History of Topics 2010

  One of the greats of postwar go – or, rather, one of the greats of go history – Sakata Eio died of a rupture in an aneurysm in the thoracic aorta at 12:21 p.m. on 22 October at the Japan Red Cross Medical Centre in Hiroo in Tokyo. He was 90 years old.
  Sakata is one of the candidates for greatest Japanese player of the 20th century. During his peak, he completely dominated the tournament scene, amassing a tally of 64 titles. That record was broken by Cho Chikun in 2002, but the difference is that there were very few titles in the early decades of Sakata's career, so in degree of dominance his record is unmatched. He won seven Honinbo titles in a row and became the first tournament Meijin-Honinbo. In 1964, when he was at his peak, he won seven of the eight titles that existed at the time and scored 30 wins to just two losses, a feat that no one else has come close to matching (the titles were Meijin, Honinbo, Nihon Ki-in Championship, Pro Best Ten, Oza, Nihon Ki-in Number One Position, and the NHK Cup; the only title he missed out on was the Judan).
  Sakata's career record was 1117 wins to 654 losses and 16 jigos. He retired in 2000. He also acted as chairman of the board of directors of the Nihon Ki-in for four terms, starting in 1978.
  Sakata's death comes a year and a half after that of his great rival, Fujisawa Hideyuki (Shuko). One by one, the great players of the golden age of modern Japanese go are passing from the scene.

  In July, the Chinese City of Changde in Hunan Province staged a special invitational tournament, a play-off among the holders of the Chinese Mingren, Japanese Meijin, and Korean Myeongin titles. The full name of the tournament was the 2010 China Changde Cup World Mingren Championship; in the West, it was popularly known as the Super Meijin tournament.
  With just three participants, the format was an irregular knock-out in which the loser of the opening round got a second chance. The Chinese Mingren, Gu Li, made the most of this. He lost to Yi Ch'ang-ho Myeongin of Korea in the opening game, but he then beat Iyama Yuta Meijin of Japan, so he got a seat in the final. On his second attempt, he beat Yi and took the prize of 300,000 yuan (about $45,000). The results are given below.

Game 1 (24 July). Yi (B) beat Gu by resignation.
Game 2 (25 July). Gu (W) beat Iyama by 4.5 points.
Final (27 July). Gu (B) beat Yi by 1.5 points.

  Recently China has been outperforming Korea in international tournaments, but the Koreans struck back in the 15th Samsung Cup, taking five of the quarterfinal and three of the four semifinal places.
  The complicated opening round of his tournament was held in Suzhou in China from 8 to 10 September. The thirty-two players are split into eight groups which hold a double-elimination tournament, that is, the four players play each other until they have won two games, which takes them to Round Two, or lost two games, which eliminates them from the tournament. In this round, ten Koreans, five Chinese and one Japanese were successful.
  The poor results of Japanese players are partly explained by poor results in the past, which meant that they had only two of the 16 seeded places this year, and their inability to gain places in the large-scale international qualifying tournament. Actually, this year Murakawa Daisuke 5-dan, a promising 19-year-old from the Kansai Ki-in, did score Japan's first success for a number of years in the qualifying tournament, but both he and the seeded Hane Naoki lost two games straight in the first round. Yamashita Keigo won two straight to go on to the second round, but he then messed up a sure win over Yi Se-tol 9-dan by playing too tightly in the latter part of the game, letting Yi make a comeback from what Korean commentators had dismissed as a hopeless position.
  The three young Koreans who have made the semifinals are still relatively unknown outside their home country, but actually they are all very strong players who have enjoyed good results recently. They are candidates for the next generation of superstars. Gu Li will have his hands full dealing with them.
  Below are the results from the second round and the quarterfinals.

