History of Topics 2005

  Cho U put on a magnificent display of controlled aggression in picking up his first win in the 60th Honinbo best-of-seven title match. Down 0-3, Cho was faced with his first kadoban, a game that can lose a match, but his play showed no signs of nervousness.
  Holding white, Cho played very boldly from the start of the game, challenging Takao to a fight and attempting to seize the initiative. The climactic fight came when Cho invaded his opponent's moyo; after playing a brilliancy that turned the tide in the fight, he managed to link up two large groups and in so doing took the lead. He continued to play all-out, rejecting opportunities to coast to a win, and settled the issue with a large ko fight. When Takao resigned, Cho had a big lead on the board even without the komi. His win was so convincing it was hard to believe he was the same player who had started this title match with three straight losses.
  The game was held at the Sapporo Park Hotel on 20 and 21 June. It ended at 6:21 p.m. after 218 moves. Takao had two minutes left to Cho's 42 minutes.
  The third game is scheduled for 27 and 28 June.

  The second game in the 30th Kisei B League was played at the Kansai Ki-in in Osaka on 23 June. The home player, Imamura Toshiya 9-dan, defeated Komatsu Hideki 9-dan by resignation. Imamura had black.
  There are quite a number of similarities between these two. They are both newcomers to the league (although Imamura has made one previous appearance), they are almost the same age (Imamura, at 39, is one year older), they both became professional shodan at the age of 14, and their score against each other was even, at 2-2. However, their paths have now diverged: Imamura can still dream of becoming the challenger, but this loss makes it very difficult for Komatsu, who is the lowest-ranked player, to win the league.

  The retirement of Magari Reiki 9-dan, the leading disciple of the late Iwamoto Kaoru 9-dan, was announced in the current issue of Go Weekly. Born on 13 November 1914, Magari became 1-dan in 1942 and reached 9-dan in 1974. He won the 3rd Igo Championship in 1959 and played in the Honinbo league five times. He visited China on a goodwill tour in 1961 and was awarded the Okura Prize in 1996.

  Cho U is under pressure in his Honinbo title defence, but he found the sailing much smoother in the 17th TV Asia Cup, which was held in Beijing from 14 to 17 June. Cho defeated the world's number one, Yi Ch'ang-ho, in the opening round, scored another win against his opponent in the LG Cup final, Yu Bin, and capped it all by taking the final as well, in which he was matched against Cho Han-seung. The latter is a 22-year-old Korean who was appearing in his first international final.
Cho U now holds two international titles. He is only the second Japanese representative to become a dual titleholder; his predecessor is Takemiya Masaki, who won both the Fujitsu and TV Asia Cups in 1989.
Incidentally, white won all the games.

The results:

Round One
  Game 1 (14 June). Cho Han-seung 8-dan (Korea) (W) beat Liu Xing 7-dan (China) by half a point.
  Game 2 (14 June). Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) (W) beat Gu Li 7-dan (China) by resignation.
  Game 3 (15 June). Cho U 9-dan (Japan) (W) beat Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) by 2.5 points.

Semifinals
  (15 June) Cho Han-seung (W) beat Yoda by 9.5 points.
  (16 June) Cho U (W) beat Yu Bin 9-dan (China) by 2.5 points.

Final
  (17 June) Cho U (W) beat Cho Han-seung by 3.5 points.

  The 30th Kisei B League has finally got off to a start, two weeks after the A League. Former Kisei Yamashita Keigo Tengen made a good start, defeating former Honinbo O Meien 9-dan. Playing white, Yamashita won by resignation.

  Two of the most promising young players in Japan both hail from Osaka, though they belong to different organizations. They are Iyama Yuta 4-dan, born on 24 May 1989, who is a member of the Osaka branch of the Nihon Ki-in, and Murakawa Daisuke 2-dan, born on 14 December 1990, who is a member of the Kansai Ki-in. Last week, they met in the second round of the final section of the 30th King of the New Stars title, and victory went to the (slightly) older player. Playing white, Iyama won by 5.5 points.

  Whatever happens in the final two rounds of the 18th Fujitsu Cup, one can safely predict that Korea will extend its monopoly of this title to eight years, as all four of its representatives won their games in the quarterfinals, which, appropriately, were held in Seoul on 4 June.
  It goes without saying that this is a dismal result for Japan, which for the first time ever failed to get a player into the semifinals, but it also represents quite a setback for China, which had three players in the quarterfinals. Actually, it is the fifth year in a row that China has failed to reach the semifinals; it seems to be jinxed in the Fujitsu Cup.

The results:
  Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Wang Xi 5-dan (China) by resignation.
  Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Yu Bin 9-dan (China) by 2.5 points.
  Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated O Meien 9-dan (Japan) by 6.5 points.
  Song T'ae-kon 7-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Gu Li 7-dan (China) by resignation.

