Fujisawa Rina First Official Victory

Surely that there are some burden being the granddaughter of the famous Fujisawa Shuko. Fujisawa Rina knows it best. Being the most famous new player, Rina seems to be always under the radar.


Fujisawa Rina

And for you who is curious about her, here is the game record of her first official victory.

Black is Fujisawa Rina (1 dan) and white is Kanda Ei (9 dan). Black won the game by resignation.

Rina made a rare move with black 11. The usual combination would be black 11 at M17 followed by white O16, black P18, R17, N18, O15, M16, N15, L16, P12. Kanda Ei's answer at white 12 is the only move. Black's position will be too promising if white played O18. Rina also showed a calm defense when her group is under fire. She played the correct escaping move, S7. It doesn't matter whether white played Q8 or Q9 next, since black's group will still get out of the hot water.

(;CA[Windows-1252]SZ[19]AP[MultiGo:4.4.4]EV[36th Japanese Kisei, preliminary]DT[2010-06-10]
PB[Fujisawa Rina]BR[1p]PW[Kanda Ei]WR[9p]KM[6.5]RE[B+R]MULTIGOGM[1]
;B[qd];W[pp];B[dd];W[dp];B[qn];W[nq];B[pj];W[nc];B[od];W[pb];B[ob];W[oc];B[pc];W[qb]
;B[mc];W[nd];B[nb];W[md];B[lc];W[oe];B[qf];W[ld];B[kc];W[pf];B[qe];W[ph];B[qg];W[nh]
;B[qh];W[je];B[cn];W[cl];B[en];W[fp];B[bp];W[cq];B[ci];W[el];B[gn];W[gl];B[ho];W[hq]
;B[im];W[hm];B[in];W[ip];B[il];W[fj];B[bq];W[df];B[cf];W[cg];B[bf];W[de];B[cd];W[ed]
;B[ec];W[fc];B[fd];W[ee];B[db];W[eb];B[dc];W[gd];B[dg];W[fe];B[eg];W[qc];B[pd];W[rd]
;B[re];W[sc];B[ic];W[oa];B[ma];W[hc];B[ie];W[ib];B[id];W[jb];B[kd];W[ke];B[ig];W[kg]
;B[rp];W[fg];B[ra];W[rb];B[se];W[sa];B[sd];W[rc];B[sb];W[ce];B[be];W[sa];B[mf];W[lf]
;B[sb];W[bd];B[bc];W[sa];B[fh];W[qa];B[hh];W[bn];B[do];W[eh];B[gg];W[dh];B[ff];W[ch]
;B[ge];W[gb];B[bi];W[dj];B[bg];W[bo];B[co];W[cm];B[ep];W[eq];B[cp];W[ql];B[pg];W[og]
;B[qq];W[qo];B[ro];W[pn];B[rn];W[pm];B[or];W[pr];B[pq];W[oq];B[nr];W[mr];B[qr];W[ns]
;B[ps];W[mp];B[dq];W[er];B[lq];W[mq];B[ko];W[jo];B[oo];W[po];B[jq];W[jn];B[kn];W[jm]
;B[mn];W[nn];B[mo];W[no];B[nm];W[om];B[kl];W[rj];B[pi];W[oh];B[qk];W[rk];B[hr];W[kp]
;B[lp];W[ir];B[iq];W[kq];B[kr];W[jp];B[jr];W[lr];B[hp];W[nl];B[ri];W[gq];B[gr];W[si]
;B[sg];W[rf];B[ok];W[qj];B[qi];W[nk];B[nf];W[of];B[nj];W[mj];B[ni];W[oi];B[mi];W[mh]
;B[oj];W[li];B[sh];W[rg];B[qm];W[pl];B[rl];W[sl];B[sm];W[rm];B[ne];W[le];B[rl];W[fo]
;B[mk];W[is];B[hs];W[mm];B[fn];W[fq];B[dr];W[fs];B[go];W[ks];B[js];W[ls];B[eo];W[lj]
;B[sk])

Fujisawa Rina Made Her Official Debut

Here is the news from Mainichi Shimbun

An 11-year-old girl made her debut as a professional "Go" (Japanese board game) player during the preliminary round of the 20th Ryusei Tournament on Monday.

Rina Fujisawa, a sixth-year elementary school student from Tokyo, passed the qualifying exam for professional Go players in February this year to become the youngest first-dan professional on record.



Her official debut match was against second-dan Mitsunari Horimoto, 20, held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.

Fujisawa, who aggressively fought a close match until the middle stages, lost the game after she made a critical mistake and "things started to fall apart."

"It was a bit disappointing, but I want to win next time," she said.

Horimoto praised his young rival, saying "She was strong."

Fujisawa's father Kazunari is an eighth-dan player and her grandfather was the late Honorary Kisei title holder Hideyuki Fujisawa.

"I will do my best so that I can win a title in the future," she said.

