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Go Quiz: How Many Heads of Honinbo?
Camel Redux: First of all, your quizmaster would like to thank E-Journal readers for welcoming us back. Our recent poll column on the best Western cultural reference to go was incredibly popular, as evidenced by the many follow up emails, some of which have already been published in recent EJs. My fondness for the print ad inspired the following response, which needs to be preserved for posterity. “The Camel ad was splashy to us back in the late 70′s when it came out (it appeared in Playboy!),” writes Peter St. John, “but what I remember was Gene (Eugene) Zaustinsky, a professor of mathematics at Stony Brook, telling me that he had composed the position. The story was that someone had called the NY Go club and Gene just happened to be handy, maybe the strongest person in the room at the time of the call. He said it was from a game a friend of his had played.”
Last Week’s Quiz: Our question last week about who was the first player to come back from an 0-3 deficit and win a title inspired other responses from old friends. Two of you made what I call the “smart” guess, choosing early big title veteran Sakata Eio as logically the first to comeback from 0-3. Four of you made the “educated” guess of Cho Chikun, who certainly achieved the feat, indeed, he did it more than once. But 8 of 15 joined the legendary return of Grant Kerr — the man who is never wrong — with the correct answer of Rin Kaiho (right), and I will let the detail man Mr. Kerr explain why. “1973 in the Old Meijin, over Ishida Yoshio. Prior to this comeback, Rin had lost 9 title games in a row to Ishida. In 1983 Cho Chikun came back after losing 3 to win the Kisei. And Rin came back again after losing 3 to Cho Chikun later in 1983 (Honinbo). Cho Chikun did it again the next year to win the Meijin, and again in 1992 for the Honinbo.” Kudos to AGA tournament sponsor and veteran Young Kwon for finding the answer the old school way “From my distant memory.” Speaking of repeats, Brian Kirby searched the internet (as usual) and discovered that this question is a repeat from an earlier Go Quiz. While your quizmaster strives to avoid such mistakes, sometimes it happens. Think of it as a classic worth revisiting from time to time. Finally, welcome back to Trevor Morris, who also chose Cho, relying on his probability defying consistent reliance on chance. Congrats to Andy Tu of Saratoga, CA, this week’s winner, chosen at random from among those answering correctly.
This Week’s Quiz: Early Kido editor Hayashi Yutaka was famously quoted “when the mountains of the Honinbo House stretching from the distance crumble and fall into the sea, one lone peak will remain soaring proudly into the sky: Shuei.” This week we ask: From Sansa to Shusai, how many different people were head of the Honinbo school?” Was it 19, 20, 21 or 57? Click here to submit your responses and comments.
Applications Encouraged for 2014 International Collegiate Go Tournament
The 2014 International Collegiate Go Tournament is now accepting applications. To be held in Hong Kong July 7-13, the second annual event, hosted by the Ing Foundation, is open to current, future, or recently graduated college students, both undergraduate and graduate, who will or has attended school in 2014. Players of all strengths are encouraged to apply; the tournament is divided into both a kyu and dan division.
The sponsors pay for student’s room, board, and the tours that take place during the event; students will be responsible for paying their airfare to reach the tournament, and any personal expenses during the tournament such as souvenirs and night life entertainment. “This is a truly unique experience as the Shanghai Ing Foundation does not spare any expense during the planning of this event,” says a post on the American Collegiate Go Association’s website.
While there’s no deadline for application, those interested should apply early as the selection process will be done on a first-come first-serve basis.
- photo: at the 2013 International Collegiate Go Tournament
Championship of Jaroslavl 15-2014
3rd Annual Collegiate Go League Championship Starts This Saturday on KGS
March Madness is over, “but the American Collegiate Go Association (ACGA) will keep it alive through April,” promises Cole Pruitt. This Saturday, April 12 and the following week, April 19, the ACGA will host the 3rd annual Collegiate Go League championship on KGS.
At 1 pm EST each Saturday in the KGS “Collegiate Go League” room, matches will be held between the ACGA’s top four finishers from the season. The semifinals will be this Saturday, April 12, with Yale taking on top-seeded U. Mich and U. Toronto against U Maryland. The winners from these 5v5 school-based matches will face off in the finals on the next Saturday, for the coveted ACGA Cup (photo), with cash prizes for the top three winners.
ACGA resident professional Stephanie Yin will be on hand each weekend to provide live commentary of the top boards on KGS, starting at 1:30 PM EST once the matches are underway. “We invite anyone to join the matches and kibitz away,” says Pruitt, “especially students interested in promoting go in primary, secondary, and post-secondary school.”
Twin Cities Go Participates in “Passage to China”
Members of the Twin Cities Go Club last weekend participated in Passage to China, an annual event celebrating Chinese culture. Held at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, and sponsored by the Chinese Heritage Foundation, this event welcomes visitors to experience Chinese dance, music, arts, and crafts.
