilar of Argentina.
　　Two players ended on 7-1, Guo and Aguilar; they had the same SOS (43), but Guo had a big lead in SOSOS of 307 to 300, so he took second place. Aguilar had to be content with third place, but this was still a marvelous performance, equaling the best previous result by a Western player, Ronald Schlemper’s two third places.
　　For full results, see the tournament chart given on the International Go Federation’s home page. Detailed daily reports can be found in the American Go Association’s E-Journal.

Yi Se-tol wins 20th TV Asia Cup
　　In the TV Asia Cup, held in Beijing, Yi Se-tol has triumphed for the second year in a row. This year the tournament was dominated by the three Korean representatives (Yi Se-tol was seeded), who lost only to each other.

Round 1
(1 June) Xie He 7-dan (China) (B) d. Cho U 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
(1 June) Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Cho Chikun 9-dan (Japan) by half a point.
(2 June) Cho Han-seung 9-dan (Korea) d. Li Zhe 6-dan (China) by 1.5 points.

Semifinals
(2 June) Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Xie He by resig.
(3 June) Cho Han-seung (B) d. Yi Ch'ang-ho by resig.

Final
(4 June) Yi Se-tol (W) d. Cho by 1.5 points.

 

Yamashita to challenge for Gosei title
　　In the play-off to decide the challenger to Cho U for the 33rd Gosei title, Yamashita Keigo Kisei defeated Takao Shinji Honinbo and so has a chance to make a comeback in the title he won back in 2000. In the play-off, Yamashita had white and won by 1.5 points. This will be the third title match between Cho and Yamashita; they have won one each in the Oza title.

Obituary: Sakakibara Shoji (1926–2008)
　　Sakakibara Shoji 9-dan died of emphysema on 28 April. Born in Toyohashi City in Aichi Prefecture on 2 January 1926, Sakakibara became a disciple of Fukuda Masayoshi 8-dan and Murashima Yoshinori, Honorary 9-dan, who were both disciples of Shusai. He became 1-dan in 1944 and 9-dan in 1972. He retired in 1999.
　　Sakakibara won the bottom section of the Oteai (ranking tournament) in 1946 and the top section in 1956. In 1963 he won the Prime Minister’s Cup. He played in the Meijin League once and the Honinbo League three times. He also served a number of terms as a director of the Nihon Ki-in and won the Okura Prize.

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May　12

Korea and China do well in 21st Fujitsu Cup
　The first two rounds of the 21st Fujitsu Cup were held at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya, Tokyo, in early April. Once again, Korean players dominated, taking four quarterfinal places, but China also made a strong showing, taking three places. They were joined by one player from Japan, Yoda Norimoto, making his customary single-handed effort to salvage the honour of the host country.
　 Much of the attention of the go public in Japan was focussed on the performance of Japan’s new young star, Iyama Yuta 7-dan, who is aged 18, Iyama made an excellent start, defeating Taiwan’s Zhou Junxun 9-dan, who has won an international title, but he ran into the current world’s number one, Yi Se-tol, in the second round. Although he put up a good fight, he was unable to find a chink in Yi’s armour.
　Below are full details of the opening rounds.

　　　Round One (12 April, Tokyo)
　　　Takao Shinji 9-dan (Japan) (B) defeated Mok Chin-seok 9-dan (Korea) by 1.5 points.
　　　Iyama Yuta 7-dan (Japan) (B) defeated Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Taiwan) by 1.5 points.
　　　Kono Rin 9-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Jiang Mingjiu 7-dan (USA) by resig.
　　　O Rissei 9-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Eduardo Lopez Herrero (Argentina) by resig.
　　　Cho Han-seung 9-dan (W) defeated Yamada Takuji 7-dan (Japan) by resig.
　　　Kong Jie 7-dan (W) defeated Alexandre Dinerchtein 1-dan (Russia) by 16.5 points.
　　　Kang Tong-yun 7-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Cho Sonjin 9-dan (Japan) by 9.5.
　　　Yi Yeong-ku 7-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Hu Yaoyu 8-dan (China) on time.

　　　Round Two (14 April, Tokyo)
　　　Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Kang by resig.
　　　Cho (W) defeated Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) by 6.5 points.
　　　Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Takao by 3.5 points.
　　　Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Iyama Yuta 7-dan by resig.
　　　Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (B) defeated Kono by resig.
　　　Liu Xing 7-dan (China) (W) defeated O by half a point.
　　　Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Kong by resig.
　　　Gu Li 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Yi Yeong-ku by resig.

　　　Quarterfinals (Beijing, 7 June)
　　　Pairings are: Pak vs. Chang, Gu vs. Yi Se-tol, Yoda vs. Yi Ch'ang-ho, Cho vs. Liu.

