Amazon army

[Elom0]

World Senko Cup will begin next 3rd.

Japanese players are the usual: Sumire, Nyu, Asami, Rina.

Good luck!

site、Livestream　Day 1 March 3rd　with commentary, without、Day 2 March 4th, Day 3 March 5th！ This is hype!

[John Fairbairn]

I see from Nikkan Sports that the Army's latest recruit, drummer girl Yanagihara Saki, has had her first taste of battle. On 27 February she took on Takemiya Masaki in the Agon-Kiriyama Cup at the Nihon Ki-in. She lost but, leaving aside the press interest, was obviously bewildered by the new environment. For example, she didn't know where to park her mobile phone. Takemiya, 60 years older, tried to put her at her ease.

Saki thus becomes the youngest Nihon Ki-in professional as of today. Her debut had been allowed, exceptionally, to begin any time after 1 January rather than the official 1 April, but for reasons unknown it was delayed. She is 12 years 4 months old, so in terms of age at 1-dan she is fourth behind Sumire (10 years 0 months), Fujisawa Rina (11 years 6 months) and Cho Koharu (12 years 4 months). Fujita Reo of the Kansai Ki-in is the youngest 1-dan (at age 9 in 2022-09) and still the youngest active player, but he is a mere boy.

Is early debut age a plus? Sumire's record since qualifying is 138-66, and Rina's is 399-234. But Koharu's is 2-9 (and her big sis Kosumi is also in the doldrums on 21-44) - mixed messages there, though maybe having a famous player as a father is sometimes a handicap? And to misquote Lady Bracknell (founder of the Reading tournament?): ‘To have one pro parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to have both as pros looks like carelessness.’

Saki sounds like a normal kid. Favourite foods ramen and sushi. Likes table tennis (knotwilg, please note) and manga, but does not cite Hikaru no Go as an influence. Her favourite comic is Detective Conan, a high-school detective who likes to assume the name Jimmy - but he doesn't wear a Jimmy hat (shame!). He sports a Sherlock Holmes deerstalker. The idea of Sherlock calling himself Jimmy would have a Brit in stitches.

But Saki's not a normal kid, As a pupil of Hong Malk-eun Saem, she gets to train with the likes of Shibano Toramiru. Now he's a guy I could imagine as a Jimmy - even one with a Jimmy hat rather than a real Tam Photoshop expert anywhere? (But make sure to keep the red toorie).

[Elom0]

Saki sounds like a normal kid. Favourite foods ramen and sushi. Likes table tennis (knotwilg, please note) and manga, but does not cite Hikaru no Go as an influence. Her favourite comic is Detective Conan, a high-school detective who likes to assume the name Jimmy - but he doesn't wear a Jimmy hat (shame!). He sports a Sherlock Holmes deerstalker. The idea of Sherlock calling himself Jimmy would have a Brit in stitches.

But Saki's not a normal kid, As a pupil of Hong Malk-eun Saem, she gets to train with the likes of Shibano Toramaru. Now he's a guy I could imagine as a Jimmy - even one with a Jimmy hat rather than a real Tam Photoshop expert anywhere? (But make sure to keep the red toorie).

Oh my godness!! Then what most likely happened is that Fujisawa Rina sensei thought her favourite Anime would be good to introduce to some of the younglings. What if Hong's dojo has an Army of Detective Conan fans thanks to Fujisawa Rina? At the very least we would have trained Anime Detective Experts whenever there is a suspected case of pro misconduct。

Perhaps we should start explaining board positions in Table Tennis Terms!

[Elom0]

Zhou Hongyu, who's selection for the tournament over Yu Zhiying may have seemed odd but was justified, proved too much for Nyu Eiko and Ueno Asami. Fujiawa Rina wasn't really able to cause Choi Jeong much trouble, but the next match was a different story. Stronger at 14 years old than Xie Yimin ever was in her life, after a masterclass in how to easily dismantle only the current two-time consecutive Women's World Amatuer Go Champion, Nakamura Sumire came within a hairs breadth of what in my opinion would have been the biggest victory of her career, moreso than her winning the female Kisei. While Cho Chikun could make a group live the developed version of him, or perhaps we should say his shadow which is a meaning of the word senko, The Ultraviolet Assasin can stalk and kill a group with the same type of intensity. But she blundered it away at the end. However, it showed Sumire fulfilling the adage that genius hits a target no one else csn see, as even nine dans missed her strike on the vital point.

The final live on NihonKiin Channel

Korea https://youtube.com/watch?v=7ZnSWED27C4&pp=wgIGCgQQAhgB, https://youtube.com/watch?v=DmqvHbKAl6E&pp=wgIGCgQQAhgB

edit: KBaduk just replayed the moment Nakamura Sumire blundered. Choi Jeong physically jumped back in her seat when Nakamura Sumire played it.

[pajaro]

A few interesting games today.

First, Ueno Asami won Xie Yiemin in their last game of the female Meijin league. She finishes 6-0 and doesn't have to wait for Sumire's last game to become the challenger. It will be another Fujisawa vs. Ueno match. The only game left is Sumire vs. Risa. The result is not important anymore (well, the loser won't agree...). Nakamura, Ueno, Eiko will keep their seat, and Yimin, Kobayashi, Suzuki are demoted. There seems to be a generational change.

Sumire played too, in her first qualifying game against Tsuruyama Atsushi 8-dan in the Kiriyama Cup. First and last, because Sumire lost. Tsuruyama is ranked more or less like general Fujisawa, but he has played in the Honinbo league and B Kisei league, so I'd say he is a bit ahead. It would have been a great win for Sumire. But not today.

