Friday, October 30, 2009

Typhoon and Go

This is the news from the English Nihon Kiin News about a typhoon attacked Tokyo at October 7.

A large-scale typhoon attacked Tokyo on the night of Wednesday, 7 October, and Thursday morning, playing havoc with to the morning rush hour on the trains. That was good news for school and college students, who benefitted from cancelled classes, but not for workers, who had to make an effort to get to work by whatever train lines were running.
 Among the latter were go professionals, for whom Thursday is the main playing day. It was presumably too late for games to be rescheduled. Current tournament rules give players leeway of only one hour for late arrivals, after which they forfeit the game. Time deducted from the time allowance up to one hour is also tripled.
 Games start at 10 a.m. Mimura Tomoyasu was 14 minutes late for his Honinbo League game, but he still managed to win it. In more serious trouble was Cho Chikun, who lives in Chiba Prefecture, next to Tokyo. When his usual train stopped, he switched to a number of different lines and somehow made it to Ichigaya just before 11. His troubles weren't over, however, as he thought his game was being played on the 6th floor, the main playing venue for professionals. Actually it was scheduled for the special playing room on the 7th floor. Cho had taken his shoes off for the Japanese-style playing room on the 6th floor; when he realized his mistake, he rushed up barefooted to the Western-style 7th floor. He made it with just three minutes left on his clock. Nothing daunted, he played the game in byo-yomi and won it. (His opponent was Kono Takayuki 7-dan, and the game was in Preliminary A of the Tengen tournament.)
 Surprisingly, there were only four forfeits in 41 games.


It's amazing that Cho Chikun won the game under the time pressure and to see that most players came to play their games even when a typhoon attacked!! What a spirit :)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Xie Yimin Defended Her Female Honinbo

Successfully defended her Female Meijin title this year from veteran Chinen Kaori, Xie Yimin repeated her success by defending another title she owned, Female Honinbo.

Winning the second and the third game, Xie scored another victory in October 28 and defended her title from the challenger, Aoki Kikuyo, with 3-1 score.

Xie won the game by resignation after killing Aoki's group in the left.


Xie Yimin Female Honinbo, Female Meijin

This is the second time Xie defended her title. Last year she defended it from Suzuki Ayumi, also by the same condition, where she lost the first game, but won the next three games.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Selamat Hari Sumpah Pemuda

Hari ini tanggal 28 Oktober. Tau gak ini hari apa? Hari Rabu? Bukan. Bukan.
Apaan? Yap! Bener banget. Hari ini adalah Hari Sumpah Pemuda.

Sumpah Pemuda adalah sumpah kesetiaan akan Indonesia hasil rumusan Kerapatan Pemoeda-Pemoedi Indonesia, yang dibacakan pada 28 Oktober 1928. Sejak itulah setiap tanggal 28 Oktober kita memperingati hari Sumpah Pemuda.

Rumusan Sumpah Pemuda ditulis Moehammad Yamin pada sebuah kertas ketika Mr. Sunario, sebagai utusan kepanduan tengah berpidato pada sesi terakhir kongres. Sumpah tersebut awalnya dibacakan oleh Soegondo dan kemudian dijelaskan panjang-lebar oleh Yamin.

Terus, apa sih isi Sumpah Pemuda itu? Ini nih isinya:
Pertama
Kami poetera dan poeteri Indonesia, mengakoe bertoempah darah jang satoe, tanah Indonesia.
Kedoea
Kami poetera dan poeteri Indonesia, mengakoe berbangsa jang satoe, bangsa Indonesia.
Ketiga
Kami poetera dan poeteri Indonesia, mendjoendjoeng bahasa persatoean, bahasa Indonesia.

Atau dalam versi EYDnya:
Pertama
Kami putra dan putri Indonesia, mengaku bertumpah darah yang satu, tanah air Indonesia.
Kedua
Kami putra dan putri Indonesia, mengaku berbangsa yang satu, bangsa Indonesia.
Ketiga
Kami putra dan putri Indonesia, menjunjung tinggi bahasa persatuan, bahasa Indonesia.

Selamat Hari Sumpah Pemuda!!! ^o^

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Yamashita Keigo Hit 700 Victories

Yamashita Keigo (below) the current Kisei title holder hit his 700 victories mark after beating Mimura Tomoyasu in the 65th Honinbo league. He won the game by resignation as white.



With his victory, Yamashita is the 35th person to reach the 700 victories mark.

Yamashita needs 3 years to collect 100 victories. He hit the 600 victories milestone in August 3, 2006.



Yamashita will play the winner between O Rissei and Cho U to defend his Kisei title. He has been the title holder for 4 consecutive years. One more defend and he will be honored the title Honorary Kisei because he won for five consecutive year

Friday, October 23, 2009

Online Playing Troubles

Recently I encounter troubles on playing online go.

