Life In 19x19

I hadn't seen this yet, but Kato Chie 3-dan qualified for the C league of the Kisei after 5 prelim games.


Although this year she will be the only member of the army, it's good to see that different women have made it these last years, and it's no longer a rarity. The level is rising.

Let's hope ...

Sumire played and won a league game in April 16th. I don't know if she is in more than one league.

Anyway, this was her 100th since she moved to Korea, barely one year after her first game since she transferred (March 3rd, in a different league).

Overall record in 100/58. How is this compared to ...

A few years ago, Kim Eunji got another penalty for cheating. I don't remember the details (surely, someone here remembers pretty well), but she got away with a one year sanction, and her professional status like nothing had happened.

Many people don't forget this, and some fans don't want to see ...

One more game in the Kisei, and it's 1-3 now.

It looked like the old Ichiyama matches, with Iyama dominating Ichiriki. Not always in the board, but his presence...
Like I said, Iyama winning the first games in not good news for Ichiriki. In all 4 games so far, Iyama has got an early lead. Big lead ...

140 points, averaging 2.5 points/win requires 56 wins.

Most games are worth 1 point. In 2024, starting in March in Korea, she played 26 4-point games (10-16), and 106 1-point games (73-33). Besides, 4-point games are usually against harder opponents. So in the end, it will take more games than ...

Sumire 3-dan is now Sumire 4-dan :clap: :clap:

Thanks to https://gorisenri.livedoor.blog/ , we can follow her progress.

She played in the GS Caltex Cup and won 3 games. One of those earned her the last point she needed for the promotion. But it was unclear (again, according to Gorisenri) whether ...

The last post was about the previous Kisei, which Ichiriki won. But, hey, nothing changes and here we are again: January and the Kisei, with yet more Ichiyama. Who thought this would be over?

Well, the first game was played a couple of days ago. And, to my surprise, Iyama won, dominating most of ...

I am an European of a certain age.

And yes, I remember Nagahara Yoshiaki and his "Strategic concepts of go" (not basic techniques, which I didn't read...). At that time, I thought it was interesting. Because, as a beginner, I usually read about life&death, tesuji... *real moves you have to play ...

With 2025 here, we have some updates in the Army.

Ueno Asami is now 6 dan. She had the 2nd best position in the ranking of money prizes amongst the 5 dan. Her record in 2024 was 52-22 (I don't know if international games are included here).

Also, from the Army, Cho Kosumi and Yanagihara Saki are ...

He is currently 7dan.

He jumped from 5dan to 7dan, after winning the Ryusei (to Iyama)

I knew about this game. I saw it announced in Jo Bunen's twitter, while celebrating Kin's birthday. Here's your present, mom, I hope you like it

Mother-daughter is a difficult combination to see. Probably the Cho-Kobayashi family will give us another one in the near future.

Daniel Barry's diploma is for amateur 2-dan, I think. And Koichi Wakata, his rival in space, was awarded a 1-dan diploma.

But in this case, are we talking (honorary) pro diplomas? Is it stated somewhere?

Third game of the female Kisung (Korean Kisei), and Choi Jung is the new champion.

This game was even more aggressive than the previous one. Sumire resigned after losing a big big group. Not immediately, she kept on playing even after she had no chance. Probably, was a bit shocked. And also ...

Second game, and... what a pity, Sumire lost!

From the beggining, it was clear that Choi didn't want to lose again. She played agressively and got an early lead. I thought, no way Sumire is going to win this, against a stronger and more experienced player. But the gap didn't increase. Rather, both ...

Sumire is going to play her first final in Korea.

A couple days ago, Sumire played Kim Minseo 4-dan, an usual rival in last games. I didn't know, but it was the semifinal of the Korean female Kisei (or whatever name it has in Korean). Sumire got a good win (B+9.5), and is now 4-1 against Kim.

Her ...