May 1994

Youthful players starred at the World Amateur Go Championship in Kyoto May 24-27. Hiraoka Satoshi, a Japanese university student, took first-place honors with a perfect 8-0 score. Displaying extraordinary steadiness, he was never in trouble in any of this games. Chou Chun-hsun, a middle-school student from Taoyuan, Taiwan, beat the Chinese and Korean players to take second place, while John Lee, a high-school student from Chicago, gave Hiraoka his toughest game and came fifth. Robert Mateescu, a Romanian university student with two years of insei training in Japan, took sixth, and scored the upset of the tournament by stealing a win from fourth-place finisher Kim Sehyun of Korea.

Veterans Ivan Detkov and Gondor Andras of the Russian Federation and Hungary also did well, giving Eastern Europeans three of the top eight prizes. Of the top fourteen, however, these two were the only ones over the age of thirty.

Players from the three newly-participating countries (South Africa, Turkey, and Ukraine) turned in respectable performances, especially Iouri Ledovskii of Ukraine, who came thirteenth. Next year three more countries will be added: Cuba, Indonesia, and Slovakia.

1  S. Hiraoka (Japan)           8-0 | 23 P. Ong (Singapore)          4-4
2  C. Chou (Chinese Taipei)     7-1 | 24 L. Soldan (Poland)          4-4
3  C. Wang (China)              6-2 | 25 J. Flood (Norway)           4-4
4  S. Kim (Korea)               6-2 | 26 M. Siivola (Finland)        4-4
5  J. Lee (U.S.A.)              6-2 | 27 T. Yeo (Malaysia)           4-4
6  R. Mateescu (Romania)        6-2 | 28 E. Ekart (Slovenia)         4-4
7  I. Detkov (Russian Fed.)     5-3 | 29 F. Borloz (Switzerland)     3-5
8  A. Gondor (Hungary)          5-3 | 30 A. Wettach (Belgium)        3-5
9  R. Nechanicky (Czech Rep.)   5-3 | 31 C. Grierson (New Zealand)   3-5
10 Y. Kan (Hong Kong)           5-3 | 32 E. Pedrini (Italy)          3-5
11 F. Dickhut (Germany)         5-3 | 33 K. Chairasmisak (Thailand)  3-5
12 L. Heiser (Luxembourg)       5-3 | 34 R. Alaluf (Argentina)       3-5
13 I. Ledovskii (Ukraine)       5-3 | 35 M. Persson (Sweden)         3-5
14 F. Ben-Malek (France)        5-3 | 36 J. Chacon (Mexico)          3-5
15 H. Penz (Austria)            5-3 | 37 H. Karali (Turkey)          3-5
16 F. Hansen (Denmark)          5-3 | 38 J. Gibson (Ireland)         3-5
17 M. Eijkhout (Netherlands)    4-4 | 39 C. Ishida (Japan)           2-6
18 J. Sasaki (Brazil)           4-4 | 40 P. Edwards (South Africa)   2-6
19 C. Sanchez (Spain)           4-4 | 41 J. M. Sebrosa (Portugal)    2-6
20 J. Choi (Canada)             4-4 | 42 L. de Grange (Chile)        2-6
21 D. Cann (U.K.)               4-4 | 43 S. Romero (Venuzuela)       1-7
22 J. Bates (Australia)         4-4 |

Also in May, former world amateur champion Imamura Fumiaki played last year's Japanese WAGC contestant Hirata Hironori for the title of Japan's Strongest Amateur. This tournament is unique in using an auction komi system. In the first game Imamura won the right to set the komi, and declared 6 1/2 points. Hirata then chose black. In the second game Hirata set the komi at 7 1/2 points and Imamura chose white. Imamura won both games, defending his title and pocketing a prize of a million yen.

In professional go, the Honinbo title match is tied 1-1. Challenger Kataoka Satoshi out-fought defending Honinbo Cho Chikun in the tempestuous opener, but lost the more conservatively-played second game.

The week before the Honinbo match started, Cho handed Kataoka his first loss in the Meijin league. Kataoka and Kato are now tied for the league lead at 4-1, with Cho close behind at 4-2.

The first two games of the five-game match between Cho Hunhyun (Korea) and Yoda Norimoto (Japan) for the Tong-Yang Securities Cup were played May 16 and 18 in Pusan, Korea. After losing the first game, Yoda complained that he had been annoyed by Cho's habit of humming Japanese tunes. For the second game Yoda bought and used a pair of ear plugs, but they did not keep him from losing again. Yoda will have to take three straight in June if he is to succeed in his quest for a major title.