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The Power Report (3 of 3): Yamashita wins Kisei S League; New Pair Go World Champion Pair; Iyama sta

by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal

Yamashita wins Kisei S League: Two games in the 43rdKisei S League were played on July 9. Yamashita Keigo 9P (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 8P by resig. and Takao Shinji 9P (W) beat Cho U 9P by half a point. On 4-0, Yamashita was the only unbeaten player; there is no play-off in ties in this league, so Yamashita won the league regardless of his result in the fifth and final round. In the running for second place—and a place in the knockout tournament to decide the challenger--were Kono Rin 9P and Kyo Kagen Gosei, who were both on 2-1. They played each other on August 30. Taking white, Kyo won by resignation. This gives him provisional second place. If he loses his final game, the winner of a game between Kono and Takao Shinji will edge him out, as both are ranked higher in the league. In contrast to the Meijin League, in which he won all his games, Cho U has lost all his games; on 0-4, he can’t hope to avoid demotion.
 New Pair Go World Champion Pair: In 2016, a Pair Go World Cup was held and was won by the Chinese team of Yu Zhiying 5P and Ke Jie 9P. Last year, a World Championship was held in two stages. The first part was a tournament to decide the pair to challenge the reigning world champion pair of Yu and Ke. The Chinese pair defended their title. This year another world championship was held, but with a different result. The first stage, held on August 20 and 21, was won by the Korean team of Choi Jeong 9P and Park Junghwan 9-dan. They won their challenge to the Yu/Ke pair and so now reign as the Pair Go World Champion Pair. Taking black, Choi and Park won by resignation after 183 moves.

Iyama starts Meijin defense with a win: The first game of the 43rd Meijin title match was held at the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo on August 28 and 29. Taking black, Iyama Yuta made a good start to his defence, forcing the challenger Cho U 9P to resign after 239 moves. In a variation of a recently popular “joseki,” a massive ko fight (worth 45 points) started. With move 81, Iyama ignored his opponent’s ko threat and finished off the ko, but ceding the ko was also feasible, as in exchange Black would have got a large-scale attack on White. Next, an enormous fight started on the other side of the board, featuring two more large ko fights. White suffered further damage in one of these fights and, although he managed to wall off a large territory, he was unable to match Black on territory. The second game will be played on September 12 and 13. 

Yamashita to challenge for Tengen title: Not everything is going smoothly for Kyo Kagen, the new holder of the Gosei title. The play-off to decide the challenger for the 44thTengen title was held at the Nihon Ki-in on September 3. Playing white, Yamashita Keigo 9P beat Kyo by resignation after 226 moves. Yamashita turned 40 three days later, so he is nearly twice Kyo’s age. This will be Yamashita’s first appearance in the Tengen title match since the 36thTengen in 2009. He won the 30thand 35thtitles. The match with Iyama Yuta will start on October 19. 

Fujisawa to challenge for Women’s Honinbo: Fujisawa Rina has a chance to take back the title she lost to Xie Yimin last year. In the play-off to decide the challenger for the 37th Women’s Honinbo Title, held at the Nihon Ki-in on September 6, she beat Ueno Asami (B) by resignation. The title match will start on October 16. 
Promotions To 8-dan: Kyo Kagen for winning the Gosei title (as of August 4) To 4-dan: Kumamoto Shusei (50 wins, as of August 3) To 3-dan: Otani Naoki (40 wins, as of July 27) 
Nakayama the most prolific go writer? In the August 21 issue of this journal, Kent Olsen expressed interest in the number of books Nakayama Noriyuki had written. I have no way of doing a count, but I do recall a conversation decades ago in which Nakayama mentioned that he had already written over 200 go books. He added that publishers liked him because, if required, he could write a book over a weekend. Some of his books would have been published under the names of top professionals, with the actual writer getting a credit as “writer” or “editor” or sometimes not being mentioned at all.