When I play at KGS, the lag really drives me crazy. Lag in KGS is not something new, but it's just terrible for me now. I could even lagged for 5 minutes :(

So when KGS really turns me off, I will play at CyberOro. When I started it today, it did an automatic update. When it finished, it was not CyberOro anymore. It changed to WBaduk and I cannot connect to it (well, it said it was connected, but no player name appeared on window, including my name) :(

So I'm back with my old IGS id :) though I must rework my rank there.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Xie Yimin Won the Third Game

The third game of the 28th Female Honinbo Title was held at October 21. Xie Yimin Female Honinbo and Aoki Kikuyo the challenger both shared 1-1 position. The third game was played at Chiyoda, Tokyo.



Xie played as black and Aoki played white. The game opened with a crosscut joseki in the lower left corner. Aoki played nobi at move 20 to finished the joseki, but I think it's better to play ikken biraki since it's more flexible.

In response of white 20, black played a kakari in the left side. Aoki didn't directly try to create base with a pincer, but prefer to play a solid move at E10. Up to move 43, Aoki made some points in the left side, but ended up with a sealed corner.


Board position up to move 83

After both played for solid corners, Xie Yimin tried to separate white's group at move 85. The plan was a success. Xie got some profits in the lower right due to the attack.

The endgame started after Aoki connected her weak group to her bottom's base. After 271 moves, Xie Yimin won the game by 2.5 points.

With this victory, Xie lead the title matches by 2-1. One more win and she'll defend her title.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Hane Naoki Honinbo Won 16th Agon Cup

The final of the 16th Agon Cup was held at October 17. This time, Hane Naoki Honinbo met Cho U Gosei,Tengen,Oza,Judan,and the previous Agon Cup winner.


Cho U

Cho played black in this game while Hane got white. Cho opened the game by playing nadare in the bottom left corner to create a shimari in the bottom board. A battle started in the bottom board where white invaded black's area. In the end, black sacrificed his 5 stones to saved his group. Up to move 120, white was leading on territory.


Board position up to move 83

Cho resigned at move 198. He was behind about 10 points excluding komi on the board. It seems that he is not fully recovered after a long and hard fight during the Meijin title match. His play wasn't as good as usual.


Hane Naoki

Agon Cup is an open tournament for both amateur and professional players , sponsored by Agon, a Buddhist organization. The prize for the winner is ¥10,000,000.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Iyama Meijin

The fifth game from seven title matches game between Cho U Meijin and Iyama Yuta challenger has been played at October 14-15.


The fifth game of the 34th Meijin title matches

The title holder, Cho U, played as black, while Iyama Yuta held white.

The game was opened by Cho played a Micro-Chinese fuseki in the bottom board. Iyama chose to play a joseki that very popular in Japan when Cho approach the upper left corner. Cho U used this joseki a lot and he has a good record with it, especially when he holds white. The trade ended with Iyama gained solid territory, while Cho went for influence.

Day 1 ended with a fight in the center. Iyama must survived his group or he will lose. Cho U did the sealing move for the first time in this series. In his blog, Takao Shinji mentioned the possibility of playing A or the sequence from B-D.


Board position at the end of day 1


Cho handed the sealing move

Day 2 started with Cho tried to cut white off with K10. However, Iyama played a clever sequence and connected his group at move 108, though Cho also got a nice influence in the right side.


Day 2

Move 101 rises question for me. I wonder if Cho can played L7 and survived his group in the bottom to killed white.

Cho resigned at move 176, after Iyama stole his corner for the second time.

Iyama is in a super shape this year. He fix his record against Cho U and he won two titles over Cho U. He won Ryusei after beat Cho in the final and he stole Meijin that Cho has held for 2 years.

To Sir, With Love

Recently I really love this song "To Sir, With Love". It is a very old song came as soundtrack for the 1967 (that's why I called it very old. My parents were still not born at that time O_o) film with the same title. The song was brought by British singer, Lulu. This song topped Billboard Hot 100 for 5 weeks and titled as #1 song of 1967.

I just accidentally know about this song from the internet and I quickly fell in love with this song. The song is simple, but catchy and fun ^o^

Here is the lyric

Those schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on,
But how do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try,

If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters,
That would soar a thousand feet high,
To Sir, with Love

The time has come,
For closing books and long last looks must end,
And as I leave,
I know that I am leaving my best friend,
A friend who taught me right from wrong,
And weak from strong,
That's a lot to learn,
What, what can I give you in return?

If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,
But I, would rather you let me give my heart,
To Sir, with Love

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Game to See (4)

This is an interesting game from the 14th Samsung Cup. This game is a very long game. A 361 moves game (but I think it's 362) that involves many ko fights.

White: Park Yeonghun (9 dan) from South Korea


Black: Wang Yao (6 dan) from China


Move 11 A rare move. It's more usual to play D13 or play the Mini-Chinese in the bottom
Move 24 It's easier to defend with P12.


