2012 Honinbo

[Laman]

this week the Honinbo league is going to finish.

games to be played in the last round (number of wins is in bracket):
Hane Naoki (3) - Iyama Yuuta (5)
Cho U (3) - Ko Iso (1)
Seto Taiki (0) - Kono Rin (4)
Yuki Satoshi (4) - Takao Shinji (4)

if Iyama wins his game, he is going to be the challenger. otherwise he is going to tie with the winner of the Yuki - Takao match and possibly even with Kono, given he wins his game against Seto.

whoever qualifies, Yamashita Honinbo is waiting for his challenger, with the title match to be played from May to July. Yamashita - Iyama match would be very exciting for sure, with two of the very best Japanese players, each holding two of the seven big titles. Kono Rin wasn't doing very well last years, but recently he seems to be making comeback, with current score 4-0 in the Meijin league, and having beaten Cho U and Sakai Hideyuki in the Tengen tournament, so i would wish for him also to get his shot on the goal

[gustav]

It's an interesting situation for the three 4-win players. If Iyama loses, a win would give them a playoff to challenge for the title, but a loss would likely see them dropped out of the league!
(If I remember the tie-breaking rules correctly - they are all newly promoted and therefore have a lower rank than Hane and Cho. Four players are relegated.)

[Laman]

if i read today Nihon Ki-in's report correctly, Iyama won his game against Hane, thus prevented a tie for the top place in the league and became an undisputed challenger for the 67th Honinbo title. first game of the final match is going to be played on 15th and 16th May.

EDIT:
results of the last round from the Mainichi Shimbun:
Hane Naoki (3) - Iyama Yuuta (6)
Cho U (4) - Ko Iso (1)
Seto Taiki (1) - Kono Rin (4)
Yuki Satoshi (5) - Takao Shinji (4)

challenger: Iyama
demoted players: Ko, Seto, Hane, Kono/Takao