Fujisawa Rina Made Her Debut

Fujisawa Shuko's granddaughter Rina has made her debut with three unofficial games. Every year, Go Weekly arranges the 'New Shodan Series', pitting the debutant 1-dans against top players. Taking black and receiving a komi of 6.5 points, Rina played Cho Chikun in late April. She played well, putting Cho under some pressure, but was outfought in the middle game and resigned after 152 moves. The diplomatic Cho commented that she was better than him when he was 1-dan.

Rina's next two games were in the 7th Nakano Cup, an unofficial tournament organized by Go Weekly for players under 21. Both games were played on 3 May and both were won by Rina. Details are as follows:

Fujisawa Rina 1-dan (W) beat Kibe Natsuki, an insei, by resignation.
Fujisawa Rina (W) beat Adachi Toshimasa 1-dan by 2.5 points.



News Source: http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/english/topics/10/topics2010_05.htm#100517
Photo Source: http://mainichi.jp/select/wadai/graph/20100206_2/5.html

I wonder if there is any game record of these games. I'm very interested in this Shinshodan series. Hope there is a game record on the net.

More About Fujisawa Rina

The February edition of English Nihon Kiin's report included an article about Fujisawa Rina. Here is what written in the English Nihon Kiin's website:

Fujisawa Rina, granddaughter of the legendary Fujisawa Shuko and daughter of Fujisawa Kazunari 8-dan, has set a new record for the youngest professional in Japan. On 6 February, Rina, who is in fifth form at elementary school, qualified as a professional 1-dan at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo. When she officially begins her career, on 1 April, she will be just 11 years six months old. This lowers Cho Chikun's overall record by three months and the women's record by nearly three years (it was set by current women's champion Xie Yimin when she was 14 years four months old)..
Rina took first place in an all-play-all league in which nine players competed for a single slot for a new woman professional. This was actually the third time she had competed in the qualifying tournament.
Rina learnt go at the age of 6 and made up her mind to become a professional when she was in first grade. Her ambition was to make it while she was still in elementary school. Every day after class her mother would take her to a go club in Shinjuku, where she would play until nine o'clock. Dinner was a lunchbox her mother prepared.
Her efforts paid off. In March last year, she took fourth place in the all-Japan women's amateur championship and became an insei in April. She had become a disciple of her late grandfather, who died in May last year, but did not have many opportunities to receive direct instruction. She is proud of her grandfather but says her style is different, favouring territory rather than thickness. Her ambition is to become known in her own right, not just as `Shuko's granddaughter'.
Rina will have to take days off school to play her tournament games. Her earnings from game fees will dwarf her schoolmates' pocket money.

Let see whether she will be one of the elite female player (or even an elite player?) or not.

2010 Promotion

Here is the list of promoted players so far (February 2010)

Promotion based on the most money prize won last year (One top 6 dan and top 2 from 1 dan to 5 dan)
* Son Hideyo to 5 dan (Kansai Ki-in 2010-01-01)
* Shinji Suzuki to 2 dan
* Ida Atsushi to 2 dan
* Shiraishi Yuichi to 3 dan
* Ohashi Naruya to 3 dan
* Uchida Shuhei to 4 dan
* Mukai Chiaki to 4 dan
* Xie Yimin to 5 dan
* Suzuki Ayumi to 5 dan
* Mitani Tetsuya to 6 dan
* Yamamori Tadanao to 6 dan
* Shuto Shun to 7 dan

Based on cummulative victory:
* Suzuki Yoshimichi to 7 dan
* Tominaga Takeshi to 4 dan

Ida Atsushi started his career in 2009 and finished 18-5 last year, with 8 streak victory. Perhaps he will be one of the elite Japanese player in the future.


Ida Atsushi

Xie Yimin deserved the promotion, because she is currently the female grand slam, after winning Female Kisei title. She currently holds Female Meijin, Female Kisei, and Femle Honinbo, along with Daiwa Ladies Cup. An amazing achievement!!


Xie Yimin

Mukai Chiaki recently showed a good result. She won from ex Tengen title holder, Kudo Norio in Oza final preliminary. She will play Imamura Toshiya to decide who will advance to the main round of Oza. She will play Xie Yimin for Xie's Female Meijin. As of February 12, she is tied for second place in Japan by 4-0 result.


Mukai Chiaki

There are also several players who got their pro status. The most famous is Fujisawa Rina, the daughter of Fujisawa Kazunari. She passed the pro exam in 2010 when she was at grade 5 elementary school. She will be inaugurated at April 1st 2010, and at that time she will be 11 years and 6 months old, making her the youngest person in Japan to do so (surpassing Cho Chikun who became a pro when he was 11 years 9 months old). She learnt Go at the age of 6 and progressed under the tutelage of Hong Malgunsem (who last year became professional 1 dan at Kansai Kiin).


Fujisawa Rina

There is an article about her, here. (already a dead link)

Another female who got her pro status is Li Ting. Li was born in Beijing, but currently she lives in Austria with her husband. She is one of the top female European player. Li Ting is the second foreign player of Kansai Kiin.


Li Ting

Some other names who turned pro are Takeuchi Kosuke (open qualification tournament) and Tsuruta Kazushi (Chubu branch)