I don't usually follow the Tsurulin channel on YouTube because it's beyond me but I do follow them on Twitter and I saw that they reviewed Sumire's 6 games in the league.

https://youtu.be/Ur17rdCvcIQ

https://youtu.be/TcQ4u6BnmaQ

The A tournament of the Honinbo is about to start.

Sumire qualified to play it. In the first game, she is going to play Kono Rin 9-dan, probably her strongest opponent so far. May 2nd is the day.

BTW, Nakamura Shinya 9-dan (Sumire's father) qualified too. What a game if the draw had allowed it.

The game with Kono Rin 9-dan in the A tournament of the Honinbo happened today. Sumire, with black, lost by 6.5. I watched the game in WBaduk. I thought that Sumire was playing well, not having a lot of problems. But she was a bit short in territory. Actually, that's a big problem, after all... When Akira lost to Zama sensei in the Honinbo, he said "that's not an opponent you can beat in your first try". Same here.

A few days ago, in the Meijin, Sumire beat Yamada Shinji 6-dan. This was the second game of the C prelim, so still a looong way to go. Now, in the B prelim, she has to play Yang Chia Jung (Yo Kaei) 8-dan. Taiwanese player, brother of Yo Kagen 9-dan.

> she is going to play Kono Rin 9-dan, probably her strongest opponent so far.

You mean in the Honinbo? Or in a long game?

If I recall rightly, Sumire played against Iyama in the Shin Ryusei. Or am I misremembering?

Oh... you are right. She played Iyama in the first round.

But it was a fast game. We can call Kono Rin "her strongest opponent so far in a serious game".

Also, this post

https://twitter.com/asahi_igo/status/1520945020333092865

agrees with me. Perhaps the Shin Ryusei is not considered an official tournament?

Well, Asahi does say 国内公式戦 -- domestic official tournament. So that's the question is the Shin Ryusei official? I bet we can trust Asahi Igo so apparently not.

My only note is that that Nihon Kiin website lists the Ryusei (竜星戦) under "domestic go tournaments" (国内棋戦) while they list the Shin Ryusei (新竜星戦) on a different page under "other go tournaments" (その他の棋戦). Though the Nihon Kiin is listed as a sponsor/organizer for both.

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I didn't know she played Terayama Rei. I see that he was her opponent at the end of section B back in February. I picked up his books and so I've been following him. It seems like he was bullied in tha game.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Nakamura wins by resignation
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . X . X O X . . . . X O . . . . |
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$$ | . . . O X . . X X , . O . X O X . O . |
$$ | . . . X O O O X . X O X X O O . . . . |
$$ | . O . X X X O O X O O X O . O . O . . |
$$ | . Y . O . . O O O . . X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O X . X X O . . . . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . O X X . . O . . . . . . X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . O X X X X X . . , . . . |
$$ | . O O X X O X X O . O O O X . O . . . |
$$ | O X X X O O . . O . O . O X . . . . . |
$$ | O O X . O X X . . . X O O O X X X . . |
$$ | . X O O . . X O . O X . X O . . O . . |
$$ | . X . O X X O O . O . X . . O O O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . O X X O X . |
$$ | . . X . . X O O . X . . X X . . X X . |
$$ | . . . X X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Kono is rated quite similarly to Rina right now.

Kono Rin, 9p: #148, 3314
Fujisawa Rina, 5p: #166, 3293

Between them we have Hirata Tomoya, 7p; Motoki Katsuya, 8p; and the famous Hane Naoki.

Below them, Seki Kotaro (underrated imo), and above them, Seto Taiki, Murakawa Daisuke and Sada Atsushi in the #130s.

Sumire has been selected to represent Japan in the new international women's team event, the Hoban Cup, starting 22 May.

As far as I can see, the format will be like the Nongshim Cup, Stage 1 in May and Stage 2 in October (internet games at 1h each).

Sumire is joined by Rina, Asami, Xie Yimin, and Suzuki Ayumi.

There will be a game fee, a winning teams prize, and a bonus to any player who wins 3 on the trot.

