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Here’s legendary go journalist John Power’s mid-year look at Japanese (and international) go—January through July 2025—a stretch that had everything: title streaks, razor-thin comebacks, and even a rules controversy that spilled across borders. Ichiriki Ryo clung to Japan’s No. 1 spot with a nerve-shredding Kisei defense from 1–3 down and a third straight Honinbo, while Iyama Yuta held the Gosei. On the women’s side, the Ueno sisters headlined a genuine boom: Asami kept the Hollyhock, and Risa defended the Women’s Kisei and added both the SENKO CUP (world) and Senko Cup (domestic). Korea’s Shin Jinseo remained the ace of team events and lifted the inaugural Nanyang Cup; China’s Yang Kaiwen captured the Chunlan. And the LG Cup final became a flashpoint, with unprecedented forfeits over a new “stones-in-the-lid” rule and a rapid rethink by organizers.

Even if you already know the winners, John’s reports deliver the how and why—key positions, momentum swings, and the broader implications for each player and title. This installment covers January–July 2025, arranged by the date of each tournament’s deciding game. A follow-up covering the rest of the year is planned.

Unprecedented forfeits in LG Cup final
The best-of-three final of the 29th LG Cup was held in Seoul in late January 2025. It pitted Ke Jie 9-dan of China, a former world number one who has won a number of international titles, including four Samsung Cups and the MLily Cup, and who has also taken second place in the LG Cup twice, against Byun Sangil 9-dan of Korea, who won the Chunlan Cup in 2023. First prize is 300,000,000 won (about $214,792 at $1 = 1396.7 won). The results were:
Game 1 (Jan. 20). Ke (B) by 2.5 points.
Game 2 (Jan. 22). Byun (B) won through opponent’s rules infringement.
Game 2 (Jan. 23). Byun (W) by forfeit.

The source of the problem was a new rule that the Korean Baduk Association
promulgated in November last year for use in internal tournaments in Korea. This is that captured stones had to be stored in the lid of one’s go bowl (where the opponent can easily see them and count them if they want to). The first infringement in a game incurs an admonishment by the referee and a penalty of two points; a second infringement is considered a foul and loses the game.

International tournaments use the rules of the sponsoring country, which for the LG Cup is Korea. In Japan there’s no specific rule on this point; in any case, it has traditionally been the practice for professionals, as a matter of pride, to count captured stones by looking just at the board.

When counting under the Chinese rules, captured stones are irrelevant, so
players usually just put them back in the bowl. A problem first arose in the second game. Ke captured a stone on move 18 and just placed it on the table. For some reason, the referee didn’t act immediately; when Byun was thinking about move 45, he interrupted the game, admonished Ke, then levied the two-stone penalty. The Chinese team lodged an objection and the game was interrupted for about 35 minutes. Presumably the Chinese side concluded they had to accept the ruling, as they had been
informed in advance. The game continued and Ke had a good position, but he repeated the offence with move 80. This time Byun immediately called the referee and the game was declared a loss for Ke. In the third game, Ke ceded a big lead to Byun, but he fought hard and made the game close. During the course of a ko fight from move 150 to 157, he placed two white stones he had captured on the table. When he saw the referee
entering the room, he hastily moved the stones to his lid, but it was too late. He was again admonished and fined. The two stones were considered as one infringement, so the game could have continued, but this time the Chinese side protested much more fiercely than on the previous day. The game was interrupted for over two and a half hours. The Chinese side said the game couldn’t be continued, so the referee declared it a forfeit.
The Chinese team lodged a formal complaint. They claimed that it was inappropriate to interrupt the (third) game when it was Byun’s turn to play (because he gained extra time to think); this made it impossible to continue it, in their view, so they could not accept the referee’s decision. (The same criticism applies to the first game, but it seems it was not referred to in this protest.)

Good relations had to be restored or holding international tournaments would become infeasible. On January 28, the Korean Baduk Association issued a statement, apologizing to the sponsor and go fans, and recognizing that the Chinese players were not given enough time to get used to the new rule.

The KBA formed a committee to study the problem. It decided to delete the rule about admonitions and fouls and to consult with China and Japan about the best way to organize international tournaments. On February 6, China issued a statement accepting the Korean proposals.

The Nihon Ki-in’s online archives show that the first round of the 29th LG Cup was played on May 20, 2024; the semifinals started on October 2. The new rule was not even created until November, which means that the rules were changed during the course of the tournament, which is surely irregular. My source for this article, the Nihon Ki-in’s house magazine Monthly Go World, does not touch on this point, however.

It turned out that the measures described above didn’t solve the problem: no Chinese players appeared in the 30th LG Cup (which I will cover in a later report, after the final is played). I have no details about the background (for example, did China lodge another objection to the KBA?). Out of the top 100 professionals in the world, according to “goratings,” 56 are Chinese (as of Oct. 5), so an international tournament without Chinese players is hardly representative.