This is the fourth year the Twin Cities Go Club has participated in the event, hosting a table at which attendees can learn the basics of go, or weiqi, as it is known in China, where the game originated. “Typically, we teach how to surround and capture stones, and then encourage visitors to play a game of capture go,” reports local organizer Aaron Broege. “We also are pleased to play more experienced players in a game of go on the 19×19 board. We have the pleasure of teaching individuals from small children to adults, and most people seem to catch on to the basics quickly. We find that this is great exposure for the game and for the club. Many people seem genuinely interested in finding out more about where to purchase a board and stones, and we have also had people attend our club meetings as a result of seeing us at Passage to China.”
The annual event “has been a great experience for us,” Broege adds, “and opened up some additional outreach opportunities. Last year at this event we connected with the group ‘Families with Children from Asia’ and this past fall we had the opportunity to work with that group at one of their own events near the Twin Cities. This year we met other individuals who would like us to teach go at this year’s Dragon Festival to be held in St. Paul. From exposure through this event, we have found inroads into other outreach opportunities and we are very enthusiastic of the positive effect this will have on the Twin Cities go community.”
photos: (top right): Agnes Rzepecki teaches basic life and death to a particularly curious new student of go. This young individual learned capture go and then insisted on learning the “real game,” and stayed around to play multiple handicap games with us on the 9×9; (bottom left): Yanqing Sun plays a game with a young boy. photos by Aaron Broege
Romanian Cup- under 15k- group A 15-2014
Czech Championship Qualification 14-2014
28. Erlanger GO Turnier 14-2014
Finnish Team Championship Open 2014
The Power Report (Part 3): Cho U Advances in Chunlan Cup; Ida Becomes Honinbo Challenger; Meijin League Update; Promotions; Obituary: Yoshida Yoichi
by John Power, EJ Japan Correspondent
Cho U Advances in Chunlan Cup: The opening rounds of the 10th Chunlan Cup, another Chinese-sponsored international tournament, were held in the city of Taizhou in China on March 26 and 28. Japan had five players seeded in the first round, of whom four won their games, but only Cho U (right) survived the second round. Full results for the opening rounds are given below (note that individual seeds, as opposed to country seeds, join the tournament in the second round).
Round 1 (March 26). Iyama (W) beat Wang Yuanjun 7P (Chinese Taipei) by half a point; Tang Weixing 9P (China) (B) beat Yamashita Keigo by resig.; Cho U 9P (B) beat Fan Hui 2P (Europe) by resig.; Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Fan Tingyu 9P (China) by resig.; Murakawa Daisuke 7P (B) beat Lian Xiao 7P by resig.; Gu Li 9P (China) (B) beat Kim 4P (Korea) by resig.; Tuo Jiaxi 9P (China) (B) beat Jiang Mingjiu 7P (North America) by resig; Mi Yuting 9P (China) (B) beat Mok Chin-seok 9P (Korea) by resig. (Black won seven out of eight games.)
Round 2 (March 28). Zhou Ruiyang 9P (China) (B) beat Iyama by resig.; Cho U (W) beat Jiang Weijie 9P (China) by resig.; Chen Yaoye 9P (China) (W) beat Kono by resig.; Shi Yue 9P (China) b. Murakawa by resig.; Gu Li 9P (China) (B) beat Yi Se-tol 9P (Korea) by resig.; Pak Cheong-hwan 9P (Korea) (W) beat Tang Weixing 9P (China) by resig.; Mi (B) beat Ch’oe Ch’eol-han 9P (Korea) by resig.; Kim Chi-seok 9P (Korea) (W) beat Tuo by resig.
There are five Chinese, two Koreans and one Japanese representative in the quarterfinals. Pairings are: Cho vs. Gu, Shi vs. Zhou, Pak vs. Chen, and Kim vs. Mi.
Ida Becomes Honinbo Challenger: There was a big upset at the end of the 69th Honinbo League. Going into the final round, held on April 3, only two players were in the running: Yamashita Keigo, on 6-0, and Ida Atsushi (left), on 5-1. To become the challenger, Ida would have to beat Yamashita twice in a row. Surprising many go fans, who had expected to see the third big match between Iyama and Yamashita in less than a year (after the 2013 Meijin and 2014 Kisei matches), he managed to do this, winning the play-off held on April 7. This win also earned him an automatic promotion to 8-dan for becoming a big-three challenger, following his jump from 4-dan to 7-dan when he entered the league last year. Ida just turned 20 on March 15. The title match starts on May 14. Below are league results since my last report.
(24 March) Yuki Satoshi 9P (W) beat Yo Seiki 7P by resig.
Final round (April 3) Ida Atsushi 7P (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by half a point; Yo Seiki 7P (W) beat Takao Shinji 9P by 4.5 points; Kono Rin 9P (B) Sakai Hideyuki 8P by 3.5 points; Yuki Satoshi Judan beat Cho U 9P by forfeit. (Cho thought the game was at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo, but when he turned up there learned that it was in Osaka. He published an apology in the current Go Weekly.)
