Amazon army

[pajaro]

Ueno sisters play in the female Meijin League

And the winner is... the one you are thinking

I didn't watch the stream (for once, I had work outside home). But I went through the video and took a look here and there. And the one that didn't win was sometimes ahead.

So... is there a gap between them? Yeah, sure. And for some time, expect it to be there.
Was the game one sided? Not as much as I expected.
The fact that they know each other, and surely have played a lot before was important? Obviously, yes.

I expect one of the sisters to be a candidate to the challenge, and the other one to be a candidate to keep her seat. Or at least, die trying.

[CDavis7M]

I'm really behind on my Go news lately (about 2 and a half weeks behind) but I remembered to order a copy of Go Waarudo 碁ワールド and I saw that Nyu Eiko actually made the cover! I was giving up hope, especially seeing Ueno Asami on last month's cover.



I see Baduk TV covering many female events as well. I have to imagine that all of this coverage/promotion is helping to bring in new/young players. I'd be interested to see any numbers on this.

[pajaro]

I saw that Nyu Eiko actually made the cover!

I have seen this photo before.

For games played in the Kiin, most games are commented from the same press room, and there is always promotional stuff in the background. This photo has been there too, so we could have guessed that Nyu would make it to the cover.

Edit: I just checked in the last Ueno vs. Ueno stream, and it actually says Go World in katakana. So it's not just "it will make it to the cover". It's guessing the past.

[Elom0]

Hey everyone, Rina's Honinbo game to qualify for the final league is live now. Good luck to her.

https://youtu.be/yfKeNKOpX3Y

I think Tsuruyama is also playing to make the league today. Good luck to him too.


--------------

Results of the YouTube chat poll:

Who are you rooting for?

Fujisawa Rina 5 Dan (84%)
Otake Yu 6 Dan (8%)
Nishioka Masasuke 3 Dan (Record Keeper) (7%)

Shibano Toramanu, ever the nice guy pro, predictably said on his Twitter that he wants both of them to win!

Well, Fujisawa Rina lost then, but she's just kept her place in the Kisei C-League

[kvasir]

The women legends tournament is also ongoing. I don't know if the games are relayed live, maybe on the igo shogi channel, but someone is uploading quick playthroughs on youtube.

True fans can test themselves and see if they can recall all the legends

[Elom0]

Two Live Streams of the 2nd Fumakilla Tournament!

[pajaro]

I just watched the first stream. It was the draw, to decide the pairings. Quite interesting:

- Fujisawa vs. Ueno. When Ueno picked the ball, she couldn't hide her surprise. She said what I think is the Japanese version of "Cooooome oooooon!"
- Sumire vs. Xie. They have played twice in the last few days (one win each). Interesting game. Also, I noticed that in her speech, Xie referred to Sumire as sensei (I expected san).
- Mannami vs. Mannami. The Mannami sisters (Nao and Kana) aren't usually here. But they are playing in the tournament, and fate wanted one of them in the next round. Both are 4 dan. I have no clue about who is favorite.

In the background, Rin Kanketsu was commenting in Chinese. Because Joanne Missingham, 7-dan from Taiwan, is there too. When she gave her speech, Rin translated (although she said she is studying Japanese).

An 8th lady talked too. Perhaps they will play each other, to make 8 players. But I am just assuming, because in the description of the stream, there are only 7 players.

Edit: The games have begun. I can see that the 8th player is Yasuda Akika 1-dan. She's playing Joanne Missingham. It looks like a game between guests. Yasuda is not even in the poster.

[Elom0]

I just watched the first stream. It was the draw, to decide the pairings. Quite interesting:

- Fujisawa vs. Ueno. When Ueno picked the ball, she couldn't hide her surprise. She said what I think is the Japanese version of "Cooooome oooooon!"
- Sumire vs. Xie. They have played twice in the last few days (one win each). Interesting game. Also, I noticed that in her speech, Xie referred to Sumire as sensei (I expected san).
- Mannami vs. Mannami. The Mannami sisters (Nao and Kana) aren't usually here. But they are playing in the tournament, and fate wanted one of them in the next round. Both are 4 dan. I have no clue about who is favorite.