Round Two
  Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) by resignation.
  Weon Seong-chin 9-dan (Korea) (B) defeated Zhou Ruiyang 5-dan (China) by resignation.
  Pak Cheong-hwan 8-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 9-dan (Korea) by resignation.
  Wang Lei 6-dan (China) (W) defeated Pak Yeong-hun 9-dan (Korea) by resignation.
  Gu Li 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Han Sang-hun 5-dan (Korea) by resignation.
  Kong Jie 9-dan (China) (W) defeated Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) by resignation.
  Heo Yong-ho 7-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Wang Tao 3-dan (China) by resignation.
  Kim Chi-seok 7-dan (Korea) (W) defeated Pak Chi-yeon 2-dan (Korea) by resignation

Quarterfinals
  Gu Li (W) defeated Yi Se-tol by resignation.
  Kim Chi-seok (W) d. Kong Jie by resignation.
  Heo Yong-ho (B) defeated Wang Lei by resignation.
  Pak Cheong-hwan (B) defeated Weon Seong-chin by resignation.

  A new international women's tournament with a first prize of 200,000 yuan (about $30,000) has been founded by a company in Suzhou, China. Named after the company, it is the Qionglong Mt. Bingsheng Cup and it was held in Suzhou from 11 to 14 September, with 16 players from around the world competing. First place was taken by Pak Chi-eun 9-dan of Korea, which is no big surprise, but second place went to a 16-year-old player who has joint Taiwanese and Australian nationality. She is Hei Jiajia or Joanne Missingham 1-dan; she was born in Brisbane, so she is the first player born outside Asia to reach the final of an international professional tournament.
  The final was held on 14 September, with Pak, taking black, defeating Joanne by resignation.
  Some background on the new star: Joanne was born in Brisbane on 26 May 1994 to an Australian father and a Taiwanese mother. She returned to Taiwan when she was four and started studying go under Zhou Keping 5-dan when she was six. She went to the US when she was 11 and thereafter studied by herself, playing on the Net. In 2007 she sat for the professional qualifying exam in China, but failed. In 2008, at the age of 14, she passed. In January this year she became a member of the Taiwan Qiyuan and will represent Taiwan in the Asian Games in November.
  Incidentally, the favourite, Rui Naiwei, was eliminated in the first round.

  Korea made a surprise move in the first stage of the 15th Nong Shim Cup, fielding its number one player Yi Se-tol as the top batter. When he started off by mowing down two opponents in a row, the opposing teams perhaps had nightmares of being steamrolled 10-0. If anyone could do this, it would be Yi Se-tol.
  However, the Chinese opposition was undaunted, and Xie He 7-dan, who was probably their original choice as number two, toppled Yi before he had a chance to do serious damage. Xie He ended the stage with two wins, so he is now the threat to the other teams.

  Ten years after quitting medicine and taking up go as a full-time profession, the former top amateur player Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan has won his first title, defeating Cho U 3-2 in the 35th Gosei title match. Sakai made a bad start, falling behind in the third game, but he recovered to outplay Japan's number one in two close games and take the series 3-2.
  Sakai's win gave the Kansai Ki-in its first top-seven title for 29 years, so Sakai has bettered his main Kansai Ki-in rival, Yuki Satoshi 9-dan, who has been unsuccessful in a number of title challenges.

Takao wins Meijin League
  The 35th Meijin League was a very tight race between Takao Shinji and Cho U, who both went into the final round with only one loss. As has been the custom in recent years, all the games in the 8th round were played on the same day, which was 5 August. Takao maintained his unbeaten record, but Cho was beaten by a player who had already lost his place in the league. That meant that there was no need for a play-off.

Results in the final round:

(5 August)

Ogata Masaki 9-dan (W) beat Cho U Kisei by 2.5 points. Takao Shinji 9-dan (W) beat Yuki Satoshi 9-dan by resignation. Yamada Kimio 9-dan (B) beat 25th Honinbo Chikun by half a point. Mizokami Tomochika 8-dan (B) beat Sakai Hideyuki 7-dan by 3.5 points.

  As a former Meijin-Honinbo, Takao Shinji would have had to be considered a formidable challenger, but he has always done badly against Iyama Yuta and, in fact, had won only one of the nine games they had played. When the title match started, he was unable to turn the tide. Perhaps the crucial game was the second, in which the lead shifted back and forth. Takao slipped up late in the game and so ended up 0-2 instead of evening the score. After this setback, he was unable to recover. In the fourth game, Takao took the lead in the middle game but once again fell victim to a fightback by Iyama. What had been expected to be a very exciting title match ended anticlimactically after just four games.
  Through his powerful play in defending his title, Iyama Yuta proved that his Meijin win last year was no fluke. As he is still only 21, he should continue to get stronger. His next tasks will be to broaden his range and take another title. Some international success would also make his Japanese fans really happy.

