The 35th Kisei began league play on 3 June 2010 and concluded with Cho U defending his title in six games over challenger Iyama Yuta on 11 March 2011. [1] [2]
The preliminary tournament started on 17 December 2009. O Rissei, Cho U, Akiyama Jiro, Yoda Norimoto, Hane Naoki, Kono Rin, Takao Shinji, and Iyama Yuta all maintained their place in the Kisei league from the 34th Kisei, while Kiyonari Tetsuya, Ri Ishu, Cho Chikun, and Miyazawa Goro were eliminated. These players were replaced by preliminary winners Ryu Shikun, Yamashiro Hiroshi, Kato Atsushi, and O Meien. [1]
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
14 January | ||||||||||
Honda Kunihasa | 0 | |||||||||
11 February | ||||||||||
Hikosaka Naoto | 1 | |||||||||
Hikosaka Naoto | 0 | |||||||||
21 January | ||||||||||
Ryu Shikun | 1 | |||||||||
Ryu Shikun | 1 | |||||||||
4 March | ||||||||||
Seto Taiki | 0 | |||||||||
Ryu Shikun | 1 | |||||||||
7 January | ||||||||||
Kiyonari Tetsuya | 0 | |||||||||
Ishida Yoshio | 1 | |||||||||
11 February | ||||||||||
Komatsu Hideki | 0 | |||||||||
Ishida Yoshio | 0 | |||||||||
14 January | ||||||||||
Kiyonari Tetsuya | 1 | |||||||||
Kurotaki Masaki | 0 | |||||||||
Kiyonari Tetsuya | 1 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
28 January | ||||||||||
Yuki Satoshi | 0 | |||||||||
18 February | ||||||||||
Mimura Tomoyasu | 1 | |||||||||
Mimura Tomoyasu | 0 | |||||||||
17 December | ||||||||||
So Yokoku | 1 | |||||||||
So Yokoku | 1 | |||||||||
18 March | ||||||||||
Shida Tatsuya | 1 | |||||||||
So Yokoku | 0 | |||||||||
7 January | ||||||||||
Yamashiro Hiroshi | 1 | |||||||||
Kim Sujun | 0 | |||||||||
18 February | ||||||||||
Ogata Masaki | 1 | |||||||||
Ogata Masaki | 0 | |||||||||
14 January | ||||||||||
Yamashiro Hiroshi | 1 | |||||||||
Yamashiro Hiroshi | 1 | |||||||||
Cho Chikun | 0 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
17 December | ||||||||||
Kato Atsushi | 1 | |||||||||
28 January | ||||||||||
Chin Kaei | 0 | |||||||||
Kato Atushi | 1 | |||||||||
7 January | ||||||||||
Nakano Yasuhiro | 0 | |||||||||
Goto Shungo | 0 | |||||||||
25 February | ||||||||||
Nakano Yasuhiro | 1 | |||||||||
Kato Atsushi | 1 | |||||||||
17 December | ||||||||||
Sakai Hideyuki | 0 | |||||||||
Kubo Hideo | 0 | |||||||||
4 February | ||||||||||
Oya Koichi | 1 | |||||||||
Oya Koichi | 0 | |||||||||
24 December | ||||||||||
Sakai Hideyuki | 1 | |||||||||
Sakai Hideyuki | 1 | |||||||||
Miyazawa Goro | 0 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
17 December | ||||||||||
Ko Reibun | 1 | |||||||||
21 January | ||||||||||
Matsumoto Takehisa | 0 | |||||||||
Ko Reibun | 0 | |||||||||
17 December | ||||||||||
O Meien | 1 | |||||||||
O Meien | 1 | |||||||||
25 February | ||||||||||
Ueki Yoshio | 0 | |||||||||
O Meien | 1 | |||||||||
7 January | ||||||||||
Ko Iso | 0 | |||||||||
Cho Sonjin | 0 | |||||||||
28 January | ||||||||||
Ko Iso | 1 | |||||||||
Ko Iso | 1 | |||||||||
7 January | ||||||||||
Ri Ishu | 0 | |||||||||
Nakano Hironari | 0 | |||||||||
Ri Ishu | 1 | |||||||||
League play commenced on 3 June 2010 after the preliminaries, which finished on 18 March 2010. [3] Takao Shinji went undefeated to win League A, while Iyama Yuta finished tied on record with Yamashiro Hiroshi in League B. Because Yuta had beaten Hiroshi by resignation on 30 September, Yuta progressed to the challenger finals to face Shinji. [1] [4]
Player | Y.K. | Y.N. | K.R. | T.S. | O.M. | K.A. | Record | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yamashita Keigo | – | W+3.5 | B+R | X | B+R | W+R | 4–1 | |
Yoda Norimoto | X | – | W+4.5 | X | W+R | X | 2–3 | |
Kono Rin | X | X | – | X | B+R | X | 1–4 | Eliminated |
Takao Shinji | B+R | W+R | B+R | – | W+3.5 | B+R | 5–0 | Challenger finals |
O Meien | X | X | X | X | – | W+R | 1–4 | Eliminated |
Kato Atsushi | X | W+0.5 | B+0.5 | X | X | – | 2–3 |
Player | O.R. | A.J. | H.N. | I.Y. | Y.H. | R.S. | Record | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
O Rissei | – | X | W+R | X | X | X | 1–4 | Eliminated |
Akiyama Jiro | W+5.5 | – | X | X | X | X | 1–4 | Eliminated |
Hane Naoki | X | W+R | – | B+R | X | B+0.5 | 3–2 | |
Iyama Yuta | W+11.5 | B+R | X | – | B+R | W+R | 4–1 | Challenger finals |
Yamashiro Hiroshi | B+2.5 | W+1.5 | B+1.5 | X | – | B+7.5 | 4–1 | |
Ryu Shikun | W+0.5 | B+R | X | X | X | – | 2–3 |
Challenger finals | ||||
Takao Shinji | 0 | |||
Iyama Yuta | 1 |
(Aizuwakamatsu) | (Hokkaido) | (Himi) | (Takarazuka) | (Minamiuonuma) | (Kōfu) | (Izu) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cho U (Kisei) | B+R | B+0.5 | W+2.5 | B+1.5 | 4 | |||
Iyama Yuta (Meijin) | B+R | B+1.5 | 2 |
Cho Chikun25th HoninboHonorary Meijin is a professional South Korean Go player and a nephew of Cho Namchul. His total title tally of 75 titles is the most in the history of the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. Cho is the first player to hold the top three titles—Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo—simultaneously which he did for three years in a row. Cho is the first in history to win all of the "Top 7" titles in Japan which he achieved by winning the Oza in 1994. Cho U in 2011 and Iyama Yuta in 2013 would duplicate this feat, both by winning the Kisei. He is also one of the 'Six Supers' Japanese players that were most celebrated in the late twentieth century, along with Rin Kaiho, Otake Hideo, Takemiya Masaki, Kato Masao and his classmate and arch-rival Kobayashi Koichi. He is the author of several books on Go.
