Category: Japan

  • Kadoban in the 46th Kisei

    Kadoban in the 46th Kisei

    The first game of the Kisei kadoban [When a player needs only one more game to win the title] was played last Thursday and Friday (March 3-4), as Iyama lost the previous two games the score was now 1-3 in favor of Ichiriki Ryo.

    This time, the game was played in Hotal Kagetsuen, located in Hakone, Kanagawa. Which lies 800m above sea level, and on a good day one might even be able to see Mount Fuji. The hotel has a history of hosting important Go (and Shogi) matches. This venue will also be where the next game will be played, in the coming week.

    The Game

    After the exchanges of 115 to 123 (of which the AI didn’t like a single move), Iyama took the lead and never gave it away. After an exciting fight that would involve the entire lower half of the board, Ichiriki resigned after move 213, being behind by almost 50 points.

    Iyama is now only 2-3 behind and still has a chance to win the Kisei for the 10th consecutive time.

    Image Source

  • 60th Judan – Game 1

    60th Judan – Game 1

    The 60th Judan is being played between two friends and Taiwanese players, namely, Kyo Kagen 9p (Hsu Chiayuan) and Yo Seiki 8p (Yu Zhengqi). Of these two players, Kyo Kagen currently holds the title. Yo Seiki is aiming to win his first of the seven big Japanese titles.

    The game was played on March 1, at the Osaka University of Commerce. With 3 hours and 1-minute byo-yomi. This first part of the game was played relatively fast, as the first 90 moves were played before the lunch break. (2,5 hours in).

    White 52 was an aggressive way of playing. Black counterattacked with 63 and 65 in the left corner. After move 105, Kyo Kagen became thicker in the center and started gaining momentum. Black was 115 is a calm answer after white 114 (which was a mistake) tried to put pressure on blacks upper group. In the end, Kyo Kagen, playing with black won the game by 0.5 points, having led most of the game.

    In the post-game commentary, Kyo Kagen said he got lucky early on and was lucky to win. Yo Seiki told the interviewers he has some time before the second game and will prepare [again] for the second game.


    As I mentioned before, 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).

    Image Source

  • The Last Three Games of the Nongshim Cup

    The Last Three Games of the Nongshim Cup

    After Shin Jinseo won the “rematch” from Mi Yuting his winning streak against Chinese players continued, which now stood at 22 consecutive victories. His next opponent was from Japan, Yo Seiki 8p.

    Shin Jinseo vs Yo Seiki

    It was a sad sight to behold, Yo Seiki fell behind early in the opening, and Shin Jinseo never faltered during the game. After he was roughly 30 points behind Yo Seiki resigned after move 152.

    Shin Jinseo vs Ke Jie

    Now probably the most anticipated match of the entire 23rd Nongshim Cup was probably this match. The number one player from South Korea (and the world), against the number one player from China (and ranked number three of the world). This game however was also very one-sided, with Shin Jinseo winning the game by resignation after 228 moves. Afterward, Ke Jie 9p gave perhaps the biggest compliment he is able to make, that he felt that Shin Jinseo played stronger than AlphaGo. Shin’s AI accordance rate for this game was a staggering 65.8%, with the final 15 moves being 71%. While in the meantime Ke Jie never got above 50%.

    Shin Jinseo vs Ichiriki Ryo

    The final match was against Ichiriki Ryo 9p, who is also currently playing the Kisei against Iyama Yuta 9p. Ichiriki came prepared, and did fairly well in the opening, however in the middle game he was outplayed by Shin Jinseo, and Ichiriki Ryo resigned after 228 moves, being behind by roughly six points.


    In the end, we saw another 4 game winning streak, the first one was from Iyama Yuta is the second stage of the tournament. Shin’s winning streak however took home the bacon. Which is 500 million won for the team, which is then distributed by a formula.

    1. 80% of the total prize money of 500 million won, that is, 400 million won, is equally distributed to 5 players. 80 million won per person.
    2. The remaining 20% ​​of the 500 million won, or 100 million won, will be distributed according to the contribution. 8.5% (42.5 million won) goes to the winner of the championhip game (Shin Jinseo). 
    3. The remaining 11.5% (57.5 million won) are distributed by individual wins. In this edition, the South Korean team won 6 times. The 57.5 million won is divided by 6, so each victory is about 9.58 million won. The number of individual wins multiplied by 9.58 million won is set as the winning allowance.