The results:

Game 1 (1, 2 September). Iyama (W) by 6.5 points. Game 2 (16, 17 September). Iyama (B) by 5.5 points. Game 3 (22, 23 September). Iyama (W) by resignation. Game 4 (6, 7 October). Iyama (B) by resignation.

  Takao Shinji and Iyama Yuta are fated to clash again, as they have won the 35th Kisei A and B Leagues. Takao remained undefeated in the A League, while Iyama had to rely on his higher league ranking to prevail over Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan.
  The play-off between the two to decide the challenger to Cho U will be held in early November.

15 July	(A League)	Kono Rin 9-dan (B) beat O Meien 9-dan by resignation.
22 July	(A League)	Yamashita Keigo Tengen (W) beat Kato Atsushi 8-dan by resignation. Takao Shinji 9-dan (W) beat Yoda Norimoto 9-dan by resignation.
29 July	(B League)	Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan (B) beat Hane Naoki 9-dan by 1.5 points.
5 August	(A League)	O Meien 9-dan (W) beat Kato Atsushi 8-dan by resignation.
	(B League)	Akiyama Jiro 8-dan (W) beat O Rissei 9-dan by 5.5 points, Hane Naoki 9-dan (B) beat Iyama Yuta Meijin by resignation.
26 August	(A League)	Takao Shinji 9-dan (B) beat Yamashita Keigo Honinbo by resignation. Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (W) beat Kono Rin 9-dan by 4.5 points.
	(B League)	Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan (B) beat Ryu Shikun 9-dan by 7.5 points.
2 September	(A League)	Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (W) beat O Meien 9-dan by resignation.
	(B League)	Hane Naoki 9-dan (B) beat Ryu Shikun 9-dan by half a point.
9 September	(A League)	Takao Shinji 9-dan (B) beat Kato Atsushi 8-dan by resignation.
	(B League)	Iyama Yuta Meijin (B) beat Akiyama Jiro 8-dan by resignation.
16 September	(A League)	Yamashita Keigo Honinbo (B) beat Kono Rin 9-dan by resignation.
23 September	(B League)	Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan (B) beat O Rissei 9-dan by 2.5 points.
30 September	(A League)	Yamashita Keigo Honinbo (W) beat Yoda Norimoto 9-dan by 3.5 points. Takao Shinji 9-dan (W) beat O Meien 9-dan by 3.5 points. Kato Atsushi 8-dan (B) beat Kono Rin 9-dan by half a point.
	(B League)	Iyama Yuta Meijin (B) beat Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan by resignation. Hane Naoki 9-dan (W) beat Akiyama Jiro 8-dan by resignation. Ryu Shikun 9-dan (W) beat O Rissei 9-dan by half a point.

in the chart

* B=playing black * 1=win, 0=loss

The 35th Kisei League

  Thanks to his early Kisei success, Yamashita Keigo's image has been one of a player who was at his best in two-day games. Until now, he has enjoyed little success in haya-go (fast go) tournaments, but two wins in quick succession in early autumn may start to change this image. First of all, Yamashita (B) defeated Nakano Hironari 9-dan by 6.5 points in the final of the 19th Ryusei tournament; his first victory in this tournament earned Yamashita six million yen (about $73,000). In the final of the 17th Agon Kiriyama Cup, played in Kyoto at the headquarters of the Agon Buddhist sect on 2 October, Yamashita (B) beat Cho Chikun, 25th Honinbo, by resignation. This earned him another ten million yen (about $122,000) and took his tally of current titles to four and his career total to 19.

  Shiraishi Yuichi 3-dan (aged 26) made a bad start in the 35th King of the New Stars title match by losing the first game but recovered to take the next two and win his first title. His defeated opponent was Mitani Tetsuya 6-dan (aged 25).

Game 1 (17 September). Mitani (B) by resignation.
Game 2 (24 September). Shiraishi (B) by 3.5 points.
Game 3 (1 October). Shiraishi (B) by resignation.