Korea dominates 6th Ing Cup
　The Ing Cup is held once every four years, in the same year as the Olympics. The opening rounds of the 6th Ing Cup were held in Shanghai from 30 April to 4 May. As we’ve come to expect, the tournament was dominated by Korea, which got three players into the semifinals. They included, not surprisingly, the two Yis, but they were joined by Ch’oe Ch’eol-han, who seems to have finally come out of his prolonged slump. The other place was taken by Liu Xing 7-dan of China, who is also doing well in the current Fujitsu Cup.
　Five players from Japan participated, but one of them, Cho U, represented Taiwan at the request of the sponsor, the Taiwan-based Ing Chang-Ki Educational Foundation. Of the five, four started in the first round and three were eliminated. Unfortunately, Cho U was paired against Cho Chikun, who was playing for Japan. The latter was the only one who had any success in the tournament; in the second round, he went on to beat Chang Hao 9-dan of China, the winner of the 5th Ing Cup, but he lost to Yi Ch'ang-ho of Korea, winner of the 4th Ing Cup, in the quarterfinals. O Meien, who made the best eight in the 5th Ing Cup, was the only player from Japan seeded into the second round, but was unable to duplicate his good form in the previous tournament.
　The Ing Cup is run by unique rules. The komi is 8 points, which is equivalent to 7.5 points in the　Japanese system (black wins a jigo). The time allowance is three and a half hours per player, with no byo-yomi. If you run out of time, you have to buy an extra 35 minutes for two points of komi; you can do this　three times, so in the worst case you could run the komi up to 14 points. In the game between Hu Yaoyu and　Yi Se-tol in the first round, Hu bought three time extensions, so a one-point win for him turned into a　five-point loss.
　Detailed results of the first three rounds are given below. The semifinals are scheduled for September, but exact dates have not yet been published.

　　　Round 1 (Shanghai, 30 April)
　　　Gu Li 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
　　　Wang Lei 8-dan (China) (W) defeated Takao Shinji 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
　　　Cho Chikun 9-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Cho U 9-dan (Chinese Taipei) by 1 point.
　　　Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Hu Yaoyu 8-dan (China) by 5 points.
　　　Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Chinese Taipei) by resig.
　　　Xie He 7-dan (China) (W) defeated Yi Yeong-ku 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
　　　Liu Xing 7-dan (China) (W) defeated Jiang Mingjiu 7-dan (USA) by resig.
　　　Piao Wenyao 5-dan (China) (W) defeated Taranu Catalin 5-dan (Romania) by 11 points.

　　　Round 2 (Shanghai, 2 May)
　　　Cho Chikun (W) defeated Chang Hao 9-dan (China) by 3 points.
　　　Liu (W) defeated O Meien 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
　　　Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Xie by resig.
　　　Kong Jie 7-dan (China) (B) defeated Wang by resig.
　　　Yi Se-tol (B) defeated Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) by resig.
　　　Pak (B) defeated Peng Quan 7-dan (China) by 1 point.
　　　Piao (W) defeated Song T’ae-kon 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
　　　Ch’oe Ch’eol-han 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Gu by resig.

　　　Round 3 (Shanghai, 4 May)
　　　Yi Ch’ang-ho (B) defeated Cho Chikun by 3 points.
　　　Yi Se-tol (W) defeated Kong by 11 points.
　　　Liu (W) defeated Pak by resig.
　　　Ch’oe (B) defeated Piao by resig.

　　　Semifinal pairings (September)
　　　Yi vs. Yi, Liu vs. Ch’oe.

Iyama keeps sole lead in Meijin League
　A newcomer has taken the sole lead in the 33rd Meijin League and kept it for two rounds. The 18-year-old Iyama Yuta 7-dan took the lead when he defeated Chien Kaei in the fourth round and maintained it when he beat Ko Iso in the fifth round on 1 May. However, if he falters, five players with just two losses will come into the reckoning. At this stage, Kobayashi Satoru is a shade ahead of the others, as he is the only player besides Iyama with four wins.

The 33rd Meijin Challenger's League
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

RNK	Player	Takao	KIMI	HIDE	KOBA	YODA	KO	Cho	Chin	Iyama	Score
1	Takao Shinji	―	1 Apr.	B May	1 Jan.	B0 Feb.	Aug.	B1 Dec.	July	B0 Mar.	3-2
2	Yamada Kimio	B0 Apr.	―	June	B1 Feb.	0 Mar.	B1 Dec.	July	B Aug.	1 Jan.	3-2
3	Sakai Hideyuki	May	B June	―	0 Mar.	B1 Jan.	July	B Aug.	1 Dec.	B0 Feb.	2-2
4	Kobayashi Satoru	B0 Jan.	0 Feb.	B1 Mar.	―	1 Dec.	B June	1 Apr.	B1 May	July	4-2
5	Yoda Norimoto	1 Feb.	B1 Mar.	0 Jan.	B0 Dec.	―	0 Apr.	B May	June	B Aug.	2-3
6	KO Iso	B Aug.	0 Dec.	B July	June	B1 Apr.	―	0 Feb.	B1 Mar.	0 May	2-3
7	Cho Chikun	0 Dec.	B July	Aug.	B0 Apr.	May	B1 Feb.	―	1 Jan.	B June	2-2
7	Chin Kaei	B July	Aug.	B0 Dec.	0 May	B June	0 Mar.	B0 Jan.	―	Apr.	0-4
7	Iyama Yuta	1 Mar.	B0 Jan.	1 Feb.	B July	Aug.	B1 May	June	B1 Apr.	―	4-1

Kisei League places
　The first of the four vacant places in the 33rd Kisei Leagues was taken by Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan. He has been joined by Honda Kunihisa 9-dan (Kansai Ki-in), who defeated O Meien 9-dan in a play-off held on 10 April, Yuki Satoshi 9-dan, who defeated Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan on 17 May, and Kono Rin Tengen, who defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan on 24 April. Kono will finally get to make his debut in a league after losing five play-offs.

