2 & 3 September 1995
Amsterdam
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4th Obayashi Cup 2 & 3 September 1995 Amsterdam |
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On the back: Mr. Sanjo Yutaka playing Mr. Kato
On Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd of September the
Obayashi Cup is held in the European Go Centre in Amsterdam.
Both the level and number of participants break all records
in the 4th edition of this relative new tournament. After an
exciting preliminary tournament 16 players qualify for the
play-off on Sunday. Although the Dutch representatives perform
notably well, the supremacy of the Chinese trained Go players
shows again as is indicated by the qualification of only 11
years old Dai Jun-Fu from Paris France, but also the final
between Zhang Shutai and Guo Juan has become a familiar picture
in the European Go scene.
After a nerve wrecking middle game it seems to be a
half-point either way until the unfortunate moment Zhang
blunders under extreme time pressure. Guo profits without
hesitation and thus becomes the Obayashi champion already for
the 2nd time in its existence.
The Obayashi Cup is an event with different faces: it's a four round Macmahon tournament with 45 minutes thinking time without byo-yomi which also by its prizes and lottery attracts players with a wide variety in strength. Next, for a selected group of top players it is a weekend tournament with a play-off on Sunday. Finally, for the eagerly learning Go player on Sunday a Go instruction day is centred around a yearly changing Japanese professional. This year the young and energetic professional Enda Yoichi, 5th dan from Osaka had been invited to play teaching games and try to reveal some of its apparent mystic by analysing the semi final and final games of the play-off.
Enda Yoichi, 5 dan professional
The sponsor of the tournament, Japanese multi-national Obayashi, has played a significant role in the realisation of the European Go Centre from the very moment the centre just existed in blue-prints only. The financial attainability of the centre would have been extremely hard without the involvement of Obayashi. For example, the Japanese room, the Kunwa Room (named after the centre's donor Iwamoto Kaoru, Honinbo Kunwa) was a last-minute donation of Obayashi Corporation.
However, the Obayashi Cup might appeal more to the Go player's imagination. The tournament developed in the mind of the president of Obayashi Japan, Mr. Tsumuro Takao, a gifted Go player with a 6 dan strength. In his vision the tournament with its brand new formula should always remind us of the driving thought of Iwamoto sensei: spreading the game of Go throughout the world with special attention to the young and studious generation. This idea is further worked on and finally realized by the general manager of Obayashi Corporation, Mr. Sanjo Yutaka, a Go player of respectable strength himself as well. The tournament's first edition is on the day after the Go centre's official opening, the 10th of May 1992.
The 4th edition of the Obayashi Cup breaks all previous records regarding number and level of the participants. In the Macmahon tournament on Saturday 205 players with a wide variety in strength battle their way to one of the prizes for 2, 3 or 4 wins. Finally, 71, 59 and 8 players succeed this goal (see the Macmahon table elsewhere).
Meanwhile, the players in the top Macmahon group also compete for one of the 16 places in the Sunday's play-off tournament. The Obayashi tournament puts the Macmahon bar at 3 dan, partly to stimulate 3 dan players in their quest for the 4 dan title, partly to give even a 2 dan player a chance (be it basically theoretical) to obtain one of the places in the final. This year the top Macmahon group ranking from 7 dan to 3 dan consists of 47 players.
After an exciting and entertaining battle over four rounds Macmahon the following players qualify for Sunday's play-off:
Guo, Juan 7d, The Netherlands
Zhang, Shutai 7d, China
Janssen, Frank 6d, The Netherlands
Westhoff, Gerald 6d, The Netherlands
Boon, Mark 6d, The Netherlands
Dai, Jun-Fu 5d, China
Groenen, Geert 5d, The Netherlands
Rehm, Robert 5d, The Netherlands
Park, H.K. 5d, Korea
Muller, Cas 5d, The Netherlands
Poliak, Miroslav 5d, Slovenia
Hüttler, Franz 4d, Austria
Pomstra, W 4d, The Netherlands
Verhagen, Rudi 4d, The Netherlands
Digulla, Jörg 3d, Germany
Knottnerus, Dries 3d, The Netherlands
The qualification of just 11 years young Dai Jun-Fu is a pleasant surprise. In the preliminaries Dai wins in order from: Spruit 3d, Dach 3d, Shinkai 6d and Groenen 5d.
The players are seeded into the knockout scheme according to their registration rank, while preliminary results determine further ordering when necessary. This gives the scheme at the bottom of this page.
The first round has no surprises: Guo, Rehm, Westhoff, Boon, Janssen, Dai, Groenen and Zhang go through. The quarter finals features some very interesting matches in which eventually the following players qualify: Guo, Boon, Zhang, and Janssen. These players are lined up as follows for the semi-finals: Guo vs. Boon (detailed comments) and Zhang vs. Janssen. By means of a draw it is decided that the first game will be monitored and analysed by Enda sensei. The audience is lucky since in the other game Janssen can't equal his performance in the preliminaries and loses quickly to Zhang by an unfortunate early mistake in the game.
The organisers taking a small break just before the final of the knockout tournament
The final between Guo and Zhang (detailed comments) is a rematch of the 1992 final (the 1st Obayashi Cup). The game features many interesting battles and in the end a severely fought 1/2-point ko fight seems to become decisive for the result. However, under severe time pressure Zhang blunders and puts a chain in atari. Guo thus conquers the Obayashi Cup 1995, for the 2nd time in its existence.
Next year the 5th Obayashi Cup will be played and anticipating this special event a questionnaire was held during this year's tournament. Amongst others the tournament formula was discussed. The results of this questionnaire will in full detail be presented to the participants during next year's Obayashi Cup, but an important conclusion can be mentioned in advance. The players appreciate the one-day tournament combined with a kyu-friendly prize-policy a lot. The organization will therefore basically not change the current formula. It will try to organize an additional competition on Sunday for those who prefer to play Go for two days.