  Xie Yimin has successfully completed her defence of her triple crown of Women's titles. In the 29th Women's Honinbo title match, she rebuffed the challenge of Mukai Chiaki 4-dan with straight wins. Xie has now held this title for four years in a row. Incidentally, she has now won ten straight games in title matches, beginning with the second game of last year's Women's Honinbo.

Game 1 (6 October). Xie (B) by resignation.
Game 2 (13 October). Xie (W) by 2.5 points.
Game 3 (20 October). Xie (B) by 9.5 points.

  Okuda Aya 2-dan holds the sole lead in the 23rd Women's Meijin League, but two rivals, Mukai Chiaki 4-dan and Yoshida Mika 8-dan, are hot on her heels with just one loss each. The challenger to Xie Yimin for the title should be one of these three.

(22 July)	Mukai Chiaki 4-dan (B) beat Koyama Terumi 6-dan by resignation.
(29 July)	Yoshida Mika 8-dan (W) beat Umezawa Hikari 5-dan by 7.5 points. Okuda Aya 2-dan (B) beat Suzuki Ayumi 5-dan by resignation.
(12 August)	Umezawa Yukari 5-dan (W) beat Mannami Nao 2-dan by resignation. Mukai Chiaki 4-dan (B) beat Suzuki Ayumi 5-dan by 3.5 points.
(26 August)	Okuda Aya 2-dan (W) beat Koyama Terumi 6-dan by 2.5 points.
(9 September)	Koyama Terumi 6-dan (B) beat Umezawa Yukari 5-dan by resignation.
(30 September)	Okuda Aya 2-dan (B) beat Mannami Nao 2-dan by 3.5 points.
(7 October)	Suzuki Ayumi 5-dan (B) beat Koyama Terumi 6-dan by 5.5 points.
(14 October)	Mannami Nao 2-dan (W) beat Yoshida Mika 8-dan by resignation.

The 23rd Women's Meijin Challenger's League

* B=playing black  * 1=win, 0=loss

(Sponsor:Sankei Newspaper)
Title holder: Shei Imin

  In the second semifinal of the 58th Oza tournament, played on 15 July, Yamada Kimio 9-dan (W) beat Iyama Yuta Meijin by resignation. Yamada's last previous win against Iyama was in January 2008 and was followed by six losses. This was a good place for him to break the losing streak.
  In the final to decide the challenger, played on 26 July, Yamada (B) defeated Mochizuki Ken'ichi 7-dan by resignation.
  Yamada also challenged Cho U last year for this title but was unable to win a game. His first task will be to break Cho's winning streak against him, but he has made a bad start. The first game was played at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa in Tokyo on 21 October. Taking black, Cho forced a resignation after 205 moves. Yamada had taken the lead by skilfully starting a ko fight, but he missed his opportunity to clinch a win and fell victim to a severe counterattack by Cho.
  The second game will be played on 4 November.

  The winners of the four vacant seats in the 66th Honinbo League are Seto Taiki 7-dan of the Kansai Ki-in, Cho Sonjin 9-dan, O Rissei 9-dan, and Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan.
  So far, only three games have been played. Seto scored a win in his first-ever game in a league, Cho U got off to a bad start, and the immediate past Honinbo, Hane Naoki, picked up a win over a formidable rival.

Results to date:
  (7 October) Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan (B) defeated Cho U Kisei by 4.5 points.
  (14 October) Seto Taiki 7-dan (W) defeated Cho Sonjin 9-dan by resignation.
  (21 October) Hane Naoki 9-dan (W) defeated Takao Shinji 9-dan by resignation.

in the chart

* B=playing black * 1=win, 0=loss * Date: mm/dd

  In the play-off to decide the challenger for the 36th Tengen tournament, held at the Osaka headquarters of the Kansai Ki-in on 9 September, Yuki Satoshi 9-dan (W) defeated Kim Shujun 8-dan by 4.5 points. Yuki will make his first challenge for the Tengen. The first game of the title match with Yamashita Keigo will be held on 28 October.

The 36th Tengen Challenger's Tournament
Title holder: Yamashita Keigo

  The final of the Winners' Section of the 49th Judan title featured a notable pairing: Meijin versus Honinbo. The former is ranked higher among the titles, and that's how the result went, but only by the narrowest margin.
  The game was played on 27 September. Taking black, Iyama Yuta beat Yamashita Keigo by half a point. Early in the game, Black got a tortoise-shell shape, which, according to the proverb, is worth 60 points, but the game was actually very close. Iyama won by winning the final half-point ko.
  Yamashita switches to the Losers' Section, where he will have to win two games to reach the play-off with Iyama to decide the challenger.