Japanese fail in LG Cup preliminary
　Quite a large number of players from the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in took part in the qualifying tournament for the 13th LG Cup, held in Seoul from 20 to 25 April. The LG Cup is one of just two tournaments, the other being the Samsung Cup, which holds an open qualifying tournament (open to all professionals, that is), instead of holding separate qualifying tournaments within each country. The catch is that there are no game fees, so international visitors have to pay for their own travel and accommodation. However, the reward is a chance to compete in a top international tournament, so there are plenty of takers. Sixteen of the places in the first round of the main tournament are up for grabs in this qualifying, with the other 16 being national and tournament seeds.
　 Last year, Japan won one place, the successful player being Ryu Shikun 9-dan. This year, unfortunately, no one was successful, though Nakano Hironari 9-dan and Iyama Yuta 7-dan made it to the final round of the qualifying tournament. This qualifying tournament is a very high-level tournament in its own right, with plenty of top players, including former world champions, taking part.
　 Despite the failure to gain seats in the main tournament, not all was gloom for the Japanese contingent. In fact, one woman player, Tamura Chiaki 2-dan of the Kansai Ki-in, scored a remarkable success by defeating Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan of Korea, who has won six world titles.

Gosei challenger: Takao or Yamashita
　The second semifinal in the 33rd Gosei tournament was played on 7 April. Takao Shinji Honinbo (B) defeated Yamada Kimio 9-dan by resignation. Takao will meet Yamashita Keigo Kisei in the play-off to decide the challenger to Cho U. If Takao wins, he will be playing his third successive title match, after the Judan and the upcoming Honinbo.

Husband-wife clash won by Cho U
　In a rare clash between husband and wife, Cho U Meijin defeated Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan in a game played on 19 April in the second round of the Net tournament, the 1st Daiwa Securities Cup Grand Champion tournament. Early in the morning before the game, Izumi had a dream in which she had already got a couple of weak groups by the 30th move, so she was satisfied when she kept the position even past 50 moves in the actual game.

Marriage between professionals
　Two more professionals have tied the knot. On 4 April, Ando Kazushige 3-dan married Nakajima Mieko 1-dan. The go-between seems to have been NHK: the two got to know each other through their jobs as game recorder and assistant commentator on the NHK Cup program that is shown at noon every Sunday. Apparently, however, Ando proposed in a chartered helicopter.
　 There are 16 professional couples in Japan.

Change in insei system
　At the beginning of April, a change was made in the Nihon Ki’in’s insei system, with the previous five classes being increased to seven (named A to G), although the bottom G class will not be started until insei numbers increase a little more. The aim was to reduce the number of people in each class, so that changeover would be more rapid. Every month the top three to five players in each class are promoted to a higher class and the bottom three to five players are demoted. One benefit of this, according to Sakai Maki 8-dan, one of the insei instructors, is that inseis will play a wider range of opponents, and the increased opportunities for promotion (and demotion) will provide more incentive. (The other insei instructors are Nakaonoda Tomomi 9-dan and Kono Takayuki 7-dan.)
　 In the new system, the A, B and C classes have ten members each, D has 14, and E and F should have 16. Actually, at present F has 24, so the G class should be opened soon.
　 The inseis play league games every Saturday and Sunday. The immediate target for the players in A class is the summer promotion: the insei with the best results from April to June will be promoted to 1-dan.

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April　9

Takao wins Judan, becomes dual titleholder again
　The 46th Judan title match was surprisingly one-sided, with the challenger, Takao Shinji Honinbo, defeating the titleholder, Cho Chikun, 3-0. This was Takao’s first Judan title and it made him a dual titleholder once again.
　 The third game was played at the Kuroyon Royal Hotel in Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture on 3 April. Cho Chikun didn’t seem to make any serious mistakes, but Takao safely negotiated his way through difficult middle-game fighting and entered the endgame with more territory and solid positions, so Cho resigned after 145 moves.
　 This was Cho’s third loss in less than a month, following his setbacks in the Kisei title match and the NHK Cup. He’s having trouble adding to his record tally of 71 titles.

　　Game 1 (6 March). Takao (B) won by resignation.
　　Game 2 (27 March). Takao (W) won by resignation.
　　Game 3 (3 April). Takao (B) won by resignation.

Korea wins Cheongkwanjang Cup
　The final round of the 6th Cheongkwanjang Cup, an international women’s team tournament, was held in Beijing, starting on 1 April. The number four Korean player, Yi Min-chin 5-dan (aged 23), won three games in a row to dispose of the remaining opposition, so the Korean team won this tournament for the second year in a row. The five members of her team, including Pak Chi-eun 9-dan, who did not have to play, share the first prize of 75 million won.

　　Beijing Round
　　Game 11 (1 April). Yi Min-chin 5-dan (W) defeated Tang Yi 2-dan (China) by resignation.
　　Game 12 (2 April). Yi (B) d. Kato Keiko 6-dan (Japan) by resignation.
　　Game 13 (3 April). Yi (B) d. Rui Naiwei 9-dan (China) by 8.5 points.

Final round of Honinbo League
　Although Hane Naoki had already won the 63rd Honinbo League in the sixth round, the final round was still important for deciding the players who would keep their seats in the league. All the games in this round were played on 3 April.
　 Hane didn’t relax in his final game; taking white, he defeated Yoda Norimoto by 3.5 points. Yoda ended up with a score of 3-4, which should have put him in danger of losing his place. However, he was saved by his number one rank in the league.
　 The big surprise of this round was the loss of Cho U Meijin, the previous Honinbo, to Mizokami Tomochika 8-dan. Taking black, Mizokami forced a resignation. Although he had the same score as Yoda, 3-4, Cho’s lower rank meant that he was bumped out of the league.
　 Yamashita Kimio 9-dan improved his position in the upcoming league by defeating O Meien 9-dan. Yamada had black and won by resignation. He will be ranked number two in the 64th league.
　Yamashita Keigo Kisei made sure he kept his league place by defeating So Yokoku 8-dan. Playing white, Yamashita secured a resignation.

