O Meien Hit 900 Victories

One of go veteran at Japan, O Meien made another history in his career by winning his 900 victories mark

O hit this milestone when he won his match from Ko Iso (7 dan) at the final prelim of the 35th Japanese Kisei.



So far, O Meien has 900 won, 504 lost, 2 draw, and 2 no match game, giving him 63.92% victory.



O Meien also won one seat in the 35th Kisei league with this victory. Another person who won his seat earlier is Kato Atsushi (8 dan). The other two seats will be the winner between Kiyonari Tetsuya vs. Ryu Shikun match and Yamashiro Hiroshi vs. So Yokoku.

Rui Naiwei vs. Cho Hyeyeon Again!

It seems that this two long time rival still want to fight each other. After their previous meeting in the 11th Female Myeongin, Rui Naiwei and Cho Hyeyeon will meet each other again in the final of the 15th Female Kuksu. Rui won her final seat earlier in February 2 by beating Lee Minjin, while Cho won her seat later, by beating Park Jiyeon by a small 1.5 margin.

Rui is the record holder for this tournament, since she won 6 out of 14 times this tournament being held, while Cho holds the record for being the most runner-up with 4 times record.

They have met each other in the final of Female Kuksu for 5 times before, with Rui won 4 of them. Let see whether Cho can take revenge of her previous lost in the Female Myeongin or not.

Cho U Rewrote the History

Cho U sets new records when he hit 700 wins milestone.



Cho's victory over Takemiya Masaki in the Honinbo League on 17 December was the 700th victory of his career. Cho is the 36th player to reach this landmark, but he rewrote the record book. At 29 years ten months, he is the youngest player to reach this landmark and also the quickest (15 years eight months) and has the highest winning percentage (73.4%). His tally was 700 wins, 254 losses, 1 jigo.

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.

Poll: Who Is the Next Japanese Kisei?

Who will win the 34th Kisei title?
	Yamashita Keigo
	Cho U
pollcode.com free polls

Game Review (2) Break the Streak

It's been awhile since the last time I wrote about my game review (the last time it was August 2009), so since I got time to write about it, I'll post it now.

Recently I'm in a really nasty losing streak. This is the first game I won in a while.

Black:TigerBaduk(1k) White:Biondy(1k)


Move 1-50

Move 7 : It's more usual to play at C6, but I think this move is fine.
Move 11: I usually play the hiraki at thia position. Keeping the B4-C3 exchange in reserve.
Move 32: I think it's too heavy to directly connect the group, so I decided to jump to the center. Even if black cut at L17, I think I can still play for influence in the center, using these stones and my right side (but I'm not sure though)
Move 38: The last big point I think...
Move 43: All right. Game on!


Move 51-100

Move 80: I want to strenghten my group here. I'm not sure this is a good move for it.
Move 86: I should cross cut here.
Move 97: Up to here, I'm not satisfied with the result in the right side.


Move 101-150

Move 101: A good move, however the follow up is a mistake I think.
Move 103: Should extend to K11
Move 124: The result is good for me.
Move 140: I was too greedy here. Should just simply connect at K7



Move 151-200

Move 151: The proper choice. Black can't cut at O8, due to the follow up (WP7, BQ7,WQ8)
Move 185: I think black will still alive even if he decided to save the two stones. I think I'll lose the game if black decide to save the two stones.


Move 201-250
The rest is a simple endgame. Nothing tricky at the end game.


Move 251-300
White won the game by 6.5 points at move 301.

Trivia

Can you name this strong player below?



EDIT: The answer is Kato Masao. He was one of the top Japan's player. Unfortunately, we can't see him play any game anymore. I wrote about him here