News updated December 7, 2003, 16:30 Japan time.

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Japanese Tournament News

The 27th Kisei Title
Yamashita Keigo defeats O Rissei for the title.

The 24-year-old rising star Yamashita Kei 7-dan won the fifth game of the best-of-seven Kisei title match after a marathon 364 moves. O had a good game from the beginning, but he made a slip in the middle game and Yamashita was able to eke out a 1.5 point victory. Below are results of the match:

Date Played (2003) O Rissei Yamashita Keigo Margin of Victory
Game One January 16 & 17 lost won 6.5 points
Game Two January 29 & 30 lost won resignation
Game Three February 5 & 6 won lost 4.5 points
Game Four February 19 & 20 lost won resignation
Game Five February 26 & 27 lost won 1.5 points




The game records of the Kisei title match can be seen on
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm
Scroll to features and click ``Kisei Title Match''.

The 28th Kisei Leagues

The system to decide the challenger for the Kisei title is a double-league system. Two players with the worst win-loss record are dropped from each league. The loser of the previous year's title match gets the top place in the A league. The winners of each of the leagues play a game to decide the challenger. If two players in a league end up with the same score, the higher ranked player wins the league.

Group A of the Kisei League will begin on June 12. Group B began on June 5. Below are the results of the leagues as of October 8, 2003.

Player/Opponent O.R. H.N. K.S. I.Y. M.Y. I.Y. won/lost
1. O Rissei --- 0 1 1 1 0 3-2
2. Hane Naoki* 1 --- 1 1 1 1 5-0
3. Kobayashi Satoru 0 0 --- 1 0 0 1-4
4. Ishida Yoshio 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0-5
5. Mimura Tomoyasu 0 0 1 1 --- 1 3-2
6. Imamura Yoshiaki 1 0 1 1 0 --- 3-2

*Clinched Group A

Player/Opponent R.S. C.U. Y.N. C.C. O.M. A.S. won/lost
1. Ryu Shikun --- 1 0 0 0 0 1-4
2. Cho U 0 --- 1 1 0 1 3-2
3. Yoda Norimoto 1 0 --- 0 0 1 2-3
4. Cho Chikun* 1 0 1 --- 1 1 4-1
5. O Meien 1 1 1 0 --- 1 4-1
6. Awaji Shuzo 1 0 0 0 0 --- 1-4


* Clinched Group B

The 27th Meijin Title Match
Yamashita Keigo challenges Yoda for the title

Yamashita Keigo is challenging for his second big title this year. After taking the Kisei title from O Rissei, he now has his sights on Yoda Norimoto's Meijin title. He got off to a bad start, however, when he lost the first game by 7.5 points.
The results of the match are shown in the table below.


Date (2003) Yoda Norimoto Yamashita Keigo Margin of Victory
Game One September 10 & 11 won lost 7.5 points
Game Two September 24 & 25 won lost resignation
Game Three October 1 & 2 lost won 2.5 points
Game Four October 15 & 16 won lost 3.5 points
Game Five October 22 & 23 won lost resignation


The games from the match may be seen on:
http://www.asahi.com/paper/igo/
Set viewing mode to "Japanese". Meijin title match game menu is in the upper left.


The 28th Meijin League

Below are the results of the league as of December 4, 2003.

Player/Opponent Y.K. R.K. C.U. O.R. C.C. O.M. K.S. I.T. Y.K. won/lost
1. Yamashita Keigo --- . . . . . . . . 0-0
2. Rin Kaiho . --- . . . . 1 . . 2-6
3. Cho U . . --- . . . . . . 0-0
4. O Rissei . . . --- . . . . . 0-0
5. Cho Chikun . . . . --- . . 0 . 0-1
6. O Meien . . . . . --- . . . 0-0
7. Kobayashi Satoshi . 0 . . . . --- . . 0-1
7. Imamura Toshiya . . . 1 . . --- . 1-0
7. Yamada Kimio . . . . . . . . --- 0-0



The 58th Honinbo Title Match
Cho U wins the Honinbo title

Cho U won the sixth game of the Honinbo title match, defeating Kato Masao 4-2 to take the title. This was Cho's second challenge for this title. He lost his first challenge two years ago to O Meien.

The results of the match (2003):

Date Played (2003) Kato Masao Cho U Margin of Victory
Game One May 14 & 15 won lost resignation
Game Two May 26 & 27 lost won resignation
Game Three June 2 & 3 won lost resignation
Game Four June 16 & 17 lost won resignation
Game Five June 25 & 26 lost won 5.5 points
Game Six July 10 & 11 lost won 9.5 points


The Honinbo title match games can be seen on:
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/life/hobby/igo03
Set viewing mode to "Japanese".


The 58th Honinbo League

O Below are the results of the league as of December 4, 2003.

