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The Power Report (2/2): Kisei Leagues; Tournament to decide the Kisei challenger; 74th Honinbo Leagu

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
Kisei LeaguesS League: Below are the results of the games played in the final round of the 43rdKisei S League. On September 13, Takao Shinji 9P (B) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by half a point. On September 17, Ichiriki Ryo 8P beat Kyo Kagen Gosei by resig. and Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Cho U 9P by 1.5 points. Yamashita had already clinched victory in the league in the fourth round, so this loss did not hurt him. However, Kyo Kagen’s loss was painful, as it meant ceding second place to Kono. There are no play-offs in the Kisei leagues: ranking takes precedence, so Kono qualifies for the final stage (see below). The bottom two players will drop to the A League. 
A League: Murakawa Daisuke 8P took first place in the A League, which has eight members. Actually, he “tied” with three other players on 5-2—they were So Yokoku 9P, Yo Seiki 7P, and Shida Tatsuya 7P—but his number one ranking gave him precedence. Murakawa and Yo will be promoted to the S League in the next term (assuming the former does not become Kisei). 
B Leagues: There are two B Leagues, each with eight members. A play-off was held on September 17, and Shibano Toramaru 7P (B2 winner on 7-0) (W) beat Akiyama Jiro 9P (B1 winner on 5-2) by resig. C League: The C League is like a tournament in its own right: it has 32 players and is run by the Swiss System. Onishi Ryohei 3P won it 5-0.
 Tournament to decide the Kisei challenger: The league winners above will participate in an irregular knock-out tournament to decide the challenger to Iyama Yuta. It works as follows: Onishi plays Shibano, the winner plays Murakawa, the winner plays Kono, and the winner plays Yamashita. The final with Yamashita is a “best-of-three” in which three games will never be played. The reason is that Yamashita will start off with a one-win advantage, so his opponent has to win two in a row. Otherwise, what would be the point of winning the top League? In theory, though, any of the 62 players in any of the five leagues could become Kisei, so it’s thought that professionals feel more incentive than with the former system.
 74th Honinbo League seats: Three of the four vacant seats in the 74th Honinbo League were decided on September 6. Anzai Nobuaki 7P (W) beat O Rissei 9P by half a point; Anzai will make his debut in a league. Hane Naoki 9P (B) beat Takao Shinji 9P by 3.5 points; he makes an immediate comeback after dropping out of the previous league. Ichiriki Ryo 8P (W) beat Sakai Hideyuki 8P by resig.; he also played in the 71stLeague. The final play-off was held on September 10. Kono Rin (B) beat Mutsuura Yuta 7P by resig.; like Ichiriki, Kono last played in the 71stLeague. These players will join Yamashita Keigo 9P 
Yamashita-Iyama pairing in Tengen sets new record: In my previous report, I noted that Yamashita Keigo had become the challenger to Iyama Yuta for the Tengen title. Subsequently, Go Weekly pointed out that this will be the 11th title match between these two, which sets a new record. So far, Iyama has lost only once. The previous record was ten, shared among three players in two pairings: Cho Chikun (eight wins) v. Kobayashi Koichi and Kobayashi Koichi (six) v. Kato Masao. Next is the current Meijin title match, which is the ninth match between Iyama (six) and Cho U. Equal fourth is Cho Chikun (seven) v. Otake Hideo.