From: davies@twics.co.jp
Newsgroups: rec.games.go
Subject: July Go News from Japan
Date: 30 Jul 92 22:32:14 GMT
Organization: TWICS, Tokyo, Japan

====================   JULY GO NEWS FROM JAPAN   =======================
     In the semifinal round of the Fujitsu Cup, Otake Hideo dominated 
throughout his game against Ma Xiaochun and won by 5 1/2 points. Otake 
has now beaten both of China's best: Ma and Nie. In the other semifinal 
game, O Rissei fought back from an unfavorable position, as he had done 
in the two preceding rounds, to subdue Liu Xiaoguang by 4 1/2 points. O 
meets Otake for the Fujitsu Cup on August 1.
               *                   *                   *
     The second quadrennial World Professional Championship sponsored by 
Ing Chang-Ki kicked off in Tokyo July 13 to 17, with the regrettable 
absence of players from mainland China but with the presence of two 
expatriate Chinese 9-dans: Jiang Zhujiu, who resides in San Francisco, 
and Rui Naiwei, who lives in Tokyo and has become a fixture on Japan's 
main computer go network. For Jiang and Rui the tournament was a longed-
for reunion, and they took advantage of it by getting married. Jiang 
lost to Korean Yang Jaeho in round 2, but Rui took revenge for him in 
round 3 and reached the semifinals.
-------- Round 1 (July 13) ------------------ Round 2 (July 15) --------
Yoo Chanhyeok beat Perng Kinghua   | Cho Chikun      beat Yoo Chanhyeok
Awaji Shuzo   beat O Rissei        | Awaji Shuzo     beat Cho Hunhyun
O Meien       beat Ishii Kunio     | Takemiya Masaki beat O Meien
Suh Bongsoo   beat Tei Meiko       | Suh Bongsoo     beat Fujisawa Shuko
Chin Kaei     beat Hashimoto Shoji | Otake Hideo     beat Chin Kaei
Yoda Norimoto beat Wu Songsheng    | Rin Kaiho       beat Yoda Norimoto
Yang Jaeho    beat Michael Redmond | Yang Jaeho      beat Jiang Zhujiu
Rui Naiwei     beat Komatsu Hideki | Rui Naiwei      beat Lee Changho
------------------------- Round 3 (July 17) ----------------------------
  Cho beat Awaji           Otake beat Rin          Rui beat Yang
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The quarter-final game between Takemiya and Suh will be played August 1 
in Seoul, where Takemiya is taking part in the Tong Yang Securities Cup.
               *                   *                   *
     When Cho Chikun lost the first three games of the Honinbo title 
match he seemed to be on the verge of collapse, or perhaps to have 
passed the verge, considering the way he threw away the third game. But 
apparently Cho is a player who has to cross the valley of despair before 
he can ascend to the height of this powers. In the next four games he 
played superbly, recovered from his 0-3 start, and won the series 4-3. 
He had staged similar fightbacks from 0-3 in the 1983 Kisei and 1984 
Meijin matches, so as one journalist put it, his victory in this year's 
Honinbo gives him a triple crown in come-from-behind miracles.
     Kobayashi Koichi's best chance to win came in game six, played July 
8-9. Kobayashi outplayed Cho in the opening, constructed a huge 
territorial framework, and seemed to be clearly ahead. But then he tried 
to protect his lead with safety tactics, and in the space of a few 
seemingly innocent moves Cho flashed past him, ultimately to win the 
game by 3 1/2 points. In the seventh game, played July 22-23, it was Cho 
who pursued a large-framework strategy, and this time he won by 7 1/2. 
Cho now has six Honinbo titles, tying him with Takemiya for third place 
in this department behind Sakata (seven) and Takagawa (nine).
               *                   *                   *
     Now that the Honinbo match is over, it is high time to take a look 
at the Meijin league. This year it began as a one-man race, as Otake 
Hideo started off with five straight wins. But then Otake lost to Rin 
Kaiho, which allowed Yoda Norimoto to catch him at 5-1. This set the 
stage for a confrontation between Otake and Yoda on July 2. Otake took a 
big step toward the Meijin challenger's spot by beating Yoda by 3 1/2 
points, but Yoda still has a chance, if he wins his final game against 
Cho Chikun and if Otake loses to Komatsu Hideki.
               *                   *                   *
     Yoda Norimoto may have been smarting after his losses to Otake in 
the Meijin League and Rin in the Ing Cup, but he showed no sign of it 
when he played Zheng Hong and Zhang Wendong in the China-Japan Supergo 
series on July 21 and 23 in Tokyo. He won both games in impressive 
style, by resignation. Japan now leads the series 4-1.
               *                   *                   *
     The Gosei match is following exactly the same pattern as last year.  
Kobayashi Koichi won the first two games, played July 1 and 16, but 
Kobayashi Satoru won game three, played July 29, to keep his title hopes 
alive.
               *                   *                   *
     Miura Hiroshi took first place in Japan's Amateur Best Ten 
tournament this year. World Champion Kikuchi Yasuro finished 6th.