Following Nakamura Sumire

[botija]

Next is Cho Sonjin. I wish it was another Cho

It looks like she has to win one more before Cho. She plays the winner of Komatsu Hideki vs Tanaka Yuki? Then Cho Sonjin, then Michael Redmond if she keeps winning.

[pajaro]

It looks like she has to win one more before Cho.

You are right. My mistake.

If she ends up playing Michael Redmond, perhaps he will make a video. That would be nice. But there is still a long way before that.

[Shenoute]

Her game against Goto Shungo in the 60th Judan was up on Tygem, not that common an occurrence for Japanese games outside of big titles finals (and even then...). I guess Sumire's results interest the Korean public too.

Here is the game (possible transcription errors mine).

[John Fairbairn]

I guess Sumire's results interest the Korean public too.

Don't forget that Sumire has studied in Korea and speaks some Korean.

[Gaki]

19 wins for only 2 losses
90% of victory, really impressive, I hope she keeps it up!

[Shenoute]

I guess Sumire's results interest the Korean public too.

Don't forget that Sumire has studied in Korea and speaks some Korean.

True I had forgotten about it. Thanks!

[pajaro]

Her game against Goto Shungo in the 60th Judan was up on Tygem, not that common an occurrence for Japanese games outside of big titles finals (and even then...). I guess Sumire's results interest the Korean public too.

Here is the game (possible transcription errors mine).

I found this game interesting.

Nowadays, it seems that AI style is everywhere, all players are playing 3-3 invasions early and so on. And from what I got from Michael Redmond's videos "AlphaGo vs. the world", it seems that AI style is territory oriented. Yes, there are different AI, AlphaGo itself has evolved,... But, even so, in this game black (the younger player) won with a big territory. I don't think it was the plan from the beggining, it was not Takemiya style (tm). From my point of view, the game just developed in that way. But the result was different to other games I have watched lately.

[John Fairbairn]

Sumire has moved into the challengers' semi-finals of the ladies' 8th Aidu Chuo Hospital Tachiaoi Cup, having defeated Konishi Kauko 8-dan. She will now face Nyu Eiko 3-dan. If she makes it through to the final, she will be up against either Ueno Asami or Kato Chie.

Sumire's quarter-final game was one of the queerest pro games I've ever seen - almost certainly the most one-sided. But not in the usual sense. In this case it was because 146 out of the first 156 moves were down side of the board, and mostly on the edges. On top of that, several of the moves made me blink in disbelief. Here is the one-sided portion - and even at this stage this side is still far from finished, with huge sacrifices by Sumire.

Remember those bleating voices that said Sumire shouldn't have been allowed to become a pro by recommendation?

[Mike Novack]

Remember those bleating voices that said Sumire shouldn't have been allowed to become a pro by recommendation?

Yes, they have disappeared.

But I have been thinking about this, that perhaps we misunderstand the real reason WHY this was done. Obviously, in spite of how her strength was (correctly) judged, one might have thought a short time as an insei wouldn't have hurt.

Wouldn't have hurt HER.

But what would it have done to the confidence of her fellow insei?

[John Fairbairn]

Dingxin could be added to the list of early bloomers . . . But he's yet to win an international title.

LG will be disappointed that you don't regard their cup as an international title.

But mention of that brings up a very relevant point. Yang got a special promotion to 7-dan and the day after got promoted to 9-dan in 2019 for winning the LG Cup. The special promotions are ubiquitous now. But basically they are a form of promotion by recommendation, aren't they?

[kyulearner]

Nakamura Sumire has just won the Kisei Prelims, goes into C league to have a (long) shot at the title.
B+5.5 against Torii 3p.

[pajaro]

Nakamura Sumire has just won the Kisei Prelims, goes into C league to have a (long) shot at the title.

If I am not mistaken, 14 wins and boom, she is Kisei.

Funny fact: she would be allowed to lose more games in the title match (3) than in her way to become challenger (0).

[Shenoute]

This just in, Sumire's game against Nyu Eiko in the Female Honinbo:

[John Fairbairn]

It's been mentioned here that Sumire has won her way into Division C of the Kisei league. From what I've seen, the point being focused on is that she is female. Fine, but it seems more remarkable to me she is youngest player to achieve this - 12 years and 2 months.

But, while reading about this achievement, I was rather more interested in a comment on how she is improving. Her Kisei achievement is not a one-off fluke. Her record this year is already 21-2 and she has an 11-game winning streak. According to pro opinion, what has made the difference from last year is that she is no longer making unreasonable attacks which end up leaving her own weaknesses exposed.

It's fascinating that such a simple thing as a change in attitude can have such an impact even at pro level.

[pajaro]

I don't think the main point here is that she is female, but her age. The whole thread began with that, but well, your opinion. BTW, for those who really care that she is female, you can follow the achievements of Sumire and others in another interesting thread very easy to find

About the change in attitude: your words reminded me of a video I saw some time ago, by Dr. Baduk. Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VuBOrnk5UE

The comment was the same: she was strong, she fought well, but she lost because at a certain point, she went for a wild attack that shouldn't work (and didn't). But if she could improve her judgement, she would be much stronger. Time has proved him right.

And it is surprising that even at pro level, this can make such a difference. One tends to think that getting stronger means deeper reading ability, or proper counting, or knowing more joseki. But just making better choices (better direction of play) is an important skill too.