And also, I'd like to say to Jo Bunen 2-dan played against Seki Kotarou Tengen in the 3rd prelim game of the Kisei. She lost. And? I took a look in the Fox Server, and for some time (first half of the game, more or less), she was ahead. What I'd like to explain here is that even players who are supposed to be not very strong, they can still play a good game and put up a fight. Top players don't win just because of their name.

[Elom0]

It seems so strange seeing little Nakamura Sumire先生 at the extravagant Women's Kisei ceremony! I'm more used to seeing Fujisawa Rina there。

[pajaro]

I thought there was a thread about Sugiuchi Kazuko and her winning games at her age. I couldn't find it.

To the point: today she won a game against Yokota Hinano 1-dan in the Judan.

Yokota is nearly 20 yo, and Sugiuchi is 96 years and 1 month old. New record! taken from his husband.

BTW, this game counts for promotion. How far must she be from 9 dan?

[John Fairbairn]

BTW, this game counts for promotion. How far must she be from 9 dan?

This question interests a lot of people, if you judge by how often it is asked on Japanese sites, and the lack of information about it from the Nihon Ki-in is one aspect of why they are doing so badly at keeping their fan base.

It's not just the numbers that are hard to find. It's how you are supposed to interpret them when you at them.

The current promotion rules state that you need 200 wins to get from 8-dan to 9-dan. Mrs Sugiuchi got 8-dan in 193. If you total up the annual number of wins for her since then, you get just under 300. In the early years of the period since 1983, the annual figures used to come with a list of the tournaments that were included, and a note was added that said other events were specifically included. But it was not actually specified that those given were the ones that counted for promotion. The list was different from today's, of course, but nearly all would count under the modern system. Possible exceptions for her were Women's Honinbo, Women's Kakusei and NHK. Events such as Shinjin-O and Shinei wouldn't have applied to her anyway.

It seems reasonable to conclude, therefore, that even after applying exclusions, she must be very close to qualifying. Indeed, it's a reasonable surmise that that's what keeping her going. After all, she must be competitive by nature.

Assuming she is close, the next question is when will she cross the line. She achieved 600 career wins in 2014 in 2014 and is now on 634. Factoring in the pandemic hiatus, she's scoring at least 4 wins per year, and that is her current total for this year.

Fingers and toes crossed!

Talking of competitive natures, I was intrigued to read that Sumire, after losing a game that ended a winning streak in some event last week, burst into tears so strongly that she caused a nosebleed. It seems she is regularly tearful when she losses. Just as well she wins so often!

[pajaro]

BTW, this game counts for promotion. How far must she be from 9 dan?

This question interests a lot of people, if you judge by how often it is asked on Japanese sites, and the lack of information about it from the Nihon Ki-in is one aspect of why they are doing so badly at keeping their fan base.

This could go in the current Honinbo thread, that has become a thread about popularity of go.

Talking of competitive natures, I was intrigued to read that Sumire, after losing a game that ended a winning streak in some event last week, burst into tears so strongly that she caused a nosebleed. It seems she is regularly tearful when she losses. Just as well she wins so often!

We know that Sumire is competitive, but to the point of bleeding... You must be talking about the game she lost in the Kisei against Ryu Shikun. A strong opponent, and from what I have seen (JK, Kimura...) she had a good chance of winning. It seems that she is losing games against strong player for puntual mistakes (the blunder against Choi Jeong will be famous). But she will improve this in the future.

[Harleqin]

Please don't infer anything from nosebleed. There are people who are generally more prone to it (even just the weather changing is sometimes enough).

[jlt]

I thought there was a thread about Sugiuchi Kazuko and her winning games at her age. I couldn't find it.

Sugiuchi watch.

[kvasir]

Not to distract from the good mood there was one set back for the amazonites over the holidays. This misadventure fell to Amazonite Tsuji Hana who lost to Michael Redmond in the Kisei preliminaries. We can thank him for the nice video review.

I'm quoting myself! 【self-importance 1+】

There is good reason. Tomorrow after almost 1.5 years Tsuji Hana and Michael Redmond are facing off again in the Kisei. Last time it was in the first round of the preliminary but the stakes have been raised, this is the final of the preliminary and winner takes it all to league C. It was very interesting last time, as seen on youtube, and Tsuji Hana has literally doubled in strength since then, going from 1 dan to 2 dan.

Joking aside this is genuinely an important game for both players, it is the 5th and final round of the preliminary and every year you start at the bottom (1st or 2nd round) but league C is the next tier where you can stay in the league if you make 3 out of 5. Also if Tsuji Hana wins then she will join Fujisawa Rina as the only women in any of the leagues in the big 7 tournaments (most of which don't have leagues and if I didn't overlook someone when I checked). I admit that my excitement about this is mostly that Michael Redmond might make a review video as with their previous match up

[Elom0]

There is good reason . . .

Seconded!

[pajaro]

Tsuji Hana 2-dan won her game against Michael Redmond 9-dan, and will take a seat in the Kisei C league.

This is an incredible success for her, and she deserves to be acknowledged. She is not the noisiest player out there, but the truth is, when it was Sumire who did the same, there was a lot of fuss. Hana is not so successful or popular, but the feat is the same.

Good luck next year.

[Elom0]

Although wasn't Nakamure Sumire sensei significantly younger?