Cho U Won the First Game

The first game of the 34th Japanese Kisei title match was played in January 14,15 in Taiwan.

The 4 times consecutive title holder, Yamashita Keigo is challenged by Cho U who challenge this title for the first time.
Cho lost his title, Tengen, in December to Yamashita Keigo. So, we can say that Cho has enough motivation to steal the title from Yamashita.

The game started by black approching white in the right. White decided to play two spaces high pincer. Black chose to play his second approach with a high approach. Usually the high approach is played with some support in the left, but black perhaps has something else in his mind.
The sequence went with black taking the corner, while white took the right side.

After several moves, white made a variation in a joseki at the left bottom. White's move at move 24 usually played at J3 or K3, but plying those moves at this position will be disadvantageous, since white already has a stone at M3 (which will make his position overconcentrate). The problem with this move is the cut at J3, but since black prefer to enclosed his corner, White fix the problem with N3.

Day 1 ended at move 72 with Yamashita Keigo did the sealing move.


Yamashita Keigo handed the sealing move.

Day 2 started with black playing his kosumi tsuke, the Kisei's sealing move.

Black played a squeeze with his combination from 79-87. Black got a position in the center, but later he let the group die to prevent white from enclosing the right side.

The game went "wild" in the end. Black played a surprising move at move 189. He let himself in an all-or-nothing ko fight. Black can avoid the fight by playing A13. I wonder why black chose the fight, since I don't think black was behind.

Black eventually resigned after 234 moves. White ignored black's threat at move 233, eventhough it threatened a group, Cho decided that he has enough points to win and he was right.


Cho U won the first game

With this, the challenger started the series by a victory.