  The semifinals and the final will be played at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on 2 and 4 July. The semifinal pairings are Yu vs. Yi and Ch'oe vs. Song.

  A number of Chinese provinces and cities are being featured at the Chinese Pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Nagoya, and one of these, Hunan Province, organized two special matches to commemorate Japan-China go exchange. The matches were part of Hunan Week, but were actually held at a hotel in Nagoya, not on the Expo site.
  These matches featured some famous players who starred in the regular Japan-China matches in the 70s and 80s; they were joined by two top players of the younger generation. Both resulted in wins for Japan. The results are given below.

Five-player team match (30 May)
  Rin Kaiho (W) defeated Chen Zude by resig.
  Kobayashi Koichi (W) defeated Nie Weiping by 1.5.
  Takemiya Masaki (B) defeated Ma Xiaochun by resig.
  Hane Naoki (W) lost to Chang Hao by 1.5.
  Yamashiro Hiroshi (B) defeated Luo Xihe by 0.5.

Three-player team match (31 May)
  Otake Hideo (B) defeated Chen Zude by 10.5.
  Hane Yasumasa (W) lost to Nie Weiping by resig.
  Yuki Satoshi (B) defeated Chang Hao by resig.

  Takao Shinji 8-dan has swept to a 3-0 lead in the 60th Honinbo title match. It's safe to say that this is one of the biggest surprises in recent match play in Japan. It's not that anyone doubted Takao's ability, but Cho U has, after all, dominated the Japanese tournament scene in the last couple of years. Before the match, one would have said that Takao would be doing well if he split the first four games. Apparently he had other ideas.
  The third game was played in a traditional wooden house that was the retirement villa of the Meiji-era statesman Saionji Kimmochi; it is located in Meiji Village in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture on 8 and 9 June. The game finished at 7:02 p.m. on the second day, with Takao, who played white, winning by resignation. Takao had 24 minutes left, while Cho was down to his last minute of byo-yomi (the time allowance is eight hours per player, with one-minute byo-yomi starting when the player is down to his last ten minutes).
  On the first day, the game developed into a contest between Cho's profit and Takao's thickness. By the afternoon of the second day, Takao had, through skilful use of his thickness, taken the lead. Cho went all out to catch up and almost succeeded when Takao made an oversight late in the game; however, Takao managed to hang on to a small lead, and Cho resigned when he ran out of options.
  The fourth game will be played in Sapporo on 20 and 21 June. Can Cho prolong the match or will we see a new Honinbo?

  Yuki Satoshi 9-dan took some revenge on Hane Naoki Kisei in the play-off of the 30th Gosei tournament. Taking white, Yuki defeated hane by resignation in a game played on 9 June.
  Yuki will be making his third challenge for the Gosei title. In the 22nd title (1997), he lost 1-3 to Yoda Norimoto; in the 27th (2002), he lost by the same margin to Kobayashi Koichi.

  Some important games have been played in the 30th Meijin League in June.
  On 2 June, Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan kept the lead in the league by defeating Ogata Masaki 9-dan; taking white, Kobayashi won by half a point. On the same day, one of his rivals, league newcomer Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan, suffered his second loss when Cho Sonjin 9-dan finally put an end to his wretched losing streak in the league; playing white, Cho secured a resignation.
  Another two important games were played on 9 June. In one, Yamashita Keigo Tengen (W) defeated Yamada Kimio 8-dan by resignation. This took Yamashita to 5-1, bringing him level with Kobayashi Satoru.
  In the other game, Imamura Toshiya 9-dan (B) defeated Yoda Norimoto Gosei by 5.5 points. This kept Imamura in third place, tied with Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan. Yoda would have started the league determined on a rematch with Cho U; now he has to worry about keeping his place.

30th Meijin league (10 December 2004 to summer 2005)
Title-holder: Cho U

  Two games were played in the 30th Kisei A League on 2 June. Cho U Meijin Honinbo (W) defeated Honda Kunihisa 9-dan of the Kansai Ki-in by resignation and Kato Atsushi 8-dan (B), playing his first game in any league, defeated Yoda Norimoto Gosei by half a point.

  On 9 June, Mizokami Tomochika earned promotion to 8-dan by the cumulative-wins system (150 wins is the condition).

(9 June) Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan (B) defeated Michael Redmond by resignation (Kiriyama Cup final qualifying round).

  Some new young Chinese stars have risen to the fore, helping China dominate the opening rounds of 10th LG Cup. Thanks to the efforts of Chen Yaoye 4-dan, who is just 15, and Po Wenyao 3-dan, who is two years older, and helped by the older Chinese representatives, China has taken six of the quarterfinal places. Chen showed signs that he could be a star of the (near) future by defeating the top player on the international scene, Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan of Korea, while Po played his part in a Japanese shut-out.
  The other two quarterfinal places were taken by Korea; since Yi Se-tol is one of these two, Korea still has to be given a good chance of winning the tournament, but he will have to overcome tough opposition from three Chinese players to do so.
Japan had six players taking part, which is more than usual, thanks to the success of Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan and So Yokoku 7-dan in the qualifying tournament. With four wins in the first round, Japan seemed to be doing well, but the four winners, including current LG champion Cho U, were all eliminated in the second round.

