Every year on 5th of January, The Nihon Ki-in starts to open as the first working day in a year. (For your reference, Janauary 5th can be pronounced as ‘Igo' in Japanese.)
Every year, many celebrities are invited to the event. This year, famous Japanese politicians who include the minister of Ministry of Justice, Ex-president of the House of Councilors, Ex-chair of Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, Ex-General secretary of UNESCO and executives of some large Japanese companies attended the event.
Every year a lot of famous professional players gather together at the event. This year the following top players attend: Otake Hideo(Chairman of The Nihon Ki-in), Rin Kaiho (Honorary Tengen), Ishida Yoshio (The 24th Honinbo), Kobayashi Koichi 9p, Takemiya Masaki 9p and the present title holder such as Cho U(Kisei, Oza) and Yamashita Keigo (Meijin and Kisei) and Hsieh Yi Min (Women's Honinbo, Women's Meijin and Women's Kisei).
Traditionally, a rengo game between Amateur and professional players is to be held at the event. This year, for the first time women's pro Rengo game was played there. The attendees enjoyed watching the game through a big go board to see the rengo game and to watch commentaries on the game by above great players.
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| Greeting by Otake Hideo, chair of The Nihon Ki-in |
Commendation ceremony for The Go Hall of
Fame: Iwamoto Kaoru 9p (Photo: his son) |
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New Year Resolution by Ishida Shuho
(The 24th Honinbo) |
New Year Resolution by Yamashita Keigo
(Meijin and Honinbo) |
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| Rengo game by popular women's players |
Fujisawa Rina1p
(The granddaughter of Fujisawa Shuko) |
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| Commentaries by Top players:Ishida Shuho(right) and Kobayashi Koichi 9p(left) |
Commentary by Takmiya Masaki 9p |
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Celebrations for the New Year
(from left: Yamashita Keigo, Hsieh Yi Min, Cho U) |
Lots of teaching games to fans! |
The playoff match to decide the challenger for the 50th Judan title was held between Cho U Kisei and Ko Iso 8p on 23 January 2012 at The Nihon Ki-in. Cho U (B) defeated Ko Iso 8p by resignation. Cho U lost the title against Iyama Yuta last year and it will be the return match for Cho U. The first game of Judan title will be held on 1 March 2012 in Osaka.
In the play-off to decide the challenger for the 15th women's Kisei title, Aoki Kikuyo 8p defeated Yoshiwara Yukari (The maiden name: Umezawa Yukari) 5p and made her first challenge for a title. The play-off between the two to decide the challenger to Hsieh Yi Min (Women's Kisei) was held at the Nihon Ki-in on 22 December 2011; taking white, Aoki forced a resignation.
And the first game of the 15th women's Kisei was played on 26 January in 2012 and Hsieh Yi Min (W) won the game by resignation. The second game will be held on 9th February 2012.
It is our pleasure to inform you that we have just launched Tsumego app for iPhone and iPad users in December 2011.
There are 400 Tsumego problems for levels from beginners to dan players.
More than 100 problems are original which were specially made for above app by young Professionals who have been note for a Tsumego creator.
One of the Japanese top players, Yamashita Keigo 9p (Meijin and Honinbo), highly recommends above Tsumego Master to all amateur players who want to become stronger.
So please take a look at and try
Nihon Kiin Tsumego Master ! (You can download the app for free.)
