July 1991

Reviewing this year's Honinbo series, Cho Chikun said, "After losing the first two games, I decided if I were going to lose anyway, I might as well not hold anything back." He didn't. Playing more boldly than usual, he demolished challenger Kobayashi Koichi by sweeping the next four games. Cho has now won the Honinbo title five times, three times by defeating Kobayashi. The Honinbo is one of the few titles Kobayashi has been unable to capture, and he made no secret of his disappointment.

To rub it in, Cho Chikun also beat Kobayashi Koichi in the first round of the lightning tournament sponsored by Tokyo TV.

After the fifth Honinbo game, Cho Chikun and Kobayashi Koichi traveled together to Osaka for the semifinal round of the Fujitsu Cup. Their results reflected the way the Honinbo series was going: Cho beat O Rissei; Kobayashi lost to China's up-and-coming Qian Yuping. The final between Cho and Qian will be played August 3.

As if Kobayashi Koichi were not busy enough in July, he also had his Gosei title to defend against the challenge of Kobayashi Satoru. (The two are unrelated although they have the same family name.) When Kobayashi Satoru challenged for this title last year he lost in three straight games. This year he lost the first two games but won the third, sending the match on into August.

With the Honinbo title match over, attention shifts to the four openings in the Honinbo League. The first player to win one of these spots was Chin Kaei, 7-dan. Known formerly as Ch'en Chai-jui and Chan Kai-Yui, Chin competed twice for China and twice for Hong Kong in the World Amateur Go Championship, taking first place in 1986. In 1987 he immigrated to Japan and joined the Kansai Kiin as a professional 5-dan. He came close to breaking into the Honinbo League in 1989 and 1990; this year he made it.

Kataoka Satoshi (9-dan, Japan) has evened up the China-Japan Super series by felling two more opponents: Liao Guiyong (8-dan) and Liang Weitang (7-dan). The games were played July 3 and 5 in Kunming, China. Kataoka's announced target is five straight wins; he'll get his chance to reach it next month when the series returns to Tokyo.

The winners in all dan sections of the Kisei tournament have been determined:

     9-dan:  Ohira Shuzo           4-dan:  Ryu Shikun
     8-dan:  O Meien               3-dan:  Arimura Hiroshi
     7-dan:  Moriyama Naoki        2-dan:  Sekiyama Toshimichi
     6-dan:  Hashimoto Yujiro      1-dan:  Kurotaki Masanori
     5-dan:  Yo Kagen

In amateur go, the Best Ten tournament sponsored by the Asahi newspaper was won by Kikuchi Yasuro, now past the age of sixty but still going strong. Fourth place was taken by Sato Akiko, who played for Japan in the World Women's Amateur Go Championship last year. She is the first woman ever to earn a place in the best ten.