29 February
Aoki Kikuyo 8p gains her first Women's Kisei title. The final game of The 15th Women's Kisei title match was played in Tokyo on 16 February 2012 and Aoki (Black) defeated Hsieh Yi Min by resignation. She wins Women's Kisei by defeating Hsieh Yi Min and gets her 11th title. Aoki has had no title since she lost Women's Meijin title in 2007.
Hsieh Yi Min held the Triple Crown since January in 2010 and now she holds Women's Honinbo and Meijin.
The full results of the series are given as follows:
Game 1 (26 January). Hsieh (W) by resignation
Game 2 (9 February). Aoki (W) by 9.5 points
Game 3 (16 February). Aoki (B) by resignation
The 49th Shusai Award will be awarded to Yamashita Keigo because he gains Meijin and Honinbo in 2011. Yamashita is also selected as the player of the year of The 45th Kido Award.
The Shusai Award is to honour the achievement of Shusai, the 21th Honinbo and it is given to a professional player who is a top performer in a year. The ceremony of the 49th Shusai Award will be held on 27 March 2012 at The Nihon Ki-in.
Cho Chikun plays well for fast games. Cho Chikun makes to the final of the 31th NEC cup. Cho Chikun (white) defeats Iyama Yuta by 3.5 points in the semi-final on 4 February. To get 73th title, on 17 March 2012 he will play for the final against Takao Shinji who defeated Cho U in the semi-final.
Cho Chikun also advances to the final of the 7th Daiwa Securities Cup. In the semi-final, played on 18 February, Cho Chikun (white) beats Cho U by 4.5 points. He will play against Iyama Yuta in the final on 24 March 2012.
Iyama Yuta gets the first place for the money ranking 2011. (He was in the third place in 2010.) In 2011 he lost Meijin title but gained Tengen, Judan, Agon Kiriyama cup and Ryusei cup and becomes the top money winner for the first time.
The Money Rankings 2011 for tournament prizes
(*The professional from Kansai Ki-in is NOT included)
| 1 |
Iyama Yuta (Tengen and Judan) |
91,510,000 JPY |
| 2 |
Yamashita Keigo (Meijin and Honinbo) |
89,700,000 JPY |
| 3 |
Cho U (Kisei and Oza) |
86,450,000 JPY |
| 4 |
Hane Naoki (Gosei) |
42,990,000 JPY |
| 5 |
Takao Shinji 9p |
21,080,000 JPY |
| 6 |
Hsieh Yi Min (Women's Honinbo and Meijin) |
20,270,000 JPY |
| 7 |
Cho Chikun (The 25th Honinbo) |
15,290,000 JPY |
| 8 |
Kono Rin 9p |
14,710,000 JPY |
| 9 |
Yamada Kimio 9p (NHK Cup) |
12,620,000 JPY |
| 10 |
Yoda Norimoto 9p |
11,150,000 JPY |
The preliminary matches for The 2nd Master's cup were held on 6 February 2012 and the following 9dan professionals have qualified to the tournament:
Yamashiro Hiroshi 9p, Awaji Shuzo 9p, Miyazawa Goro 9p, Kamimura Haruo 9p
12 Seeded players who used to hold 7 major titles (Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, Tengen, Oza, Judan and Gosei) are as follows: Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi, Ishida Shuho, Kobayashi Satoru, Rin Kaiho, Otake Hideo, Takemiya Masaki, O Risei, O Meien, Kudo Norio, Kataoka Satoshi and Hane Yasumasa The first round will be held on 8 March 2012.
