Life In 19x19

jlt wrote:At move 100 she has 25% winrate according to LZ157. She may not be pro level yet, but her performance is not ridiculous. It is not absurd to hope that whe will become competitive in 2021 or so.

Good, then this thread should be locked for now and re-opened in 2021.

Threads are not locked simply because one forum member is uninterested in the subject. If other forum members are interested in discussing Nakamura, they are welcome to do so.

I an sure thecannyonion will be back on thread in due course to say something along the lines of:

"It gives me absolutely no pleasure to report that Nakamura Sumire has lost another game, and Iyama is dropping down the world ratings.

It hurts me more than it hurts them."

I'm still rooting for Sumire despite what naysayers say about her. I think she is a bit of a victim to her own popularity: they might have given her good, high profile opponents who definitely didn't want the shame of losing to a 10-year old.

And Sumire might be a bit too desperate to win. I believe that she will do better once the spotlight moves off her

Sumire has now a Go set named after her:
http://shop.kurokigoishi.co.jp/en/item/2246

now a Go set named after her:

quite M&M's:

charm wrote:Sumire has now a Go set named after her:
http://shop.kurokigoishi.co.jp/en/item/2246

Are you sure that's because of her? I browsed the site in March and that was already on offer, and looked like it was a remmant. Sumire, after all, is simply "Violet", I believe.

My apologies if it was tongue in cheek.

Take care.

Ferran:

We are very glad to release this product by wishing all the success of Ms. Sumire Nakamura, the youngest professional Go player in the world, for her great success in the future.
...
“Sumire” is the name of Ms. Sumire Nakamura (Shodan, 1st dan), but also violet flower that has been loved by Japanese people since ancient times.

EdLee wrote:“Sumire” is the name of Ms. Sumire Nakamura (Shodan, 1st dan), but also violet flower that has been loved by Japanese people since ancient times.

Ok. Thanks.

Take care.

I never thought I would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Canny Onion but...

On Saturday I went to the Nihon Ki'in as usual and what awaited me inside the front door? It really annoyed me that this is apparently the Nihon Ki'in view of the current state of Japanese Go - Iyama and... a ten-year-old child who hasn't won a game yet?!! So much for its 95 years of effort.

Pretty close to the colors of Alpha Kappa Alpha, my wife's sorority. Maybe I can get her to play now?!

ez4u wrote:I never thought I would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Canny Onion but...

On Saturday I went to the Nihon Ki'in as usual and what awaited me inside the front door?

IMG_2052 800.jpg

It really annoyed me that this is apparently the Nihon Ki'in view of the current state of Japanese Go - Iyama and... a ten-year-old child who hasn't won a game yet?!! So much for its 95 years of effort.

But Sumire is so kawaii! Her cuteness stole our hearts. In Japan, Go is all about cuteness now. The Nihon Kiin is currently lobbying the U.S. Congress to change the name of Hawaii to Kawaii. Very soon, kittens and puppies will be directly promoted to 9-dan professionals, and the Kisei title will be exclusively reserved for baby pandas. Yay!

apparently the Nihon Ki'in view of the current state of Japanese Go

Someone please do a simple plot of the Go population there, by total humans, age, and year going back 100 or 200 years. The Nihon Ki'in must have this data. That is reality (not the full picture, which is multi-dimensional, but a slice nonetheless). The state of the Nihon Ki'in in 2011 (12 years after HNG; 4 before AlphaGo) didn't look good at all then, either.

And EGCC.

@EdLee: I can't plot the graph, but this post viewtopic.php?p=239205#p239205 says that the median age of go players in Japan is about 70. My guess is that the Nihon Kiin is afraid that go will decline rapidly and are using Sumire to change its image and attract more young players.

jlt wrote:My guess is that the Nihon Kiin is afraid that go will decline rapidly

Traditional arts _are_ in decline in Japan, even those that have modernized versions for use as sports. Having her as a cute ambassador pic will help some, but I don't know how much (BTW, I'll note that the stand up has her name _and rank_; I'll have to assume she's not considered famous enough yet). What I'm really not sure of is throwing a child into the media feeding frenzy. My issue is not about her lack of qualifications: go has the advantage of having a pretty clear level assessement, but many other arts have promoted people before their time; if done properly, it works.

My issue is that's she seems to have been turned into, basically, an idol singer. At 9. I'm not worried about scores of kids wanting to meet her. I'm worried about scores of photographers and flashes and smoking old fools.

OTOH, it's not really any more dangerous than sending a 6 yo kid to a country a good share of your citizens want to see burned to the ground without a smattering of a language or some family support / contact. And it didn't turn out that bad, did it? So, I wait. In the forest. In the spring. I wet; I very very wet. But I need patience. But, the moment coming, I will rejoice.

...or not. Uneasy I am, but it's beyond my reach.

Take care.