  At the party held on 20 august to celebrate his investiture as Honinbo, Yamashita announced that he had taken the name of Dowa. Japanese go media now refer to him as Yamashita Dowa Honinbo (simply ‘Honinbo Dowa' is correct but perhaps too unfamiliar); however, we will mainly refer to him as Yamashita Keigo Honinbo, as previously. In the old days, a hereditary Honinbo kept the position for decades, but nowadays the turnover is more rapid, so switching back and forth is troublesome.

  After defeating her younger sister Nao 2-dan in an unusual match-up in the semifinal, Mannami Kana 4-dan went on to defeat Okuda Aya 2-dan in the final of the 4th Daiwa Securities Cup Net Igo Ladies tournament. The final was played on 17 July and, taking black, Mannami won by 6.5 points.

  Yamashita Keigo has opened up a big lead in the most-wins list and is probably uncatchable. He was helped by a winning streak of 16 games. As of 22 October, the top nine were:

1. Yamashita Keigo: 38-17
2. Iyama Yuta: 30-16
3. Cho Chikun: 27-17 ; Takao Shinji: 27-19
5. Kono Rin: 26-15
6. Cho U: 24-14 ; Yamada Kimio: 24-21
8. Yamashiro Hiroshi: 23-6 ; Ogata Masaki: 23-14

  Hirata Hironori, one of Japan's top amateurs over the last half century, has set some new records, becoming Japan's representative in the World Amateur Go Championship for the eighth time and at the age of 84. Actually, Japan's amateur go world has been rejuvenated over the last decade, with players in their 20s and 30s winning most of the titles, but Hirata has made a comeback and will play in his first WAGC for 14 years. He took second place in 1996 and won the tournament the year before.
  Hirata took first place in the qualifying tournament, which was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on 18 and 19 September. Sixty-four players took part, including the winners of the prefectural qualifying tournaments and a number of seeded players, of whom Hirata was one.
  In the winner's interview, Hirata commented that he does not believe there has been any decline in his go skills, so he could well be a threat in next year's WAGC.

To 7-dan: Tsuruyama Atsushi (120 wins)
To 2-dan: Seki Tatsuya (30 wins)

(29 July) Yashiro Kumiko 5-dan (B) beat Redmond 9-dan by resignation (12 August) Redmond 9-dan (W) beat Haruyama Isamu 9-dan by resignation (9 September) Ezura Yuichi 8-dan (W) beat Redmond 9-dan by 1.5 points (7 October) Redmond 9-dan (B) beat Tamai Shin 3-dan by resignation

  Oeda Yusuke 9-dan died of heart failure on 17 September. He was 75.
  Oeda was born on 15 January 1935 in Tokyo. He became a disciple of Maeda Nobuaki 9-dan and qualified as 1-dan in 1954. He was promoted to 9-dan in 1992. He took second place in the 11th Prime Minister's Cup in 1967. Oeda served many terms as a director of the Nihon Ki-in and was a central figure in its recent administrative history. He played a key role in the founding of the World Amateur Go Championship and the establishment of the International Go Federation. Even so, his main legacy may be the large number of disciples he trained. Unusually in contemporary go, Oeda maintained the live-in disciple system that produced so many great players in the past, as with, for example, the Kitani school. Best known in the west, of course, is Michael Redmond, who joined Oeda's household at the age of 14. Other disciples include Ryu Shikun 9-dan, Yasuda Yasutoshi 9-dan, Obuchi Morito 9-dan, Yo Kagen 9-dan, Onda Yasuhiko 8-dan, Kurotaki Masanori 7-dan, Han Zenki 7-dan, and the Mannami sisters, among others.

  Yokoyama Kunitada died of pneumonia on 29 August. He was born on 31 July 1940 in Kanagawa Prefecture. He became a disciple of Takahashi Toshimitsu 8-dan, made 1-dan in 1958 and reached 9-dan in 1994. He retired in 2001.