Nihon Kiin Pro Qualifier Down to the Wire

[ez4u]

Since October 6th the final stage of the Nihon Kiin's winter pro qualifying tournament has been going on with 16 competitors playing two games each weekend. Fourteen games have been completed with only one to go. The number one insei Hsu(? 許), 14 years old from Taiwan and a student of Takabayashi Takuji, has already qualified although his unbeaten streak ended at 13 games when he finally lost last Sunday to stand 13-1.

The excitement revolves around 2nd place since only two players qualify in this tournament. Four players are currently at 9-5. However, unlike in Hikaru No Go, there seem to be no playoffs in the case of ties. The second-place finisher will be decided by the rankings published on the insei page. The potential qualifiers are:

• * Fujimura (藤村) the number 2 insei, 17 years old from Hokkaido and a student of Yoda Norimoto,
  * Koyama (小山) the number 3 insei, 15 years old from Kanagawa Prefecture. He is a student and presumably the son of Koyama Ryugo 6p. If that presumption is correct, then his mother is Koyama Terumi 6p and his grandfather is Koyama Shizuo 8p!
  * Wu (呉) the number 4 insei, 16 years old from Taiwan and a student of O Rissei,
  * Koike (小池) the number 7 insei, 14 years old from Kanagawa Prefecture and another student of Takabayashi Takuji.

The final game will be played on Saturday. In case all four lose their games (none are paired together) then Fujimura will qualify. Fujimura may seem like the favorite at this point but his last game is against Hsu!

[p2501]

I love your reports!

[ez4u]

I love your reports!

Thanks! I'll see what I can do.

[handa711]

I miss HnG so much...

[ez4u]

In a surprising turn of events - everyone with five losses lost and everyone with six won!

The result is a total of seven players tied at 9-6. Fujimura Yousuke places second and qualifies as a pro by virtue of his superior rank as an insei. Congratulations to him.