The results:
Round 1 (16 May, Seoul)
  Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Wang Xi 5-dan (China) by resig.; Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Hane Naoki 9-dan (Japan) by resig.; Cho U 9-dan (Japan) (W) d. Kong Jie 7-dan (China) by resig.; Po Wenyao 3-dan (China) (B) d. O Rissei 9-dan (Japan) by 2.5; Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) (B) d. Chang Hao 9-dan (China) by resig.; So Yokoku 7-dan (Japan) (B) d. Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 9-dan (Korea) by resig.; Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan (Japan) (B) d. Pak Pyeong-kyu 5-dan by resig.; Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) (W) d. Liu Shizhen 6-dan (China) by resig.; Kim Seong-ryong 9-dan (Korea) (B) d. Liu Xing 7-dan (China) by 3.5; Pak Cheong-sang 5-dan (Korea) (W) d. Yu Bin 9-dan (China) by 7.5; Luo Xihe 8-dan (China) (W) d. Ch'oe Myeong-hun 8-dan (Korea) by resig.; Wang Yuhui 7-dan (China) (B) d. Kim Ki-yong 2-dan (Korea) by resig.; Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) (W) d. Alexandre Dinerchtein 1-dan (Europe) by resig.; Chen Yaoye 4-dan (China) (B) d. Yang Huiren 1-dan (USA) by resig.; Gu Li 7-dan (China) (W) d. Yun Hyeon-seok 8-dan by 15.5.

Round 2 (18 May, Seoul)
  Chen (B) d. Yi Ch'ang-ho by resig.; Yi Se-tol (W) d. Yamashita by resig.; Gu (W) d. Kobayashi by resig.; Zhou (B) d. Cho U by 1.5; Qiu (W) d. Pak Yeong-hun by resig.; Pak Cheong-sang (W) d. Luo by resig.; Po (W) d. So by resig.; Wang (W) d. Kim by resig.

Quarterfinals (date not yet decided)
  Gu vs. Zhou; Qiu vs. Chen; Po vs. Pak; Yi vs. Wang.

  Before the 60th Honinbo title match began, the smart money was mainly on Cho U, as he has been the dominant player in Japanese go recently. However, it was noted that Takao had done well against Cho in past encounters, having a 6-5 lead over him going into this match. That lead has now increased, for Takao has surprised a lot of people by taking the first two games
  In the second game, played on 26 and 27 May, Takao took the lead in the first fight, which was over a ko, then managed to hold on to it in three subsequent ko fights launched by a desperate Cho. Playing black, he secured a win by 4.5 points.
The third game, scheduled for 8 and 9 June, will obviously be crucial for Cho.

  The 26th World Amateur Go Championship was held in Nagoya from 24 to 27 May, with a new record of 65 countries and territories participating. For the 15th time, the tournament was won by China; this time its representative was a new face, Hu Yuqing, a 24-year-old student from Beijing, who didn't drop a game. He defeated Kikuchi Yasuro of Japan, at 75 the oldest competitor, in the fourth round, Jo Tae-won of DPR Korea in the fifth round, and Seo Jung-hwi of Korea in the final round. In fact, he played and defeated the players who took the 2nd to 7th places, so there was no room to quibble about his victory

The prize-winners were:
  1st: Hu Yuqing (China): 8-0.
  2nd: Jo Tae-won (DPR Korea): 7-1
  3rd: Yu Cheng-juei (Chinese Taipei): 6-2
  4th: Seo Jung-hwi (Korea) 6-2
  5th: Franz-Josef Dickhut (Germany): 6-2
  6th: Kikuchi Yasuro (Japan): 6-2
  7th: Thomas Hsiang (USA): 6-2
  8th: Chan Naisan (Hong Kong China): 6-2 (one of two 12-year-olds in the tournament)
  9th: Xianyu Li (Canada): 6-2
  10th: Yiming Guo (Australia): 6-2

All players who scored six wins won a prize.

  One game in the 30th Meijin League was played on 26 May. Imamura Toshiya 9-dan (B) beat Ogata Masaki 9-dan by resignation. Imamura goes to 3-2, which means that he still has an outside chance of winning the league. Ogata Masaki drops to 1-5 and has virtually no chance of keeping his place.

30th Meijin league (10 December 2004 to summer 2005)
Title-holder: Cho U

  (19 May) Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan (W) beat Michael Redmond 9-dan by resignation (first round of winners' section in 44th Judan tournament). Michael still has a second chance, as he moves to the losers' section of the tournament.
(26 May) Kato Atsushi 8-dan (B) beat Redmond by 2.5 points (Preliminary A, 31st Meijin tournament).