News: BGJ 0

British Go Journal No. 0. Spring 1967. Page 1b.

In Japan, Sakata Eiju (9 dan and Honinbo) beat Rin Kai-Ho (8 dan and Meijin) 2-1 in the final of the Oza title. This is a straight knockout tournament with the previous year's champion starting again in the first round, this is unlike most other tournaments in which the actual tournament only decides the challenger to play the previous year's winner for the actual title.

Rin is only 24 years old and is, in fact, not Japanese though he has lived there for many years and is from Taiwan on Formosa. He has only come to the top in the last two years by beating Sakata 4-2 and 4-1 to get the Meijin title for the past two years. Last year he was the top player winning 39 games and losing 11.

Sakata is about 50 and has been the top player for many years, holding on to the Honinbo title for the past 9 years.

On the 1^st December Sakata won the fourth game in the Ju-dan final, thereby beating Takagawa Kaku (9 dan) the previous holder 3-1. This tournament is a peculiar form of knock-out in that if you lose once you go into another knock-out tournament and the winners of these two play each other to decide who will be challenger in the 5-game finals.

Takagawa, who is about 55, has been vying with Sakata for many years and held the Honinbo title for 9 years before Sakata won it off him.

This year the European Go Congress will be held in Staufen, W. Germany. The European Individual Championship will probably be a three way fight between J. Mattern (W. Germany), who won last year's championship in the play-off with M. Wimmer (Austria), W. von Alvensleben (W. Germany), who did not play last year, and Z. Mutabzija (Yugoslavia).