Life In 19x19

In the most recent update of mamumamu's ratings, Sumire's rating is still tentative (i.e. too much uncertainty to qualify for the main list). However, it would place her in the main list right under Sugiuchi Kazuko, who is just 82 years her senior.

BTW, I haven't been a Sumire fan because I (still) believe that her qualification was more a Ki'in publicity stunt than a true assessment of her strength. But one Saturday evening about a month ago her parents were standing in the Ki'in lobby as we were heading out to our local watering hole. (Mom brings Sumire to the Ki'in seemingly every time she comes and is a very willing to chat, so is well-known to us lobby denizens)

The elevator doors opened and Sumire came out. Seems she had been in a study group upstairs. Mom asked whether she had lost all her games. Even I thought that was a little abrupt! But with just a hint of snark (just a little extra length on her "iiye" - she is only a 10-year-old Japanese girl after all) she replied perkily that, "Nooo, I won the last game." In that moment, I switched to being a fan.

ez4u wrote:In the most recent update of mamumamu's ratings, Sumire's rating is still tentative (i.e. too much uncertainty to qualify for the main list). However, it would place her in the main list right under Sugiuchi Kazuko, who is just 82 years her senior.

BTW, I haven't been a Sumire fan because I (still) believe that her qualification was more a Ki'in publicity stunt than a true assessment of her strength. But one Saturday evening about a month ago her parents were standing in the Ki'in lobby as we were heading out to our local watering hole. (Mom brings Sumire to the Ki'in seemingly every time she comes and is a very willing to chat, so is well-known to us lobby denizens)

The elevator doors opened and Sumire came out. Seems she had been in a study group upstairs. Mom asked whether she had lost all her games. Even I thought that was a little abrupt! But with just a hint of snark (just a little extra length on her "iiye" - she is only a 10-year-old Japanese girl after all) she replied perkily that, "Nooo, I won the last game." In that moment, I switched to being a fan.

That's a cool story! Thanks for sharing.

She got pretty duffed up in the MLily cup though, as to be expected vs a top player Li Xuanhao:

Sumire beat another man: Yamada Shiho 7p (52 years old, unreliable 2841 goratings).

Yamada Shiho must been really mad. He played to the end and lost by 26.5. Shiho is older brother of Yamada Kimio.

Nakamura Sumire won another game against male pro 7p. So far her record 7:4 as pro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M66IReGx-Ok

Reviewer in Video is Kim Seongryong 9p(retired??). Numbered sequence in Video is his illustration. Review is in Korean.

Her opponent was Takabayashi Masahiro (56 years old, unreliable 2654 goratings).

Nakamura Sumire won another game. So far her record 8:4 as pro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSrxQQ2tleQ

Reviewer in Video is Kim Seongryong 9p(retired??). Numbered sequence in Video is his illustration. Review is in Korean.

Looks like she won another game, in the 45th Kisei prelims.

Yes, she is amazing. I can see her growing in every game. She has won 2 games each in Honinbo prelim and Judan prelim and waiting for 3rd game match. She will be one little busy girl for the rest of year.

Sumire's victim in the 7th Aidu Chuo Hospital Tachiaoi Cup Preliminary was Tamura Chiaki 3-dan. I was interested to note that the Korean pro commentary focused (as does much of Japanese commentary) on creating and avoiding overconcentration in line with what AI seems to teach. It seems that risking a weak group is better than a potentially overconcentrated or slack move, which may seem obvious but it has hardly been the principle behind most Japanese play for the past few decades. Sumire plays more in the Korean style. Superb tactics and (to my amateur eye) complete understanding of the flow of a seriai running fight help enormously in that regard.

She faces Hane Ayaka next, a fellow 1-dan recommendee whom she has already bested.

In the Kisei Preliminary (where Mrs Sugiuchi is fortunately again down to play - she did rather well last year), Sumire defeated 26-year-old Takagi Junpei 2-dan. The post-game comments were revealing. Takagi said he thought he wasn't doing badly but he actually got trampled on. Sumire meanwhile showed she is definitely not one of the modern snowflake generation. She thought her opening play was poor but she didn't give up and was able to exploit some aji in her opponent's camp later. I can easily imagine Takagi having nightmares now: tramp, tramp, chomp, chomp.

Sumire's next opponent in the Kisei will be a 9-dan, Baba Shigeru. I expect he's already having daymares!

Hane Ayaka is also in the Kisei prelims but, like Mrs Sugiuchi, in a different block from Sumire. However she is in the same block as her grandfather Yasumasa, and so they could potentially meet - a wonderful though unlikely prospect: both would have to win four games to meet in the block final.

The game: (KataGo Annotations based on 7.5 komi, KataGo did not update to changed game info on the fly)

Looking at Sumire games so far, it kinda look like she like fighting

Sumire lost a game to Tsukuda Akiko 5p in Honinbo prelim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iyBJeLZQpo

Nakamura Sumire won against Tanemura Sayuri in Judan prelim. Her record 10:5.