The 63rd Honinbo League
Title holder: Takao Shinji
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

RNK	Player	Yoda	So	Yamada	Cho	Yama	Hane	O	Mizo	Score
4	Yoda Norimoto	―	B0 Nov.	W1 Feb.	B1 Dec.	W0 Jan.	B0 Apr.	W0 Oct.	B1 Mar.	3-4
-	So Yokoku	W1 Nov.	―	B1 Dec.	W0 Feb.	B0 Apr.	B0 Jan.	B0 Mar.	W0 Oct.	2-5
2	Yamada Kimio	B0 Feb.	W0 Dec.	―	B1 Nov.	W1 Mar.	B1 Oct.	W1 Apr.	B0 Jan.	4-3
-	Cho U	W0 Dec.	B1 Feb.	W0 Nov.	―	B1 Oct.	W0 Mar.	B1 Jan.	W0 Apr.	3-4
3	Yamashita Keigo	B1 Jan.	W1 Apr.	B0 Mar.	W0 Oct.	―	B0 Nov.	W1 Dec.	B1 Feb.	4-3
1	Hane Naoki	W1 Apr.	B1 Jan.	W0 Oct.	B1 Mar.	W1 Nov.	―	B1 Feb.	W1 Dec.	6-1
-	O Meien	B1 Oct.	W1 Mar.	B0 Apr.	W0 Jan.	B0 Dec.	W0 Feb.	―	B1 Nov.	3-4
-	Mizokami Tomochika	W0 Mar.	B1 Oct.	W1 Jan.	B1 Apr.	W0 Feb.	B0 Dec.	W0 Nov.	―	3-4

Ko Iso wins 1st Yugen Cup Elite League
　This is a new tournament started with the aim of raising the level of young players by giving them an opportunity to play with top players. Fifty players played in a six-round league, starting in October last year and concluding in March. The participants were a mixture of senior players, including one current titleholder, Kono Rin Tengen, and former titleholders such as Kobayashi Koichi, O Rissei and O Meien, and young, low-ranked players (14 1-dans and 10 2-dans, for example).
　Prizes were awarded for 1st to 5th places, but six players actually ended up with 6-0 scores, and the winner on SOS was Ko Iso 7-dan. The other unbeaten players were:

　　2nd: Ryu Shikun 9-dan
　　3rd: Xie Yimin, Women’s Honinbo
　　4th: Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan
　　5th: O Rissei 9-dan
　　6th: Iyama Yuta 7-dan.

　(Incidentally, SOS or sum of opponents’ scores didn’t mean very much in this tournament. A look at the chart shows that the tournament was not run by the Swiss system, that is, pairings were made at random throughout the tournament. For example, a player with five wins was paired against a player with one win in the final round. Presumably the reason for this was to give the younger players as many chances as possible to play senior players.)

First Kisei League place decided
　The first play-off for a place in the 33rd Kisei Leagues was held on 3 April. Taking black, Kataoka Satoshi 9-dan defeated Miyamoto Yoshihisa 9-dan by resignation. Aged 68, Miyamoto missed out on his chance to make his debut in a league. Kataoka has played in many leagues, of course, but this will be his first Kisei league (the tournament switched to the league system in its 25th term).
　Pairings in the other three play-offs are: Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan vs. Kono Rin Tengen, O Meien 9-dan vs. Honda Kunihisa 9-dan, and Yuki Satoshi 9-dan vs. Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan.

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March　31

Yamashita defends 32nd Kisei title
　　Yamashita Keigo has won the Kisei title for the third year in a row and the fourth time overall, but he had to overcome a stubborn fightback by Cho Chikun. The challenger won two games in a row in quite convincing fashion after falling behind 1-3 and threatened to pull off another of the ‘miraculous upsets’ for which he was so well known when he was younger. 　
　To resume the story after our previous report, in the sixth game, Cho took an early lead when he invaded and secured life for his group even though it came under heavy attack. This was a demonstration of the shinogi skills for which he has always been noted. A lot of things happened in the game after that, including a large-scale seki, but he never surrendered the lead.
　　The final game was one furious fight from beginning to end, with Yamashita displaying the power conspicuous when he first won the Kisei title from O Rissei. After having raised the excitement level of the match with his comeback, Cho finally ran out of steam and had to resign. The former monarch of best-of-sevens fell just short of recapturing his former glory.
　　Yamashita wins the top prize in Japanese go, 42 million yen. Whatever happens to him in the next nine months, he will still have had a good year in 2008.

　　Game 6 (13, 14 March). Cho (B) by 4.5 points.
　　Game 7 (19, 20 March). Yamashita (W) by resignation.

Kono Rin wins NEC Cup
　　Kono Rin Tengen has shown that he is not a one-title specialist by winning the 27th NEC Cup. In the final, held in Tokyo on 8 March, he feated Cho Sonjin 9-dan by resignation with black. This is his first important title to add to his three Tengen titles and one junior title. With a first prize of 17 million yen, the NEC Cup financially outranks such major tournaments as the Fujitsu Cup and the Judan title.