Player/Opponent K.M. O.M. Y.K. K.K. Y.N. O.R. C.S. M.T. won/lost
1. Kato Masao --- . . . 0 . . 1 1-1
2. O Meien . -- 0 0 . . . . 0-2
3. Yamashita Keigo . 1 --- . . . 0 . 1-1
4. Kobayashi Koichi . 1 . --- . . 1 . 2-0
5. Yoda Norimoto 1 . . . --- 0 . 0 1-2
5. O Rissei . . . . 1 --- . 0 1-1
5. Cho Sonjin . . 1 0 . . .--- . 1-1
5. Mimura Tomoyasu 0 . . . 1 1 . --- 2-1



The 41st Judan Title
O Rissei defends the title.

O Rissei won the fifth game to defend his title for the second year in a row against the challenger Takao Shinji 8-dan. In the fifth and final game, O started a ko inside Takao's territory. When he won it, he had a clear advantage and eventually won when Takao resigned.

Below are the schedule and results of the match.

Date played O Rissei Takao Shinji Margin of Victory
Game One March 6, 2003 won lost 6.5 points
Game Two March 27, 2003 lost won 1.5 points
Game Three April 10, 2003 won lost resignation
Game Four April 17, 2003 lost won 1.5 points
Game Five April 24, 2003 won lost resignation


The 29th Tengen Title Match
Hane vs. Yamashita

This year's tengen title match features two young players, Hane Naoki and Yamashita Keigo, who are beginning to dominate the Japanese go scene. After the fourth game, the series is even, so the match now hinges on the fifth and final game.

Date Played Hane Naoki Yamashita Keigo Margin of Victory
Game One October 30, 2003 lost won 1.5 points
Game Two November 20, 2003 won lost 4.5 points
Game Three November 27, 2003 won lost resignation
Game Four December 4, 2003 lost won resignation
Game Five December 18, 2003 . . .


The 51st Oza Title Match
Cho U defeats O Meien for the title

This year's challenger for the Oza title match was Cho U, the current Honinbo title holder. Two and a half years ago he challenged O Meien for the Honinbo title, but lost in 4 games to three. After losing the first game, Cho went on to win he next three and take this best-of-five match.

The result of the match:

Date Played O Meien Cho U Margin of Victory
Game One October 30, 2003 won lost resignation
Game Two November 6, 2003 lost won resignation
Game Three November 27, 2003 lost won 0.5 points
Game Four December 4, 2003 lost won 0.5 point


The 28th Gosei Title Match
Yoda defeats Kobayashi for the title

Yoda Norimoto won the fifth and final game of the Gosei title match, taking the title from Kobayashi Koichi. This is the first title match in Japan to be played with a 6.5 point komi.

The schedule and results of the match:

Date Played Kobayashi Koichi Yoda Norimoto Margin of Victory
Game One July 1, 2003 lost won 10.5 points
Game Two July 17, 2003 lost won 8.5 points
Game Three July 31, 2003 won lost 4.5 points
Game Four August 20, 2003 won lost 0.5 points
Game Five August 27, 2003 lost won 3.5 points


The 16th Fujitsu Cup
Only Japan and Korea remain for the quarterfinals

The first two rounds of the 16th Fujitsu Cup were held on April 12 and 13, 2003, at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo. For a change, the Nihon Ki-in players made a good showing, getting four of their players into the quarterfinals. As expected, Korea also ended up well represented with four of their players making it into the quarterfinals. What must have been a big disappointment for China was that all five of their representatives were eliminated in the first two rounds.

The following are the results of the second round:
Kobayashi Satoru (Japan) beat Pak Yeong-hyeon (Korea)
Yi Se-tol (Korea) beat Hane Naoki (Japan)
Yoda Norimoto (Japan) beat Wang Lei (China)
Yu Ch'ang-Hyeok (Korea) beat Gu Li (China)
Takao Shinji (Japan) beat Zhou Junxun (Taiwan)
Song T'ae-kon (Korea) beat O Meien (Japan)
O Rissei (Japan) beat Cho Hun-hyeon (Korea)
Yi Ch'ang-ho beat John Lee (USA)

The quarterfinals are scheduled to be held on June 7, 2003 in Beijing.

Quarterfinal results:
Yi Ch'ang-ho beat O Rissei
Song T'ae-kon beat Takao Shinji
Yoda Norimoto (Japan) beat Yu Ch'ang-Hyeok
Yi Se-tol beat Kobayashi Satoru

Semifinal results:
Yi Se-tol beat Yi Ch'ang-ho
Song T'ae-kon beat Yoda Norimoto

Final results:
Yi Se-tol beat Song T'ae-kon
Yi Ch'ang-ho beat Yoda Norimoto for 3rd place



If you need more information, Kiseido may be contacted at any of the following addresses:

Kiseido
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e-mail: kiseido@yk.rim.or.jp

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