Hane Naoki, The New Honinbo

After losing the first 3 matches, Hane Naoki, this year Honinbo challenger, won the last 4 matches along with the title with Takao Shinji.

The fifth match (picture right) was played at 07-01.02 atChoshi, Chiba
Hane Naoki took white in this game. Takao Shinji chose to play low Chinese fuseki this time. White 6 is kinda unusual for me. Usually white play oogeima instead of keima.

The game began to heat with black 45. Starting an attack at white’s group.


In my opinion, white’s splitting move at move 78 is the winning move. Black group was splitted into 2 weak groups. The game ended at move 180, where black lost the semeai.

The sixth game was played at 07-16,17 at Izu, Shizuoka

The opening was pretty usual, unless black 27 where black played the stone high. Usually the stone is played low, but the high move is typical to Japanese players.

The game ended after Takao Shinji misread a cut which would kill one of his groups.


The seventh game (picture below) was played at 07-22,23 atMyoko, Nigata
Hane Naoki, as black, took a moyo oriented opening. In my opinion, up to move 29, white’s position at the left is a little overconcentrated.

The game turned out to be semeai, with white chasing black’s group. But black managed to live, so white resigned at move 135