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. [1]
The preliminary tournament started on 8 April 2010. Hane Naoki, Iyama Yuta, Takao Shinji, and Cho U retained their place in the Honinbo league from the 65th Honinbo. These players were joined by the winners of the preliminary tournament: Cho Sonjin, Seto Taiki, O Rissei, and Kobayashi Satoru.
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Yamashiro Hiroshi | 1 | |||||||||
17 June | ||||||||||
Fujita Akihiko | 0 | |||||||||
Yamashiro Hiroshi | 1 | |||||||||
27 May | ||||||||||
Takashima Takeshi | 0 | |||||||||
Goto Shungo | 0 | |||||||||
12 August | ||||||||||
Takashima Takeshi | 1 | |||||||||
Yamashiro Hiroshi | 0 | |||||||||
20 May | ||||||||||
Cho Sonjin | 1 | |||||||||
Ohashi Hirofumi | 0 | |||||||||
1 July | ||||||||||
Uchida Shuhei | 1 | |||||||||
Uchida Shuhei | 0 | |||||||||
27 May | ||||||||||
Cho Sonjin | 1 | |||||||||
Cho Sonjin | 1 | |||||||||
Yamada Kimio | 0 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Hoshino Masaki | 0 | |||||||||
10 June | ||||||||||
Kataoka Satoshi | 1 | |||||||||
Kataoka Satoshi | 1 | |||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Obuchi Morito | 0 | |||||||||
Obuchi Morito | 1 | |||||||||
29 July | ||||||||||
Yasuda Yasutoshi | 0 | |||||||||
Kataoka Satoshi | 0 | |||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Seto Taiki | 1 | |||||||||
Yamada Noriyoshi | 0 | |||||||||
24 June | ||||||||||
Akiyama Jiro | 1 | |||||||||
Akiyama Jiro | 0 | |||||||||
27 May | ||||||||||
Seto Taiki | 1 | |||||||||
Seto Taiki | 1 | |||||||||
Mimura Tomoyasu | 0 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Nakane Naoyuki | 0 | |||||||||
24 June | ||||||||||
Nakano Hironari | 1 | |||||||||
Nakano Hironari | 0 | |||||||||
3 June | ||||||||||
Kono Rin | 1 | |||||||||
Ogata Masaki | 0 | |||||||||
2 September | ||||||||||
Kono Rin | 1 | |||||||||
Kono Rin | 0 | |||||||||
20 May | ||||||||||
O Rissei | 1 | |||||||||
O Rissei | 1 | |||||||||
15 July | ||||||||||
Mochizuki Kenichi | 0 | |||||||||
O Rissei | 1 | |||||||||
27 May | ||||||||||
Yuki Satoshi | 0 | |||||||||
Kamimura Haruo | 0 | |||||||||
Yuki Satoshi | 1 | |||||||||
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
22 April | ||||||||||
O Meien | 0 | |||||||||
10 June | ||||||||||
Kobayashi Satoru | 1 | |||||||||
Kobayashi Satoru | 1 | |||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Ishida Atsushi | 0 | |||||||||
Shida Tatsuya | 0 | |||||||||
19 August | ||||||||||
Ishida Atsushi | 1 | |||||||||
Kobayashi Satoru | 1 | |||||||||
3 June | ||||||||||
Suzuki Shinji | 0 | |||||||||
Mizokami Tomochika | 0 | |||||||||
24 June | ||||||||||
Suzuki Shinji | 1 | |||||||||
Suzuki Shinji | 1 | |||||||||
13 May | ||||||||||
Cho Chikun | 0 | |||||||||
Cho Chikun | 1 | |||||||||
Takemiya Masaki | 0 | |||||||||
League play commenced on 7 October after the preliminaries, which finished on 2 September. Hane Naoki, who lost the Honinbo title to Yamashita Keigo the year prior, won the right to challenge Keigo for the title. [1]
Player | H.N. | I.Y. | T.S. | C.U. | O.R. | K.S. | C.S. | S.T. | Record | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hane Naoki | – | B+R | W+R | X | W+0.5 | B+R | W+R | B+R | 6–1 | Challenger |
Iyama Yuta | X | – | B+R | X | X | W+R | B+R | W+R | 4–3 | |
Takao Shinji | X | X | – | B+1.5 | X | X | W+R | X | 2–5 | Eliminated |
Cho U | W+R | B+0.5 | X | – | B+3.5 | X | B+R | X | 4–3 | |
O Rissei | X | W+R | B+R | X | – | X | X | B+R | 3–4 | Eliminated |
Kobayashi Satoru | X | X | W+2.5 | B+4.5 | W+R | – | X | X | 3–4 | Eliminated |
Cho Sonjin | X | X | X | X | B+R | W+11.5 | – | X | 2–5 | Eliminated |
Seto Taiki | X | X | W+R | B+R | X | B+3.5 | W+R | – | 4–3 |
Yamashita Keigo (Honinbo) | W+7.5 | B+R | W+1.5 | W+4.5 | 4 | |||
Hane Naoki (Challenger) | W+0.5 | B+R | W+7.5 | 3 |
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.
Rin Kaihō or Lin Haifeng is a professional Taiwanese Go player who made his name in Japan. He is, along with Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi, Otake Hideo, Takemiya Masaki and Kato Masao, considered one of the 'Six Supers' that dominated Japanese Go world in the last three decades of the twentieth century.
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.
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Shinji TakaoMeijin Honinbo is a Japanese professional Go player.
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The 31st Kisei is being held from May 2006 to March 22, 2007. The following players earned spots through not being eliminated in the group stage: Satoshi Yuki (5-0), Tomoyasu Mimura (3-2), Kato Atsushi (3-2), Kobayashi Satoru (3-2), Komatsu Hideki (3-2), Norimoto Yoda (2-3), and O Rissei (2-3). Cho U, Kunihisa Honda, O Meien, and Toshiya Imamura were eliminated from group play and had to earn a spot through preliminary stages. The players to have qualified through preliminary tournaments are Cho U, Kunihisa Honda, Cho Chikun, and Toshiya Imamura. Naoki Hane, the loser of the 30th Kisei takes the place of holder Keigo Yamashita in the group stage. Players who end with the two lowest records in the each league are eliminated from automatic berth into the next tournament while the 3 other players who were not eliminated or had the top record are given a place in the following years groups.
The 9th LG Cup featured:
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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.
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