Cho U wins NHK Cup
　　In the final of the 55th NHK Cup, telecast on 23 March, Cho U Meijin defeated Cho Chikun Judan, last year’s winner, by half a point to win this title for the third time. The game was, of course, played before the final Kisei game. Cho Chikun will be frustrated at missing two chances to add to his record tally of titles. For his part, Cho U has an enviable record in the NHK Cup: he has reached the final three times and has been victorious each time.
　 Both players will represent Japan in this year’s TV Asia Cup.

Chinese players dominate Chunlan title
　 　In the opening rounds of the 7th Chunlan Cup, held at the Hangzhou branch of the Chinese Go Association, Chinese players scored one of heir biggest successes ever, taking seven of the quarterfinal places. The only non-Chinese player surviving the massacre is Yi Ch’ang-ho of Korea. He will be a formidable obstacle to overcome, but, with a 7-to-1 advantage, the Chinese must fancy their chances of winning their own tournament for the second time.

　　Round 1 (15 March)
　　Takao Shinji 9-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Zhang Li 4-dan (China) by resignation.
　　Wang Yao 6-dan (China) (B) defeated Kono Rin 9-dan (Japan) by resignation.
　　Ding Wei 9-dan (China) (B) defeated Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) by resignation.
　　Chen Yaoye 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan (Japan) by resignation.
　　Cha Min-su (Jimmy Cha) 4-dan (North America) (B) defeated Imamura Toshiya 9-dan (Japan) by resignation.
　　Mok Chin-seok 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Taiwan) by 5.5 points.
　　Wang Xi 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Chen Shiyuan 7-dan (Taiwan) by resignation.
　　Weon Seong-chin 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Cristian Pop (Europe) by resignation.

　　Round 2 (17 March)
　　Ding (W) defeated Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) by resignation.
　　Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Chen Yaoye by 3.5 points.
　　Gu Li 9-dan (China) (B) defeated Weon by resignation.
　　Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Mok by resignation.
　　Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (B) defeated Wang Yao by resignation.
　　Kong Jie 7-dan (China) (W) defeated Takao by 5.5 points.
　　Huang Yizhong 6-dan (China) (W) defeated Cha by 5.5 points.
　　Xie He 7-dan (China) (B) defeated Wang Xi by resignation.

33rd Meijin League
　Some players have played five games, some only three and the others four in the current Meijin League, so it’s a bit hard to say who has the lead. The only players with one loss, Iyama Yuta 7-dan and Cho Chikun Judan, are both on 2-1, but there are six players with only two losses.

The 33rd Meijin Challenger's League
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

RNK	Player	Takao	KIMI	HIDE	KOBA	YODA	KO	Cho	Chin	Iyama	Score
1	Takao Shinji	―	1 Apr.	B May	1 Jan.	B0 Feb.	Aug.	B1 Dec.	July	B0 Mar.	3-2
2	Yamada Kimio	B0 Apr.	―	June	B1 Feb.	0 Mar.	B1 Dec.	July	B Aug.	1 Jan.	3-2
3	Sakai Hideyuki	May	B June	―	0 Mar.	B1 Jan.	July	B Aug.	1 Dec.	B0 Feb.	2-2
4	Kobayashi Satoru	B0 Jan.	0 Feb.	B1 Mar.	―	1 Dec.	B June	Apr.	B May	July	2-2
5	Yoda Norimoto	1 Feb.	B1 Mar.	0 Jan.	B0 Dec.	―	Apr.	B May	June	B Aug.	2-2
6	KO Iso	B Aug.	0 Dec.	B July	June	B Apr.	―	0 Feb.	B1 Mar.	May	1-2
7	Cho Chikun	0 Dec.	B July	Aug.	B Apr.	May	B1 Feb.	―	1 Jan.	B June	2-1
7	Chin Kaei	B July	Aug.	B0 Dec.	May	B June	0 Mar.	B0 Jan.	―	Apr.	0-3
7	Iyama Yuta	1 Mar.	B0 Jan.	1 Feb.	B July	Aug.	B May	June	B Apr.	―	2-1

Link to　Meijin Title

Yamashita reaches Gosei play-off
　On 27 March, Yamashita Keigo Kisei defeated Yoda Norimoto 9-dan in the first semifinal of the 33rd Gosei title. Taking black, Yamashita won by resignation.
　His opponent in the play-off to decide the challenger to Cho U Gosei will be the winner of the other semifinal between Takao Shinji Honinbo and Yamada Kimio 9-dan. 　

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March　5

Yamashita takes lead in 32nd Kisei title match, but Cho fights back
　Yamashita Keigo seemed well on track to defending his title when he swept to a 3-1 lead, but Cho Chikun is at his best with his back to the wall. He fought back strongly in the fifth game and scored a convincing win, so no one will be writing him off yet.

　Game 1 (12, 13 Jan., Sao Paulo). Yamashita (W) by resig.
　Game 2 (30, 31 Jan.). Cho (W) by resig.
　Game 3 (7, 8 Feb.). Yamashita (W) by resig.
　Game 4 (21, 22 Feb.). Yamashita (B) by resig.
　Game 5 (27, 28 Feb.). Cho (B) by 3.5 points.

