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Masao Kato Honorary Oza, also known as Kato Kensei, was a Japanese professional go player. A late bloomer, Kato won 46 titles, including the Oza eight times in a row. He also became the second player to reach 1,200 career wins, behind Rin Kaiho.
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.
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.
Koichi Kobayashi is a Japanese Go player. He is one of the 'Six Supers' who championed Japanese Go in the last three decades of Japanese Go.
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.
The NEC Cup was a Go competition, supported by NEC Corporation between 1982 and 2012.
The 1st Kisei was the birth of a new Go tournament. Since this was the first year of the tournament, there was no set challenger or holder. From the 2nd edition on, there has been a playoff between challengers. At the time, it was the highest paying tournament there had ever been, and would be until the creation of the Ing Cup. Fujisawa Hideyuki's win would mark the beginning of a six-year defense of the Kisei title from 1977 to 1982.
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 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.
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.
Hsieh Yimin is a Taiwanese-born professional Go player in Japan. She holds the titles of Honorary Female Honinbo and Honorary Female Meijin, and currently holds three major female titles in Japan: Female Meijin, Female Kisei and Female Honinbo.
Hsu Chia-yuan or Kyo Kagen is a Taiwanese Go player who plays professionally in Japan.
References
- ↑ "History of Topics 2012 | Nihon kiin". www.nihonkiin.or.jp.