Move 81 is the only move. No time to connect first.
Move 146 started the first important ko fight
Move 159 Nice timing! It threats white's corner and also as a ko threat.
Move 198 after 52 moves, white won the ko fight, but as a result, white's corner became threatened.



Move 205 Started the second ko fight.
Move 216 White dcided to save the corner, in return of a re fight of white group in the center.
Move 232 White defended his center group, in return of losing his bottom territory, as black saved his earlier died group.
Move 234 A nice probe. Later it turned out to be seki.
Move 236 A huge move!



The game record ended at move 361, but I think White should throw in first at R9 or S9 to create the seki.

After a long fight, Park Yeonghun (White) won the game by 0.5 point. A pitiful lose for Wang.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Tsumego (6)

Here is another tsumego question. White to move and kill. Enjoy

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Xie Defended Herself

The second game of the 28th Female Honinbo title matches was held at October 9.

Xie Yimin Female Honinbo played as white, while Aoki Kikuyo the challenger played as black.



The game started with Aoki opened the game by her favorite opening, the low Chinese fuseki. Up to move 46, both shared a tough poistion in the left side


Board position up to move 86

Xie won by resignation at move 208. Aoki was behind about 7 points.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Iyama Won the Fourth Game

Iyama Yuta made a bigger gap from the title holder Cho U in the Meijin sen.

In the last game, Iyama challenger played as black. The game started with Iyama played the low Chinese fuseki. Cho made the usual N4 approach and Iyama answered with a pincer.


Board position up to day 1

Day 1 ended with Iyama did the sealing move. The position in the bottom board is already settled for both sides. The rest of the game will be decided by the fight in the upper board.


Iyama handled the sealing move to the referee

In day 2, a fight arose in the upper left corner when Iyama played tsuke at C16. The situation turned out to be a little tricky, but Iyama handled it well and in the end he killed Cho's group.

Now Iyama Yuta is only one win away from capturing the title.

The fifth game ill be played at October 14-15.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Taiwanese Players' Showdown

The two winners from both league A and league B in the 34th Japanese Kisei have been decided.

In league A, O Rissei (9 dan) made clear swept ater his last victory from Lee Ishu by 1.5 moku. O beat Yoda Norimoto, Takao Shinji, Hane Naoki, Kiyonari Tetsuya, and Lee Ishu to won his right for the challenger decision match's seat.


O Riseei

We have Cho U (Meijin, Judan, Tengen, Oza, Gosei, Agon) as the League B winner with 4-1 result. He beat Iyama Yuta, Cho Chikun. Miyazawa Goro, and Akiyama Jiro to became O Rissei's opponent in the challenger decision match.

Yoda Norimoto the previous League B winner ended up in second place with 3-2 result, while the demoted players are Kiyonari Tetsuya and Lee Ishu who both gained their seats through the preliminaries early this year.

In League A the second placer is Akiyama Jiro who won his seat from the preliminaries this year. Iyama Yuta who was League A winner last year didn't do well this time. He ended up at the fourth place. Lucky for him that his rank in the league was better from Cho Chikun. As the result, Iyama was saved from the demotion, while Cho along with Miyazawa Goro got demoted.


Cho U

If Cho U win the right to be challenger, it will be his first shot for this title. Kisei is the only top 7 title in Japan that he never won before. O Rissei has won the title three times before. He won it concecutively from 2000-2002, before he lost it to Yamashita Keigo. For Yamashita Keigo Kisei, winning the title is very important. If he won the title again, it will be his fifth concecutive victory, which mean that he will be honored the title Honorary Kisei

Kono Rin's 500 Victories

Kono Rin (9 dan) of Nihon Kiin just scored his 500 victories mark in the Japanese pros world, after his victory over Cho Chikun (Honorary Honinbo) in the League B of the 34th Japanese Kisei. He won by 0.5 moku as white.


Kono Rin (9 dan)

This makes him the 88th person in the history to achieve 500 wins. His records are 500 wins 188 loses and 1 draw with an excellent 72.57% winning percentage.

So far Kono has won 6 titles with Tengen as his most remarkable title, though he lost it to Cho U last year.

おめでとう 河野 先生.

Tsumego (5): Answer

Here is the answer for tsumego(5) .

White first play 1 and black will answer with 2. After the trade, the cut at 3 is the capturing tesuji. Black can't answer with A2, because black will clearly dead.


What if black play at B1? The result is the same. White will extend at 5 and black of course will reply with 6. White will play at 7, and black will capture the stones with A1, but then white throws in with 9, followed by black 10 and white 11, and the rest is easy for white.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Aoki's Good Start

The 28th Female Honinbo title matches has begun. The first match was played at October 1st.

Based on the nigiri, Xie Yimin (Female Honinbo, Female Meijin) started the series by playing black and Aoki Kikuyo (8 dan) the challenger played white.


Xie Yimin

The first game was won by Aoki Kikuyo after he killed black in the upper board.


Aoki Kikuyo