April 1994

Rebuffing challenger Kobayashi Koichi by a 3-2 score, Otake Hideo successfully defended his Judan title. In the deciding fifth game, played April 27, Otake gave Kobayashi all the territory he wanted, but built a large framework in the center and began pressuring one of Kobayashi's groups in a ko fight. Kobayashi resigned when he found himself on the losing end of a capturing race involving forty stones. This was the forty-third title won in Otake's career. Only Sakata has more (sixty-four).

Japan entered its five major title-holders in the five reserved Japanese slots in the second round of the Fujitsu Cup. Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi, Rin Kaiho, and Kato Masao all won their games, with Kato besting Korean superstar Lee Changho in a dramatic encounter. In another dramatic game, however, Otake Hideo lost to Hua Xueming of China. Upholding the high reputation of China's women players, Hua becomes the first woman in Fujitsu-Cup history to reach the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled for June 3 at the Kyongju Hilton Hotel in Korea.

    First round (April 2)
	Lee Changho (Korea)            beat   Fujisawa Shuko (Japan)
	Michael Redmond (N. America)   beat   Fernando Aguilar (S. America)
	Yu Bin (China)                 beat   Choi Kyubyung (Korea)
	Hua Xueming (China)            beat   Rob van Zeijst (Europe)
	Seo Bongsoo (Korea)            beat   Ma Xiaochun (China)
	Yamashiro Hiroshi (Japan)      beat   Lin Sengshien (Chinese Taipei)
	Ishida Yoshio (Japan)          beat   Yang Jaeho (Korea)
	Chen Kuohsin (Chinese Taipei)  beat   Liu Xiaoguang (China)
    Second round (April 4)
	Kato Masao (Japan)             beat   Lee Changho (Korea)
	Kobayashi Koichi (Japan)       beat   Michael Redmond (N. America)
	Cho Chikun (Japan)             beat   Yu Bin (China)
	Hua Xueming (China)            beat   Otake Hideo (Japan)
	Rin Kaiho (Japan)              beat   Seo Bongsoo (Korea)
	Yoo Changhyuk (Korea)          beat   Yamashiro Hiroshi (Japan)
	Cho Hunhyun (Korea)            beat   Ishida Yoshio (Japan)
	Zhang Wendong (China)          beat   Chen Kuohsin (Chinese Taipei)

Two weeks after these Fujitsu games, the semifinal matches of the Tongyang Securities Cup were held in Seoul. Of the two Korean finalists in last year's Fujitsu Cup, the winner now lost while the loser won, both by 2-0 scores, but to different opponents:

           Cho Hunhyun (Korea)  2 - 0  Nie Weiping (China)
         Yoda Norimoto (Japan)  2 - 0  Yoo Changhyuk (Korea)

The end of April found Yoda in Guangzhou, along with Komatsu Hideki, for the third and fourth games of the China-Japan Supergo match. These did not go so well. Komatsu and Yoda both got ripped to shreds by Liu Xiaoguang, who has now defeated half of the Japanese team by himself and given China a 3-1 lead. The series returns to Tokyo in August.