Takao wins first game in Judan title match
　In what is his second challenge for the Judan title and his first match with Cho Chikun, Takao Shinji Honinbo has made a good start by winning the opening game of the 46th best-of-five Judan title match. The game was played at Iwamura Hot Spring in Niigata on 6 March. Takao had black and won by resignation after 187 moves. The game ended in a capturing race that Takao won by one move.
　 Takao became the challenger by defeating Cho U in the play-off between the winners of the losers’ and winners’ sections of the tournament. The play-off was held at the Nihon Ki-in on 7 February; taking white, Takao won by 6.5 points.
The second game of the title match will be played on 27 March.

Yi Se-tol wins 12th LG Cup
　It’s safe to say that most go fans, except for die-hard supporters of Yi Se-tol, were cheering for Pak Sang-hun in the final of the 12th LG Cup. After all, he was the first 1-dan ever to reach the final of an international tournament. Even though subsequently promoted to 2-dan, he still had a chance to set a record for the lowest-ranked player to win an international title.
　 Han made a good start in the best-of-three final, winning the first game (played on 25 February). However, Yi Se-tol is not the world’s current number one for nothing. He fought back to win the second (27th) and third (28th) games and so take the title. His prize is 250 million won (about $270,000). Han had to console himself with the second prize of 80 million won.

China wins 9th Nong Shim Cup
　Thanks to the efforts of its fourth player, Chang Hao 9-dan, China scored its first victory in the Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup. Following on his win in the final game of the Pusan Round, played in late November 2007 (see our previous report for details), Chang polished off the remaining three players in the Japanese and Korean teams in the Shanghai Round, held in mid-February. This series had been virtually monopolized by Korea, with just one loss, in the 7th series when Japan won.

　Shanghai Round
　Game 11 (19 Feb.). Chang (B) defeated Takao Shinji 9-dan (Japan) by 2.5 points.
　Game 12 (20 Feb.). Chang (W) defeated Yi Ch’ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) by half a point.
　Game 13 (21 Feb.). Chang (B) defeated Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) by resig.

Cheongkwanjang Cup second round
　Japan and Korea shared the honours in the opening round of the 6th Cheonkwanjang Cup, but China made up for its bad start by scoring the most wins in the second round, played in Seoul. Korea did next best with two wins, followed by Japan with one. Representing Japan, Aoki Kikuyo extended her winning streak to three by taking the opening game of the second round, but she got no support from her teammates.
China and Korea both have two players left for the last round, to just one for Japan.

　Seoul Round
　Game 5 (2 March). Aoki Kikuyo 8-dan (Japan) (B) defeated Kim Se-mi 2-dan (Korea) by 2.5 points.
　Game 6 (3 March). Han Weijing 2-dan (China) (B) defeated Aoki by 6.5 points.
　Game 7 (4 March) Yi Ha-chin 2-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Han by resig.
　Game 8 (5 March). Yi (B) defeated Mannami Kana 4-dan (Japan) by resig.
　Game 9 (6 March). Tang Yi 2-dan (China) (W) defeated Yi by 7.5 points.
　Game 10 (7 March). Tang (B) defeated Yashiro Kumiko 5-dan (Japan) by resig.

Xie wins 20th Women’s Meijin title
　Xie Yimin 3-dan, the 18-year-old player from Taiwan, is already fulfilling her promise. Thanks to two half-points wins, she won the 20th Women’s Meijin title from Kato Keiko 5-dan to take her second women’s title. As a double titleholder, she is now, in effect, the top woman player in Japan.
　 Xie had an excellent year last year, winning 40 games to just 16 losses, which put her third in the list for most games won and gave her the seventh-best winning percentage (70.91%). The prize for the Women’s Meijin title is 5,100,000 yen, which she can add to the 5,800,000 yen she earned for winning the Women’s Honinbo last year.
　 Altogether, there are four women’s titles in Japan, the other two being the Women’s Kisei (held by Umezawa Yukari 5-dan) and Strongest Woman Player (Suzuki Ayumi 4-dan). So far, no woman has won an open title in Japan, but if she keeps getting stronger at this rate, Xie could well be the first.

　Game 1 (13 Feb.). Xie (B) by ½.
　Game 2 (20 Feb.). Xie (W) by ½.

Umezawa Yukari defends 11th Women’s Kisei
　Although Umezawa Yukari’s career since she became a professional has run very smoothly in that her good looks rapidly established her as the face of women’s go in Japan, she was not so successful in tournaments and had a history of losing important games. That included two unsuccessful title challenges. Last year she turned that around by finally winning her first titles at the age of 33. This year she has maintained that momentum with a successful defence.
　 The challenger was Mukai Chiaki 2-dan, the youngest of the three Mukai sisters, who is known for her aggressive style. She was a little unlucky to lose the first game, but was clearly outplayed in the second.

　Game 1 (24 Jan.). Umezawa (W) by 3.5.
　Game 2 (20 Feb.). Umezawa (B) by 11.5.

Hane to challenge for Honinbo title
　In a sixth-round game, played on 6 March, Hane Naoki 9-dan defeated Cho U Meijin to take an unbeatable lead in the 63rd Honinbo League. Hane’s score is 5-1, and his nearest rivals all have three losses, so Hane has won the league regardless of his result in the final round.
Hane will make his first challenge for the Honinbo title. The match with Takao Shinji will start in May.