In the background, Rin Kanketsu was commenting in Chinese. Because Joanne Missingham, 7-dan from Taiwan, is there too. When she gave her speech, Rin translated (although she said she is studying Japanese).

An 8th lady talked too. Perhaps they will play each other, to make 8 players. But I am just assuming, because in the description of the stream, there are only 7 players.

Edit: The games have begun. I can see that the 8th player is Yasuda Akika 1-dan. She's playing Joanne Missingham. It looks like a game between guests. Yasuda is not even in the poster.

Fujisawa Sensei drew number 1 and Ueno Sensei drew number 2 . . . Weird

Hold music ratings
1Fumakilla Women's Go Brains Match
2BadukTV Nongshim Cup
3BsdukTV Samsung Cup

Fast games are Ueno Asami's speciality, while Fujisawa Rina has the advantage in long games like the Honinbo

Xie Yimin is not quite as strong in her Younger days. Sumire is almost as strong as she used to be

I haven't actually seen the Mannami sisters play

Joanne Missingham is playing an exhibition match with Yasuda Akika, I realise that they're probably using the Japanese pronunciation of the Kanji in her Chinese name. So she has three names to remember.

Golly these are fast matches. I blinked and they're already near the endgame.

edit: Xie Yimin won

[pajaro]

Nope, Sumire won. And Rina won too.

The exhibition game has different time conditions: 5x60 sec byo-yomi, while the others are 1x10 sec.

Joanne is expected to win, I guess, and she will be in 2nd round. Again, I guess.


And Kana won while I was writing this...

[Elom0]

Day

Fujisawa Rina Female Honinbo v Hei Jiaji 7p
Nakamure Sumire 3p v Hayuma(Mannami) Kana 4p

2

[pajaro]

Fujisawa beat Joanna, and Sumire beat Kana. Expected results, I think.


It's interesting to watch the one with Rin Kanketsu translating.
Do you know the old nature documentaries? With David Attenborough, for example? You see the images, and his voice talking. In Spain, they were not dubbed, like a movie. You can hear the original voice in the background, and the voice in Spanish over it. Well... this sounds the same

Looking forward to see Sumire fight Rina in a fast game.

[pajaro]

Tournament is over.

Fujisawa beat Nakamura, again.

It was an interesting game, with big exchanges and a huge ko in the end. Too bad Sumire didn't have threats to fight it. Otherwise, it would have been a great victory. From what I could see, without threats there were other things she could have played. But in a fast game, you don't have time to calculate everything.

And she went for the fight.

It wasn't an official game, but even so, you could see disappointment in her face. That's the Cho Chikun spirit we talked about.

[pajaro]

Several Amazonians played in the Wakagoi tournament last weekend. One of them, Ueno Asami, was the winner. There were some messages in another thread.

What I wanted to show now is this video:

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

It's part of the broadcast of the second day. Ueno Rina 2-dan, Nakamura Sumire 2-3 dan (see the video to understand this) and Fujisawa Rina 5-dan make some comments.
I found the atmosphere quite amusing. Although they are serious and fight when they play, here there was nothing at stake (the three of them were already out of the tournament). YOu can see them making comments, laughing... It's a pity that they still wear masks, because I don't always know who is speaking.

[Harleqin]

I understand the sentiment, but I am very glad that they wear masks.

[pajaro]

We have been following other tournaments, but lost track of the female kisei. At least me.

Semifinals were played today. Sumire beat Mukai Chiaki after a large kill. This is becoming a pattern for Sumire.
In the other game, Rina beat Xie Yimin. There were some exchanges, and I thought that Xie wasn't doing bad. But she resigned. A group, that I thought had been rescued, was actually dead.

So the final will be Fujisawa vs. Nakamura, next week (day 8). I still think that Rina is favorite, but the odds are closer than in last year's female Meijin match. We'll see. The winner will challenge Ueno Asami in a best of 3 match.