Cho U is a Taiwanese professional Go player. He currently ranks 6th in the most titles won by a Japanese professional; his NEC Cup win in 2011 put him past his teacher Rin Kaiho and Norimoto Yoda. Cho is the first player in history to have held five of the top seven major titles simultaneously with Iyama Yuta being the second. Cho U, Naoki Hane, Keigo Yamashita and Shinji Takao make up the group of players in Japan called the "Four Heavenly Kings". His wife is one of Japan's best female go professionals, Izumi Kobayashi, the great Kitani's granddaughter and daughter of Kobayashi Koichi.
Yuta Iyama Kisei, Honinbo, Meijin is a Japanese professional Go player. In April 2016, he became the first player in Japanese history to hold all seven major titles simultaneously. In January 2018, Iyama became the first professional Go player to be awarded Japan's People's Honour Award.
Keigo Yamashita is a professional Go player. Yamashita adopted the name Honinbo Dowa after winning his first Honinbo title in 2010.
Professional Go players in Japan are given the title of "Honorary" title holder if they either win the title ten times in a row, or have won the title five times in a row or ten times in total and reach the age of 60 years or retire. Below is a list of the honorary title holders and which title they are honored for.
Kisei (棋聖) is an honorary title and Go competition. The title, meaning Go Sage in Japanese, was a traditional honorary appellation given to a handful of players down the centuries. The element ki can also apply to shogi, and there were also recognized kisei in the shogi world.
Satoshi Yuki is a Japanese professional Go player.
Kimio Yamada is a professional Go player. A territorial player who is adept at invading and living within opponent's spheres of influence, Yamada won his first major title, the Oza, in 1997. He has two older brothers, Shiho Yamada and Wakio Yamada.
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The 32nd Kisei was held from January 2007 to 2008. The following players earned spots through not being eliminated in the group stage: Naoki Hane (4-1), Cho U (4-1), Kobayashi Satoru (4-1), Atsushi Kato (4-1), O Rissei (3-2) Hideki Komatsu (2-3), Norimoto Yoda (2-3), and Imamura Toshiya (2-3). Mimura Tomoyasu, Kunihisa Honda, Satoshi Yuki, and Cho Chikun were eliminated from group play and had to earn a spot through preliminary stages. The players who qualified through preliminary tournaments are Cho Chikun, Hiroshi Yamashiro, Shinji Takao, and Yuta Iyama. Players who ended with the two lowest records in the each league were eliminated from automatic berth into the next tournament while the 3 other players who were not eliminated or had the top record were given a place in the following year's groups.
The 24th Fujitsu Cup featured 32 players.
The 36th Meijin began league play on 2 December 2010 and concluded in October 2011. The defending champion was Iyama Yuta.
The 66th Honinbo began league play on 7 October 2010 and completed on July 21, 2011. Title holder Yamashita Keigo retained his title over challenger Hane Naoki by a score of 4-3. Yamashita Keigo won the first three games, Hane Naoki the next three, and Yamashita Keigo the final game.
The 18th Agon Cup began on 21 April 2011 – 1 October 2011. Two Korean amateur players were invited to the preliminaries, with both qualifying. Ha Sungbong defeated professionals Yanigasawa Satoshi and Furuya Yutaka. Kim Sungjin defeated 25th Honinbo and Japan's top title holder Cho Chikun. He also defeated Kato Atsushi. In the main tournament, he was knocked out by Iyama Yuta Meijin in the first round. Iyama Yuta came out as the winner. He beat Yamashita Keigo at the final. The winner's prize was ¥10,000,000.
The 1st Igo Masters Cup began on 24 February and ended on 23 July 2011. Eleven players participated: Kobayashi Koichi, Kudo Norio, Rin Kaiho, Kataoka Satoshi, Hane Yasumasa, Ishida Yoshio, Takemiya Masaki, Cho Chikun, O Rissei, Kobayashi Satoru, Otake Hideo.
The 49th Judan began on 20 June 2010 and concluded on 29 April 2011. Challenger Iyama Yuta Meijin defeated title holder Cho U, who won the previous two tournaments.
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Hsu Chia-yuan or Kyo Kagen is a Taiwanese Go player who plays professionally in Japan.