    When combined Shin Jinseo takes home 160.82 million won, which is roughly 120 thousand euros.

    The other teams don’t receive money for their participation, as this is a winner takes all tournament.


    Finally, if that wasn’t enough, due to the game against Mi Yuting having to be replayed, all the games got moved up one day. Shin Jinseo already had a match planned for Saturday (Korean League game against Park Minkyu 7p), and instead of that match being moved, he played it immediately after winning the 23rd Nongshim Cup, and won that game as well!

    Image Source

  • Multiple Upsets in the 23rd Nongshim Cup

    Multiple Upsets in the 23rd Nongshim Cup

    Iyama Yuta vs Mi Yuting

    The third stage of the 23rd Nongshim Cup started Yesterday (February 22nd), and the games of this third stage are to be played the entire week. Iyama Yuta 9p, who singlehandedly defeated the majority of the Korean and Chinese teams unfortunately lost against Mi Yuting 9p on the first day of this third stage of the Nongshim Cup.

    The game was even up until move 95, after which the game became increasingly favorable for Mi Yuting who played with white. A couple of mistakes followed, but none that gave Iyama a chance to get back in the game. and Iyama resigned after move 200.

    Iyama seems to be on a bit of a losing streak, losing both the 3rd and 4th game of the Kisei as well. Commentators of the 4th Kisei game thought that he might not be feeling right, judging by the way he played at the end of that particular game.

    Mi Yuting vs Shin Jinseo

    The Nongshim Cup is a win and continue tournament, where the winner of the previous game continues, and plays against a team member of the country (China/Japan/South Korea) who didn’t play in the previous game. So currently Iyama Yuta (Japan) lost against Mi Yuting (China), so Mi Yuting’s next opponent has to come from South Korea, in this case, South Korea’s Golden Boy, Shin Jinseo, as he is the only player left from South Korea.

    The game was favorable for white (Mi Yuting), with Shin Jinseo being behind as much as 19 points at one point. Shin Jinseo however fought back and narrowed the gap to 2.5 points. Then Mi Yuting click on the board and nothing happened (see the embedded Youtube video), and the time ran out. Initially, the judges ruled 2-1 that Mi Yuting lost on time, but after reexamination of the video, it was ruled a technical failure, and the result was annulled. The move that Mi Yuting would have played, if not for a technical failure would actually have evened the game. The new game is planned for tomorrow, and all other games will be delayed one day.

    Image source

  • Did Iyama Yuta manage a 2-2 in his Kisei defense?

    Did Iyama Yuta manage a 2-2 in his Kisei defense?

    Iyama Yuta 9p, 2-1 behind after he lost the previous game in byo-yomi, was in damage control mode last Friday and Saturday (18th and 19th of February) in his Kisei title defense, while trying to do what no one has done before: holding on to the Kisei title for 10 consecutive years. Ichiriki Ryo 9p however proved to be the stronger player, and Iyama now trails 3-1.

    During the middle game, a series of questionable moves were made (moves 154-157 according to AI), but Iyama ended up leading. A couple of mistakes were made, but then Iyama made a crucial mistake with move 194, which evened the game, Iyama still had the smallest lead, however. In the endgame, he made a small mistake with move 230, and lost by a half-point. Iyama now faces yet another kadoban, but he is still in the race, as he managed to win the two kadobans he was in last year as well (both against Ichiriki Ryo). But those times he only needed to win 2 more games, while now he needs three victories.

    This was according to AI, an 11 point mistake, as black is now able to live, as he did in the game.
    AI variation in which white kills the black group.

