May 1993

This has been a busy month on the international go scene. First, on May 10 in Tokyo, Awaji Shuzo played Nie Weiping. Awaji, who is nicknamed "Rocky" for his never-say-die fighting style, was driven into a hopeless position by Nie in the first half of the game, but managed to battle his way back from oblivion to a half-point victory. With this, Awaji has the distinction of having defeated both Ma Xiaochun and Nie, and the Japanese team has won the China-Japan Supergo series twice in a row.

Next, on May 16, 18, and 20 in Singapore, Otake Hideo played Korean Seo Bongsoo for the Ing Cup. Otake and Seo had already split the first two games of the best-of-five series in March, and they now split the next two, Seo winning the third by resignation, Otake taking the fourth by 9 points. Both games were rather one-sided. Otake went on to seize an early lead in the fifth game, but Seo, a never-say-die competitor of the home-grown Korean variety, put up tremendous resistance. Not one to back down from a fight, Otake matched Seo cut for cut and ko for ko, and the board began to seethe with half-dead, half-alive groups. At the height of the struggle Otake made a curious mistake. He pushed the wrong button on his Ing Timer, causing Seo to lose a few seconds of time. This mistake was excused, but shortly afterward Otake made another, on the board, that cost him nineteen stones. After further ko fighting Seo put the quietus on twenty more of Otake's stones and Otake resigned.
Quite apart from the $400,000 prize, this must have been a sweet victory for Seo, who turned forty this year. Although he has won plenty of Korean titles, he has spent most of his career overshadowed by Cho Hunhyun (who won the first Ing Cup four years ago), and has lately been overshadowed by Cho's pupil Lee Changho as well. But this May, in Singapore, as one Korean newspaper put it, Seo's style of Korean home-brew ruled the world.

On May 25 to 28 the World Amateur Go Championship was held in Fukuoka, the largest city in the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. The finish was tight and complex. Seo Soonjoo of Korea took the lead by beating Sun Yiguo of China in round six, but a potential three-way tie developed when sixty-six-year-old Hirata Hironori of Japan, who had already lost to Sun, rose up to defeat Seo in round seven. Hirata was then beaten by thirteen-year-old Chou Chun-Hsun of Chinese Taipei in round eight, leaving Seo and Sun to tie at 7-1. These two very nearly tied on SOS points as well, which would have made Seo champion, but Kosa Ariya of Thailand settled the issue with a half-point eighth-round win over Janusz Kraszek of Poland, which boosted Sun's SOS score by one point and give him the championship.
The other prize-winners were Ronald Schlemper of the Netherlands, who vied valiantly with Seo in his last game but ran out of ko threats; fourteen-year-old Mun Yongsam of D.P.R. Korea, who lived up to the promise he showed last year by taking sixth place; Kan Ying of Hong Kong, who has now finished in the top eight for four straight years; and June-Ki Beck of Canada, who improved dramatically on his 26th-place finish of 1991.
There will be no women's world amateur championship this year, so it was a happy circumstance that three of the WAGC contestants were women: Kan Ying, Yucong Phease of New Zealand, and Maria Puerta of Venezuela. On the down side, the Russian player defaulted because of visa problems, but on the up side, Portugal sent a player for the first time, and the Ukraine, Turkey, and South Africa will join in 1994.

1  Y. Sun (China)               7-1 | 21 J. Kraszek (Poland)         4-4
2  S. Seo (Republic of Korea)   7-1 | 21 P. Shepperson (U.K.)        4-4
3  H. Hirata (Japan)            6-2 | 23 U. Bro-Jorgensen (Denmark)  4-4
4  C. Chou (Chinese Taipei)     6-2 | 24 K. Wong (Singapore)         4-4
4  R. Schlemper (Netherlands)   6-2 | 25 U. Olsson (Sweden)          4-4
6  Y. Mun (D.P.R. Korea)        6-2 | 26 B. Bouzy (France)           4-4
7  Y. Kan (Hong Kong)           5-3 | 27 A. Karppinen (Finland)      3-5
7  J. Beck (Canada)             5-3 | 28 R. Soletti (Italy)          3-5
9  C. Gerlach (Germany)         5-3 | 28 P. Nicolet (Switzerland)    3-5
10 B. Scheid (Austria)          5-3 | 30 C. Wong (Belgium)           3-5
11 T. Yeo (Malaysia)            5-3 | 31 J. Rivaud (Mexico)          3-5
11 K. Ariya (Thailand)          5-3 | 32 E. Tan (Philippines)        3-5
13 M. Crasmaru (Romania)        5-3 | 33 J. Pons (Spain)             3-5
14 S. Hahn (Australia)          5-3 | 34 N. Mitchell (Ireland)       3-5
15 R. Nechanicky (Czech Rep.)   4-4 | 34 Y. Phease (New Zealand)     3-5
16 L. Matoh (Slovenia)          4-4 | 36 C. Segura (Chile)           2-6
17 G. Tawara (Argentina)        4-4 | 37 T. Christoffersen (Norway)  2-6
18 W. Kim (U.S.A.)              4-4 | 38 P. Schmit (Luxembourg)      2-6
19 M. Flusser (Brazil)          4-4 | 39 G. Branco (Portugal)        1-7
20 A. Gondor (Hungary)          4-4 | 40 M. Puerta (Venezuela)       0-8

This month's international parade ended on May 31 in Beijing, with the first game of the eighth China-Japan Supergo series. Kato Atsushi got Japan off to a good start by defeating Zhou Heyang, the 1992 World Youth Wei-Ch'i Champion, by resignation. On June 2 Kato Masao faces Xiao Weigang, whom he beat twice last year. The full team line-ups are:

              China                       Japan
        Zhou Heyang, 4-dan          Kato Atsushi, 4-dan
        Shao Weigang, 5-dan         Yuki Satoshi, 7-dan
        Wang Jianhong, 8-dan        Komatsu Hideki, 8-dan
        Zhang Wendong, 8-dan        Yoda Masanori, 8-dan
        Chen Linxin, 8-dan          Yamashiro Hiroshi, 9-dan
        Ma Xiaochun, 9-dan          Awaji Shuzo, 9-dan
        Nie Weiping, 9-dan          Takemiya Masaki, 9-dan

After two games, the Honinbo title match is tied 1-1. Defender Cho Chikun won the first game on May 7-8 by 6 1/2 points, but challenger Yamashiro Hiroshi took the second game by 3 1/2 on May 24-25. Cho will attend to international commitments in the Fujitsu Cup and Tongyang Cup before returning to action against Yamashiro on June 16.

Looking ahead to July, the challenger to Kobayashi Koichi's Gosei title will be Rin Kaiho. Rin won the right to challenge by defeating Kobayashi Satoru, who challenged unsuccessfully in 1990, 1991, and 1992.

Looking even further ahead, the challenger to Kobayashi Koichi's Meijin title is likely to be Otake Hideo again. Otake currently has an untarnished 5-0 score in the Meijin league. His closest pursuer is Cho Chikun at 4-2.