Play-off (April 7) Ida (W) won by 5.5 points.
Placings in the league are as follows: 2nd, Yamashita; 3rd, Cho U (4-3); 4th, Kono Rin (4-3). Losing their places are Yuki Satoshi (3-4), Yo Seiki (3-4), Takao Shinji (1-6), and Sakai Hideyuki (1-6).
Meijin League Update: Ryu Shikun 9-dan (right), a strong player who has been lying low over the last decade, is doing well in the 39th Meijin League. With three wins, Yamashita Keigo is still in the lead, but Ryu, on 3-1, is following hard on his heels, along with Kono Rin 9P (3-1) and Cho U 9P (2-1).
Recent results:
(March 27) Ryu Shikun 9P (W) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig.
(April 3) Murakawa Daisuke 7P (W) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig.
Promotions: To 2-dan: Kyo Kagen (30 wins)
Obituary: Yoshida Yoichi
Yoshida Yoichi 9-dan, a member of the Kansai branch of the Nihon Ki-in, died on March 26. Born on October 7, 1935, he became a disciple of Hosokawa Chihiro (Senjin). He made 1-dan in 195, reached 9-dan in 1977 and retired in 1997.
The Power Report (Part 2): Xie Defends Women’s Meijin Title; Yuki Wins Third NHK Cup In A Row; Yuki Evens Score In Judan; Iyama Wins Tournament of Champions
by John Power, EJ Japan Correspondent
Xie Defends Women’s Meijin Title: The third game of the 26th Women’s Meijin title match was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Ichigaya, Tokyo, on March 24. Drawing black in the nigiri, Xie Yimin (right) played strongly and scored a solid win, forcing a resignation after 209 moves. She made a good comeback from her loss in the second game. This gave her the match 2-1, so she won this title for the seventh year in a row.
Yuki Wins Third NHK Cup In A Row: Yuki Satoshi (at right in photo below) has been going through a spell of bad form recently, especially in the leagues, but he is just as strong as ever at fast games. In the final of the 61st NHK Cup, telecast on March 23, he defeated Kono Rin 9P by resignation to win the title for the third year in a row and the fifth time overall (all in the last six years). Winning three in a row matches the record set by Sakata Eio and Yoda Norimoto; in total titles won, he is tied for second with Otake Hideo and Yoda, but here he is still a long way behind Sakata’s ten. Playing black, Kono took the early lead, but in a game marked by violent fighting the lead shifted back and forth, and Kono missed his best chance to take the lead in the middle game. Kono is known for his endgame skill, but here he was outplayed by Yuki.
Yuki Evens Score In Judan: Perhaps his NHK win will become a turning point for Yuki. He followed it up by beating Takao Shinji 9P in the second game of the 52nd Judan title match (photo at left), which was played in Sumoto City on the island of Awaji in Hyogo Prefecture on March 27. Playing black, the challenger actually took the lead in the middle game, but Yuki went all out in the endgame and wrested a half-point lead from him. That makes the score 1-1; the third game will be played on April 10.
Iyama Wins Tournament of Champions: The semifinals and final of the Tournament Winners Championship, a tournament for all 12 title-winners in 2013 plus a player chosen by fan vote, were held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on March 22 (the first two rounds were held on February 14 and 15). In the semifinals, Iyama Yuta beat Kyo Kagen, winner of last year’s Nakano Cup, and Yamashita Keigo beat Yuki Satoshi Judan. The final thus became a rematch between the player who only recently fought the Kisei title match, and the result was the same. Taking black, Iyama beat Yamashita by resignation after 189 moves. Iyama was awarded the Prime Minister’s Cup and the Minister for Education and Science’s Diploma. The final was open to the public, being played on the stage in the Nihon Ki-in’s large hall while a public commentary was given simultaneously by Ishida Yoshio 9-dan and Yoshihara Yukari 6-dan. Presumably the players were able to shut out the commentary when they concentrated on the game. However, after the game Yamashita said that he did take in one comment by Ishida, which was, “If the players can hear me, their training as professionals is incomplete.” Usually in a public commentary like this, the commentators take care to avoid referring to the colors, instead holding up a black stone if they want to refer to black. However, Ishida told a story from a public commentary he did a long time ago of a player who told him later that he had relied on Ishida for territorial evaluation and just focused on reading.
Tomorrow: Cho U Advances in Chunlan Cup; Ida Becomes Honinbo Challenger; Meijin League Update; Promotions; Obituary: Yoshida Yoichi
Finnish Team Championship 2014
Ireland triumph over Croatia
Oh happy days! Tonight Ireland faced the might of Croatia in their league match on IGS. The team stuck to the strategy that they had agreed upon before the game, despite the fierce resistance from the opposing team. The result was a flawless victory – a 4-0 belting. Ireland are now top of the league, in 6th place.
Victor and Aki win Rengo Tournament
SAGA president’s report – 2013/2014