    Image source

  • Japanese Professional Pair Go Championship 2021

    Japanese Professional Pair Go Championship 2021

    The Japanese Professional Pair Go Championship was played on the 13th of February of 2022, due to the game being postponed several times. Iyama Yuta 9p teamed up with Nyu Eiko 4p, who is the niece of Niu Xian Xian 5p, who in turn is the wife of Michael Redmond 9p. Ichiriki Ryo 9p played together with Chinen Kaori 6p.

    performance graph (AI)

    The game went fairly well for Iyama and Nyu, and when Chinen decided not to play ko and covered with move 101 (which was a 20 point mistake), Nyu could have lived with the bottom left corner. But with move 102 Nyu made a terrible mistake (34 point mistake), and the corner was killed. The game became favorable for black, but they couldn’t consolidate their advantage and the game became even, where the mistakes made were about even. After Iyama made a 5 point mistake with move 172, they fell behind, and their opponent didn’t make any big mistakes anymore. and won the game after Iyama and Nyu resigned after move 255.

    On a side note, the Pair Go World Cup 2020 will be held as the Pair Go World Cup 2022, from March 17 to 21, 2022. As it also was postponed due to COVID. Where 3 Japanese pairs play against pairs from China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

    Image source

  • Ichiriki Ryo takes 2-1 lead in 46th Kisei + Game Commentary

    Ichiriki Ryo takes 2-1 lead in 46th Kisei + Game Commentary

    After Ichiriki Ryo won the first game and after losing the second one, all was even. Therefore the winner of this game would take the smallest lead possible.

    The Game was played in the Olive Bay Hotel, Saikai City, Nagasaki Prefecture (photo left). Commentary was provided by Murakawa Daisuke 9p and Ohashi Naruya 7p (on the upper right photo, left and right respectively). The Hotel bought the Go board for the 2014 Honinbo Title match (right under). Which was played between Iyama Yuta and Ida Atsushi. The total playing set (including Hyuga clamshell stones) costs roughly 72.000 euros.

    At the end of the first day Iyama, playing with black took a small lead, and sealed his move at 17:42 Japanese time. However Iyama made a big mistake with move 189, which was a 24 point mistake. After which the game was still good for Iyama according to AI, but hard to judge. After move 199, which was another big mistake (Iyama went from 13 ahead to 6 behind) the game was Ichiriki’s to lose, which he didn’t. In the post game commentary Iyama said he didn’t play the best moves during the center Ko. Ichiriki told the press that, he still saw a possibility but it was extremely risky.

    Game Record with Commentary

    The commentary has been sourced from various commentaries found online, combined with AI. Commentary is not viewable on a mobile browser.

    Image Source Featured image

    Image source photo gallery

  • Ueno Asami wins 25th Female Kisei

    Ueno Asami wins 25th Female Kisei

    Ueno Asami 4p, 20 years old, won the 25th Female Kisei which was played on the 20th and 27nd of January. She first won the Female Kisei in 2018, when she was only 16 years old and is one of the biggest (female) talents of the Japanese Go world.

    Ueno Asami 4p

    Her opponent in the 25th Female Kisei is Suzuki Ayumi 7p, who won the Female Kisei in 2020, which is the only time that Ueno Asami was without the Female Kisei title since winning the title as a 1p rookie.

    Post Game Interview

    “I thought it wasn’t so bad at the beginning, but I regretted it a little bit of the hand when I played the cut (white 34), it became difficult from then on. I struggled in the middle game these finals. But recently I’ve been studying Yose, I am glad the results show it because I was always terrible at Yose. I want to get stronger this year and do my best in games with more time.”

    Image Source Featured image

    Image Source Portrait

  • Cho Shinji Follows in Family’s Footsteps

    Cho Shinji Follows in Family’s Footsteps

    Cho Shinji (12) follows in her family’s footsteps as a fourth-generation Go professional, by placing first in the special pro qualification tournament for women, her parents are Cho U 9p and Kobayashi Izumi 7p. Her sister Cho Kosumi (15), became pro in 2020 but doesn’t seem to be playing as much, as there are only 7 recorded matches in the Go4Go database, of which she won only 2.

    Family Tree

    As Cho Shinji is slightly younger than Nakamura Sumire, who is also 12 years old she becomes the youngest professional player of the Nihon Ki-in. Cho Shinji will be officially starting her career as a Go professional on the 1st of April.

    Image Source

  • The 60th Judan – A Taiwanese party?

    The 60th Judan – A Taiwanese party?

    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.

    left: Kyo Kagen 9p; right: Yo Seiki (8p)

    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).