History of Topics 2005

  The Asahi Newspaper usually arranges a dramatic finish to the Meijin league, with the final four games being played on the same day instead of being spaced out over a month. This year, three players were still in contention: Yamashita Keigo and Kobayashi Satoru, who were both on 6-1, and Imamura Toshiya, on 5-2. All three won their games, played on Thursday, 4 August, so the first two tied for first place. On the following Monday, 8 August, a play-off was held and was won by Kobayashi Satoru.
  Kobayashi's biggest achievement so far has been winning the 19th Kisei title in 1995. Although he held it for just one term, this success alone was enough to establish his standing as a leading player. However, he has won only nine titles (including one Gosei title and one NHK Cup) and has not played in many leagues (four Meijin leagues and two Honinbo leagues), though perhaps we should mention that he has reached one international final, the 8th Tong Yang Securities Cup in 1995. His challenge to Cho U is a chance to flesh out his portfolio.

Final round (4 July)
  Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (B) beat Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan by resig.
  Yamada Kimio 8-dan (W) beat Yoda Norimoto Gosei by resig.
  Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan (B) beat O Meien 9-dan by 3.5 points.
  Imamura Toshiya 9-dan (W) beat Cho Sonjin 9-dan by 4.5 points.

Play-off (8 July)
Kobayashi (W) beat Yamashita by 1.5 points.

  The 2nd Zhonghuan Cup, a Taiwanese international tournament, was held in Taipei from 14 to 20 August. The result was yet another Korean triumph, but the winner was a 'new face' as a world titlist: Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 9-dan. Ch'oe had missed out on his previous chances to become a world champion, taking second place in the 5th Ing Cup and the 18th Fujitsu Cup earlier this year, but in the Zhonghuan final he took revenge on his fellow countryman Yi Se-tol, who had beaten him in the Fujitsu Cup.
  Although the result, a Korean win, may look like business as usual, the Japanese and Taiwanese representatives actually did quite well in the opening rounds. O Meien and O Rissei, both representing Taiwan, defeated Yi Ch'ang-ho and the first winner of this tournament, Pak Yeong-hun, respectively.
  First prize is two million Taiwanese dollars (about $60,000). Full results are given below.
  Once again, mainland Chinese players did not participate, presumably for political reasons. With the current state of relations between China and Taiwan (meaning Chinese apprehensions about the growing desire of Taiwanese for independence in name as well as in fact), it is apparently difficult for mainland Chinese to visit Taiwan.

Round 1 (14 August)
  Hane Naoki 9-dan (Japan) (W) beat Cho U 9-dan (Taiwan) by 2.5 points.
  Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) (B) beat Chen Shiyuan 3-dan (Taiwan) by resig.
  O Meien 9-dan (Taiwan) (W) beat Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) by half a point.
  Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) (B) beat Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Taiwan) by resig.
  Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Lin Zhihan 7-dan (Taiwan) by 7.5 points.
  O Rissei 9-dan (Taiwan) (B) beat Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
  Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Cho Chikun 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
  Kim Seong-ryong 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Rin Kaiho 9-dan (Taiwan) by resig.

Round 2 (16 August)	Ch'oe (W) beat Yamashita by 1.5 points.   Yoda (B) beat Kim by resig.   Hane (W) beat O Rissei by resig.   Yi (W) beat O Meien by resig.
Semifinals (18 August)	Yi (B) beat Hane by 3.5 points.   Ch'oe (W) beat Yoda by 1.5 points.
Final (20 August)	Ch'oe (W) beat Yi by resig.

  Iyama Yuta 4-dan has won a privately sponsored tournament, the 2nd Nakano Cup Under-20 Championship. This tournament was created to encourage young players by the writer Nakano Koji; unfortunately, he died just before the final of the first cup, but the tournament continues.
  The final of the 2nd Cup was held in late July and was contested by two promising young players, Iyama Yuta 4-dan, aged 16, and Ko Iso 4-dan, aged 18. Playing white, Iyama won by resignation.
  Iyama has also reached the final of the King of the New Stars title, in which he is matched against Kim Shujun 7-dan. His defeated opponent in the semifinal was also Ko Iso. He is also doing well in the Agon Kiriyama Cup, in which he followed up on his win against Cho U (reported on 12 July) by defeating former Kisei O Rissei in the next round (25 July). This earned him a place in the semifinals.

  In the semifinals of the 53rd Oza title, Nakaonoda Tomomi 9-dan (W) defeated Ryu Shikun 9-dan by 11.5 points (4 August) and Yamashita Keigo Tengen (B) defeated O Meien 9-dan by resignation (11 August), so these two will vie for the right to challenge Cho U for the title.

  Yuki Satoshi 9-dan has taken the sole lead in the 30th Kisei A League. The B League is tied, with all six players on 1-1. Below is an update of recent results.

(28 July) O Meien 9-dan (W) beat O Rissei 9-dan by resignation (B League).
(4 August) Yuki Satoshi 9-dan (W) beat Cho U Meijin by resignation (A League).
Mimura Tomoyasu 9-dan (W) beat Kato Atsushi 8-dan by resignation (A League).

  Three of the four vacant places in the 61st Honinbo league have been decided. Two of the players eliminated from the previous league, O Rissei 9-dan and So Yokoku 7-dan, have immediately reclaimed their seats. The third place went to Hane Naoki Kisei, who rejoins the league after a three-year absence. The fourth seat will be decided by a play-off between Yamada Kimio 8-dan and Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan.

  Imamura Toshiya 9-dan of the Kansai Ki-in secured a place in the play-off to decide the challenger for the 31st Tengen title when he defeated Cho U Meijin by 2.5 points in a semifinal played on 28 July. Imamura had white; this was his first win in four encounters with Cho. His opponent in the play-off, scheduled for mid-September, is Kono Rin 7-dan.

  In the play-off to decide the challenger for the 24th Women's Honinbo title, held on 18 August, Yashiro Kumiko 5-dan (B) defeated Kato Keiko by 9.5 points, so she will make her second challenge for this title. The titleholder is Chinen Kaori.

  On 28 July, Michael Redmond 9-dan (B) defeated Anzai Nobuaki 2-dan by 1.5 points in Preliminary B of the Oza tournament.
  Michael's next game was not until 18 July. Taking white, he defeated Yasuda Yasutoshi 9-dan by 10.5 points in Preliminary A of the Gosei tournament.

  Kanashima Tadashi 9-dan has announced his retirement (date not given).

  We are a little late with this item. When Cho U defeated Mimura Tomoyasu in the Kisei League on 14 July, he picked up his 500th win since becoming a professional. His actual record was 500 wins, 170 losses, 2 jigo. He is the 73rd player in Japan to score 500 wins, but he is the youngest, at 25 years 5 months (beating Yamashita Keigo's record by one month).