The challenger match for the 60th Judan title was played on the 27th of January. Sada Atsushi 7p playing white was pitted against Yo Seiki 8p, also known by his Taiwanese name Yu Zhengqi. The Game was more or less even after the first 100 moves, however soon after, Yo Seiki managed to build a comfortable lead, and won the game after 319 moves by 3.5 points.

Yo Seiki, one of the Kansai Ki-in’s best players, will challenge Kyo Kagen 9p (Hsu Chiayuan), who is also from Taiwan. This will be Kyo Kagen’s second time defending a major title, after being whitewashed by Iyama Yuta in the 43rd Gosei. Yo Seiki, still without a major title after reaching the finals of two major titles before, will be trying for the third time. Perhaps the third time is the charm?
As a sidenote, it’s also the second time the finals of the Judan are to be played by two Taiwanese players. The first time was in 2004 when Cho U (Zhang Xu) challenged O Rissei (Wang Licheng) for the 42nd Judan (O Rissei won).
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