Life In 19x19

This will like some people here:

https://twitter.com/asahi_igo/status/15 ... 9137838080

Sugiuchi Kazuko 8-dan beat Koda Akiko 4-dan in a preliminary game of the 10th Aidu Cup.

Sugiuchi Kazuko is the widow of the late Sugiuchi Masao 9-dan. And this is news because Mrs. Sugiuchi is 95, close to the record help by her husband, who won a game at 96 years 10 months.

When I read the tweet, I thought that she must play very little and never win. But I was wrong. Her record last year was 0-11, but this year it is (now) 2-7. This is her 2nd victory this year. The first one was on February, against Kikuchi Masatoshi 2-dan, a young player.

Will Mrs. Kazuko break the record?

Ueno "Hammer" Asami is getting better and better at a real rate of knots. She has just defeated Ch'oe Cheong 9-dan in the Hoban Cup (the female equivalent of the Nongshim), having already knocked out Li He of China.

Ch'oe's defeat puts Korea in last place and guarantees at least 2nd place for Japan. After Wu Yiming's early exploits, China still has three players left so must be big favourites, but wouldn't it be marvellous if Asami could become the first Iron Goalkeeperess?

John Fairbairn wrote:Ueno "Hammer" Asami is getting better and better at a real rate of knots. She has just defeated Ch'oe Cheong 9-dan in the Hoban Cup (the female equivalent of the Nongshim), having already knocked out Li He of China.

Ch'oe's defeat puts Korea in last place and guarantees at least 2nd place for Japan. After Wu Yiming's early exploits, China still has three players left so must be big favourites, but wouldn't it be marvellous if Asami could become the first Iron Goalkeeperess?

Beat Li he 50 seconds ago. I'm not sure that Ueno Asami is any weaker than Fujisawa Rina, but maybe Fujisawa sensei is better at female title matches because she is more used to it.

Elom0 wrote:
Beat Li he 50 seconds ago. I'm not sure that Ueno Asami is any weaker than Fujisawa Rina, but maybe Fujisawa sensei is better at female title matches because she is more used to it.

You are right, they seem to be very close. Perhaps there is some style factor here. Ueno is more aggressive and maybe more suited to fight Koreans and Chinese. Perhaps Rina is used to Asami and knows how to counter her style.

There might be some experience factor here. Fujisawa hasn't entered the big leagues (yet) but she is close to other players who play in them.

Zhou Hongyu is a different class of opponent I guess

Before the game, Asami said that Zhou was a hard opponent, she always did bad against her... But according to www.go4go.net, their record before yesterday was 1-2 (now 1-3).

Asami is behind, but she has beaten Zhou before. So it might be hard, but not impossible.

Elom0 wrote: I'm not sure that Ueno Asami is any weaker than Fujisawa Rina, but maybe Fujisawa sensei is better at female title matches because she is more used to it.

They just played the second game of the female Honinbo. Rina won (quite convincingly) and made your doubts a bit cleared.

It seems to me that the gap in their performance against other players is getting narrower. But one on one, general Fujisawa is still clearly above the rest of the army.

pajaro wrote:

Elom0 wrote: I'm not sure that Ueno Asami is any weaker than Fujisawa Rina, but maybe Fujisawa sensei is better at female title matches because she is more used to it.

They just played the second game of the female Honinbo. Rina won (quite convincingly) and made your doubts a bit cleared.

It seems to me that the gap in their performance against other players is getting narrower. But one on one, general Fujisawa is still clearly above the rest of the army.

Yes I know in domestic Female tournaments, Fujisawa Rina does better. But everywhere else Ueno Asami has had an edge for years.

pajaro wrote:
The Ueno sisters will play in their first game.

Nov 7th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8RwlS-eNMQ

I am sure it will have a lot of followers.

pajaro wrote:

pajaro wrote:
The Ueno sisters will play in their first game.

Nov 7th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8RwlS-eNMQ

I am sure it will have a lot of followers.

Very cool! I bet it will have more views than some title matches.


notify me!

Some interesting games today.

First, Fujisawa Rina played Rin Kanketsu 8-dan (=1/2 Tsururin) in their first game of the Judan (2nd round, actually). She won in 145 moves after some killing. A good win, I think. Rin has played in the Meijin, Honinbo and B Kisei leagues. This is one of those results that make me think that Rina has the level to play in the leagues. Someday, I hope.

In the female Meijin league, Sumire beat Xie Yimin. The challenger of last year made a good start in the race to the challenge again. Just 10 days ago, they had another game (B prelim, Oza) and Xie won. Sumire seems to be catching up to Xie.

Also, the prelims for the Shinjin O have started. Ueno Risa 2-dan won her first game against Shou Gyokuyo 1-dan (Japanese reading). In this tournament, btw, Fujisawa, Nakamura, Ueno, Hoshiai, Nyu are seeded. So at least 5 Amazonians will take part.

Xie Yimin played Shibano Toramanu in the NHK Cup. She also has the accolade of being a guest pro commentator in the previous NHK Cup!

An important game today for Fujisawa Rina.

Last game of prelim A, she won against Yi Shu Lee (Taiwanese name) 8-dan. Gets a seat in the main event.

She is back to the gosei after a few years. I didn't know she had played in it before, but she played in #48 and #47, losing in the first round both times.

Better luck this year.

Ueno Asami, on the other hand, also played in this final prelim, but lost to Huang Yih Tzuu 9-dan (also Taiwanese name). The commander left the general alone in battle.

Fujisawa Rina, female Honinbo one more year.

Today it was the 3rd game of the match, against Ueno Asami. This one was close, half moku for Rina (the queen of 1/2 mokus, they say). Surprisingly close, because white (Ueno) lost a group in the corner, and I didn't see compensation for that loss. But I am at home and they are playing. Makes sense...

The second game of the match was very bad, according to Ueno, but this one was better. I always feel sorry for the loser when the result is one-sided. But Rina shows very little weaknesses in the female Japanese scene.