There was a Hoban Women's Strongest event in January, for Korean women (Ch'oe Cheong won). The splurge of activity by Hoban may or may not be connected with publicity seeking to help fight off an anti-trust case. It owns Seoul News, which is organising the event with the Hanguk Giwon.

Yeah, wow! She's hit the big time. I was trying to think who else might have been in her spot instead. My knowledge of Women's Go is biased from the media, but who else? Hoshiai Shiho? Nyu Eiko? Sumire has bested them.

I am forgoing a joke about her teammates in her last international team event.

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By the way, I found a few recent pictures on twitter.

Nakamura and Kono - https://twitter.com/asahi_igo/status/15 ... 0333092865:


Nakamura and Terayama - https://twitter.com/KK_joryu/status/1498213723760390147


Darth Sumire - https://twitter.com/asahi_igo/status/15 ... 9689055236


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More random Sumire finds. This video shows her cleaning the board and bowls before the match and also gives a view of the reporters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcSC770qG24

Besides the Hoban Cup, she is also going to play the Go Seigen Cup. It's on-line, similar to the International Senko Cup.

14th, 15th, 16th of May. Fujisawa Rina, Ueno Asami and Suzuki Ayumi will be playing too.

In this case, Xie Yimin is left out. I think Nyu Eiko might aim for one of these spots in the near future. I wonder if there is any new name out there.

https://youtu.be/3axgZXMd8hk

I almost missed her game with Omori Ran in round 1 of the women's Honinbo tournament. Tsuruyama Atsushi doing the commentary. If she wins she'll be up against Ueno Risa. I bet that would get another video stream.

Sumire won by resign. Omori won their first pro game (first game in their careers), but since then...

Next round is Ueno vs. Hoshiai and Namakura vs. Kato Keiko.

And then, Ueno vs. Nakamura (if...)

That's right. I feel like Hoshiai Shiho is pretty strong in the Women's tournaments. So I don't think I will see Risa v. Sumire.

Looks like Sumire vs. Risa will happen, after all.

Today, Sumire beat Kato Keiko 6-dan in the second round of the female Honinbo. The result itsel is good, of course, but what makes it special is that it's Sumire's 100th win as a pro, after 3 years and 2 months. A record previously held by Cho Chikun, at 4 years and 1 months, when Cho was 15... some time ago.

This is great, but as usual, not a fair comparison. Not only because Sumire plays in a lot of female tournaments that Cho didn't, also because the number of tournaments, systems, and so on, are a lot different now and back then.

Fujisawa Rina got her 100th win after 5 years and 2 months (this is closer to Sumire's case).

Also, just FYI, Iyama: 3 years and 4 months, and Ichiriki: 3 years 6 months.

Sumire's progress is great, no doubt about this. And whatever her numbers are now, what matters are the results that will surely come. In the right time.

In the English language press https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14639427

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Interesting. I wonder how they decide which articles to publish.

They also decided to publish an article about banning elderly early-birds from doing "radio taiso” (is this like tai chi?) at Hikone Castle for fear that they would burn it down. Their article is from 2022 but the photo image quality is from 2002. Seems like most of the radio taiso content on youtube is also from 2002: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ZRH9Mraqw. ...It does look a bit dangerous.

Sumire got a good photo though.

Taiso doesn't look like Tai Chi to me. Taiso looks like soft fitness exercises, whereas Tai Chi is originally a martial art (=fighting technique).

Today, Sumire played Miyazawa Goro 9-dan in the A prelim of the Judan. Sumire lost by 1.5

Last year, she won the first game of the A prelim, so she was seeded, and didn't have to go through all the prelims. Next year, she will be in B prelim, I guess.

I was watching the game in WBaduk. Towards the end of the game, the recorder made a mistake, and put one of Sumire's group (black) in self atari. I thought WTF??, but it was corrected soon. I wonder if it will be in the official record... (I guess it won't, but would be funny)

Whatever the origins of Tai Chi were, the only Tai Chi I've seen are grandmas and grandpas stretching in the park at 7am on a Sunday.

I haven't had time to grep GoGod, yet, but I can't find a single game between the two of them. We want that game. We need that game.

There should be a way to crowdfund pro face-offs.

Take care.

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一碁一会