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The Power Report: Honinbo League ends in three-way tie; playoff April 10

by John Power, Japan Correspondent

Honinbo League ends in three-way tie; playoff April 10: The big news is that there's a three-way tie in the Honinbo League and the deciding game will be played on April 10; I'll report the result as soon as I hear it. Here's the result of the last game in the sixth round. On March 21, Kono Rin 9P (B) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by resig. This was Yamashita’s third loss, so it put him out of the running to win the league. The final round of the 74th Honinbo League was played at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on April 4. Following the lead of the Meijin League, all the games in this round were played on the same day. As this round started, four of the eight members of the league were still in the running to become the challenger: Hane Naoki 9P, on 5-1, and three players on 4-1, Kono Rin 9P, Ichiriki Ryo 8P, and Shibano Toramaru 7P. If he won, Hane would clinch the challengership, but if he lost there would a play-off: Kono and Ichiriki were playing each other, so there would be a least one other player on 5-2. The results: Yamashita Keigo (B) beat Hane by resig. Shibano (W) beat Ko Iso by resig. Kono (W) beat Ichiriki by 1.5 points. Yo Seiki 8P (W) beat Anzai Nobuaki 7P by resig. The result was that Shibano, Hane, and Kono ended in a tie and qualified for the play-off. Usually only the two higher-ranked players in a multiple tie make the play-off, but Hane and Kono had the same rank. They played each other on April 8, with Kono (B) winning by resignation. Hane either had the sole lead or shared the lead nearly all the way in the league, but he stumbled at the end. Kono’s win continues his superb form: his record this year is 13-1. Kono will now play Shibano on April 10. The latter was seeded into the second stage of the play-off because of his higher ranking in the league. At the other end of the league, there are no play-offs for retaining your place. Yamashita, Yo, and Ichiriki all finished on 4-3, but Yamashita’s number one ranking gave him priority over the other two. This was a tough result for Ichiriki: one game made the difference between tying for first and losing his place in the league.