Life In 19x19

There seems to be a segment of the western go population that, understandably enough, can by buoyed up by news of players who qualify late as pros. There is a new one to list. Tsuneishi Takashi has just qualified at age 19 after steaming through the 16-player round-robin in the Nihon Ki-in's special annual test. He had already qualified with 12-1 after 13 rounds as all other players by then had at least four losses.

But what interests me most about this case is that he appears to be the first pro who learned the game through Hikaru no Go, in fifth grade at about age 10. He became an insei but failed to make pro by the usual insei route before the age guillotine came down.

Tsuneishi's debut as pro will have to wait till April 2011 but he is already well known as having won (as the youngest ever) and defended the Amateur Meijin. Even better for Japanese go fans, he defeated Korean amateurs in both the title matches. In 2009 he beat Yun Ch'un-ho 2-0. Yun, a former insei in Korea, has since qualified as pro at the Kansai Ki-in at age 29. In 2010 Tsuneishi defeated Ha Seong-pong, who won the 2008 World Amateur. In the small and select world of top Asian amateurs, Yun and Ha had already crossed swords in the final of Korean Amateur Strongest Players event in 2000. By the looks of it they have decamped and followed the well worn route of Korean amateurs who try to re-ignite their go dreams in Japan.

For us real oldies, there is also consolation in that Hirata Hironori has just qualified as Japan's rep for the next World Am. Still a mere stripling this year at age 84. he won the World Am in 1995, of course, and that was forty years after he became the first amateur 6-dan. As Victor Meldrew would say, "I don't believe it!"

Hooray for Tsuneishi and for Japanese go. I and I'm sure others have been waiting for good news. Interesting story about the Korean ex-insei making it in Japan. How is it that he was allowed to compete to qualify as a pro? I know that there is a long history of foreigners qualifying as Japanese pros but I thought most of them were sponsored by fairly prominent or influential people in the go world. Just how well worn is the path of Korean players coming to Japan to try to become pros?

I've long been a fan of Hirata. But he's not the only senior citizen to play for Japan in the WAGC, Yasunaga and Kikuchi both played at relatively advanced ages.

This makes a handful of cases in which the Kansai Kiin has been more accomodating of late qualifiers for professional status, as well as Korean players. Hong Malk Eun Saemis another such player. (Sakai Hideyuki also might be considered, but his case seems a bit special).

I do not know for a fact that the Nihon Kiin is not following suit, but I cannot think of any recent cases off the top of my head.