The 63rd Honinbo League
Title holder: Takao Shinji
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

RNK	Player	Yoda	So	Yamada	Cho	Yama	Hane	O	Mizo	Score
1	Yoda Norimoto	―	B0 Nov.	W1 Feb.	B1 Dec.	W0 Jan.	B Apr.	W0 Oct.	B1 Mar.	3-3
2	So Yokoku	W1 Nov.	―	B1 Dec.	W0 Feb.	B Apr.	B0 Jan.	B Mar.	W0 Oct.	2-3
3	Yamada Kimio	B0 Feb.	W0 Dec.	―	B1 Nov.	W1 Mar.	B1 Oct.	W Apr.	B0 Jan.	3-3
4	Cho U	W0 Dec.	B1 Feb.	W0 Nov.	―	B1 Oct.	W0 Mar.	B1 Jan.	W Apr.	3-3
5	Yamashita Keigo	B1 Jan.	W Apr.	B0 Mar.	W0 Oct.	―	B0 Nov.	W1 Dec.	B1 Feb.	3-3
5	Hane Naoki	W Apr.	B1 Jan.	W0 Oct.	B1 Mar.	W1 Nov.	―	B1 Feb.	W1 Dec.	5-1
5	O Meien	B1 Oct.	W Mar.	B Apr.	W0 Jan.	B0 Dec.	W0 Feb.	―	B1 Nov.	2-3
5	Mizokami Tomochika	W Mar.	B1 Oct.	W1 Jan.	B Apr.	W0 Feb.	B0 Dec.	W0 Nov.	―	2-4

33rd Meijin League
　Yamada Kimio 9-dan, on 3-1, has the provisional lead in the 33rd Meijin League, but three players on 2-1, Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan, Cho Chikun Judan, and Iyama Yuta 7-dan, could catch up with him. At this stage, no player is out of the running to become the challenger.

The 33rd Meijin Challenger's League
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

Link to　Meijin Title

Fujitsu Cup places
　The remaining two nonseeded Japanese places in the 21st Fujitsu Cup have gone to Yamada Takuji 7-dan and Kono Rin Tengen. The tournament gets under way on 12 April.

Top prizes
　Yamashita Keigo was awarded the 45th Shusai Prize in recognition of his success last year in winning the Kisei and Oza titles. The Kido Prize for the Most Outstanding Player of the year went to Cho U for winning the Meijin and Gosei titles.

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January 22

Liu Xing wins Japan-China Agon Kiriyama play-off
　The same players won the Japanese and Chinese versions of the Agon Kiriyama Cup in 2007, so the annual play-off was a rematch, with a chance for Cho U 9-dan to take revenge on Liu Xing 7-dan of China.
　The 9th play-off was one of the last big events of the 2007 go year, being held at the Amoy International Exhibition Hotel in Amoy, China, on 26 December. Despite Cho’s proclaimed determination to make up for his previous loss, the result was the same, a win for Liu, though this time the margin was much narrower. Taking black, Liu won by half a point. Cho had taken the lead in the middle game, but he made an uncharacteristic blunder in the endgame.
　China has now won this play-off five years in a row, which more than makes up for its bad start of four straight losses.

China and Korea even after Pusan Round of Nong Shim Cup
　Japan won just one game in the Pusan Round of the 9th Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup, so it is down to its last player, Takao Shinji. Korea and China both have two players left, so it will take a big effort from Takao, who has not yet enjoyed much success internationally, to salvage the match for Japan. At this point, with Pak Yeong-hun and Yi Ch'ang-ho waiting in the wings, Korea has to be considered the favourite, but China, with Chang Hao sitting on one win already and Gu Li still to come, must also be given a good chance.
　In a major disappointment for Japan, Yoda Norimoto, the hero of Japan’s dramatic victory in the 7th Cup – the first time Korea failed to win – was unable to meet the expectations of Japanese fans. The star of the Pusan Round was Mok Chin-seok, who won three games in a row. Mok was one of Korea’s stars earlier this century, but he then disappeared from the international scene for a couple of years. Last year he made a return to top form, doing very well on the domestic scene and regaining his place in the Korean team.
　Full results in this round follow.

　Game 5 (26 Nov.). Wang Xi 9-dan (China) (B) defeated Cho Han-seung 9-dan (Korea) by 11.5 points.
　Game 6 (27 Nov.). Yamada Kimio 9-dan (Japan) (B) defeated Wang by half a point.
　Game 7 (28 Nov.). Mok Chin-seok 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Yamada by 3.5 points.
　Game 8 (29 Nov.). Mok (W) defeated Hu Yaoyu 8-dan (China) by half a point.
　Game 9 (30 Nov.). Mok (B) defeated Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) by 6.5 points.
　Game 10 (1 Dec.). Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Mok by resignation.

Korea and Japan make good starts in 6th Cheongkwanjang Cup
　This is an international woman’s team tournament run along the same lines as the Nong Shim Cup. It started out as an individual championship for the first two terms, which were won by Rui Naiwei 9-dan and Pak Chi-eun 4-dan, both representing Korea. After it became a team tournament, it was won by, in order, China, China, Korea. Each time, the Japanese team came third (measured by number of games won), but this year it has got off to a better start, matching Korea with two wins in the opening round. Scoring the wins were Aoki Kikuyo for Japan and Yi Sula of Korea, a 16-year-old 1-dan who started her career in April.

