History of Topics 2008

  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 resignaiton. 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 resignaitonation.

  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 resignaitonation 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.

  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.

  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 resignaitonation.
  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.

  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.

in the chart

･ B=playing black, W=playing white ･ 1=win, 0=loss * Date: mm/dd

The 33rd Meijin Challenger's League

  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.

  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.

  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.

  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.

  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.

  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 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 1/2.
Game 2 (20 Feb.). Xie (W) by 1/2.

  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.

  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.

in the chart

･ B=playing black, W=playing white ･ 1=win, 0=loss * Date: mm/dd

The 63rd Honinbo League
Title holder: Takao Shinji

  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.

in the chart

･ B=playing black, W=playing white ･ 1=win, 0=loss * Date: mm/dd

The 33rd Meijin Challenger's League

  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.

  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.