　Results:

　Game 1 (8 Jan.). Yi Sula 1-dan (B) defeated Umezawa Yukari 5-dan (Japan) by half a point.
　Game 2 (9 Jan.). Yi (B) defeated Wang Pan 1-dan (China) by resignation.
　Game 3 (10 Jan.). Aoki Kikuyo 8-dan (Japan) (W) defeated Yi by 9.5 points.
　Game 4 (11 Jan.). Aoki (B) defeated Hong Yonghui 1-dan (China) by resignation.

Yamashita makes good start to Kisei title match
　The first game of the 32nd Kisei best-of-seven title match was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 12 & 13 January. This match attracted a lot of attention when the former monarch of best-of-sevens, Cho Chikun, became the challenger. Cho has won 29 of the 37 best-of-sevens he has played in, which is an astonishing success rate (next best for total matches is Rin Kaiho with 30, of which he has won 13, and next best for wins is Kobayashi Koichi, with 16 in 25 matches). Although Cho is in his 50s, compared to 29 for the Kisei titleholder Yamashita Keigo, he has beaten Yamashita in the only two matches they have played (the latter’s challenges for the Judan title in 2006 and 2007), so all the signs were good for him.
　The customary party on the eve of the game was probably the most spectacular in the history of the Kisei title. There was a samba band and scantily clad samba dancers, who got the players to join in the dancing. Judging by the photos in Go Weekly, Cho and Yamashita, who are also playing tambourines while dancing, seemed to be having a great time.
The game didn’t go so well for Cho, however. Perhaps he was a little rusty after his half-decade break from two-day games and couldn’t get back into the slower rhythm. The game was a relatively peaceful one. Yamashita, playing white, took the lead in territory in the middle game. He did get an isolated group in the centre, but Cho failed to exploit this weakness effectively. Late in the middle game, Yamashita played a clever tesuji that enabled him to make a big dent in Cho’s main corner territory, so the game ended with a resignation after just 140 moves.
　This was Yamashita’s ninth win in a row in Kisei title matches, but he still has a long way to go to match Sakata’s record of 17 successive wins in Honinbo title matches.
　The second game will be played on 30 and 31 January.

Judan challenger: Takao or Cho U?
　In the final game of the Losers’ Section of the 46th Judan title, Takao Shinji Honinbo (B) defeated Kono Rin Tengen by resignation. Takao will meet Cho U Meijin in the play-off, scheduled for early February, to decide the challenger to Cho Chikun. Cho U has already beaten Takao in the final of the Winners’ Section, but the winner here is the only player not afforded the luxury of being able to lose one game. Takao and Cho have each already made an unsuccessful challenge for the Judan title.
　There was an unusual breach of etiquette in the above game. In Japanese-style playing rooms, the higher-ranked player takes the seat of honour, which is the one farther from the door and in front of the alcove (where there is often a hanging scroll and a flower arrangement). Kono arrived first and sat down in the seat of honour. He hadn’t forgotten that the Honinbo outranked the Tengen, because he put the bowl with the white stones on the other side of the board. When carrying our the nigiri to decide colours, the higher-ranked player takes a handful of white stones and the lower-ranked player places one or two stones on the board, to indicate ‘odd’ or ‘even’.
　When a go reporter made an inquiry with Kono by telephone the next day, he had trouble understanding the question at first, so his mistake obviously wasn’t deliberate. When Takao was asked about it, he laughed it off, saying he didn’t care where he sat. The chances are he noticed at the time, but it clearly didn’t adversely affect his play.

Japanese Fujitsu Cup places
　So far, three of the five nonseeded Japanese seats in the 21st Fujitsu Cup have been decided. They have gone to Cho Sonjin 9-dan, O Rissei 9-dan, and Iyama Yuta 7-dan. There will be a lot of interest in Iyama’s international tournament debut.
The pairings in the final play-offs for the remaining two places are: Yamada Takuji 7-dan vs. Nakano Yasuhiro 9-dan and Komatsu Hideki 9-dan vs. Kono Rin Tengen.
　The seeded players are Yamashita Keigo Kisei, Takao Shinji Honinbo (and also Meijin when the seedings were decided), and Yoda Norimoto (as third place-getter last year). Something won’t feel right with Cho U not competing, but he came fourth last time, which doesn’t earn a seeded place, and he won the Meijin title a little too late to qualify.
　The opening rounds will be played on 12 and 14 April.

Six players share lead in Honinbo League
　The Honinbo League has reached the halfway point with the lead shared by six players. Of these, So Yokoku 8-dan and Hane Naoki 9-dan have a slight advantage, as they have only one loss, whereas the other four all have two losses, but these two have played one game fewer. At this point, there’s no way of predicting who will be the challenger.

The 63rd Honinbo League
Title holder: Takao Shinji
in the chart
・B=playing black, W=playing white
・1=win, 0=loss
* Date: mm/dd

Link to Honinbo Title

33rd Meijin League
　Only six games have been played so far in the Meijin League, but two players have got off to a quick start, having played two and won two. They are Takao Shinji Honinbo and Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan. As the previous Meijin, Takao is naturally one of the favourites, but Sakai’s outstanding performance in this league can’t be overlooked.

Xie to challenge for Women’s Meijin
　Xie Yimin, who holds the Women’s Honinbo title, will be making a bid for her second concurrent title when she challenges Kato Keiko for the 20th Women’s Meijin title. In the play-off to decide the challenger, held on 10 January, she defeated Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan by resignation holding white. This was the same pairing as in last year’s play-off to decide the Women’s Honinbo challenger; Xie will be hoping that beating Kobayashi is as auspicious as last time.
　The first game will be played on 13 February.

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