August 1995

Kobayashi Satoru captured his second big title of the year by defeating Rin Kaiho 3-2 in the Gosei match. Rin launched blistering attacks in both the fourth and fifth games, but Kobayashi showed a new-found tenacity in fighting back. In the fourth game, Kobayashi lost a large group of stones, then committed a blunder that put victory out of reach, but he kept on playing and managed to come within two points of achieving an upset. In the fifth game, after falling behind in the opening, he hung in and eventually won by half a point. Rin had apparently miscounted the score and was stunned speechless by the loss. With the Kisei and Gosei titles in his possession, Kobayashi Satoru is doubly sainted: Kisei and Gosei both mean Go Saint. His next target is the Acom cup.

Between the fourth and fifth Gosei games, Rin Kaiho lost a game to Kataoka Satoshi. He thereby failed to regain a place in the Honinbo league, in which he once seemed like a permanent fixture.

Takemiya Masaki will start challenging Kobayashi Koichi for the Meijin title next month. The Meijin league closed out on August 3, with Takemiya beating Cho while O Rissei lost to Awaji, leaving Takemiya in undisputed first place. After losing his first league game, he had won seven straight. "I've started studying again," said Takemiya, "but I didn't expect it to show results this quickly." The final league standings were:

	(1) Takemiya
	(2) O Rissei
	(3) Cho
	(4) Kato
	(5) Kataoka
	(6) Rin
	(7) Awaji
	(8) Yuki
	(9) O Meien

In international competition, Ma Xiaochun bested Kobayashi Koichi by 7 1/2 points to become the first Chinese player to win the Fujitsu cup. Ma and Kobayashi fought each other to a standstill in a protracted middle game, leaving a difficult endgame position. Ma committed the first endgame mistake, but Kobayashi made the decisive last mistake, allowing Ma to turn the tables in a ko fight. This is Ma's second world championship of the year, following his victory in the Tongyang cup in Korea. In the play-off for third place, after nearly having to forfeit because of a visa mix-up, Yoo Changhyuk defeated Cho Chikun.

The past nine months seem to have marked a turning point in Japanese professional go. For the previous two decades, the seven major Japanese newspaper-sponsored titles were almost completely monopolized by just seven players: Fujisawa Shuko, Rin Kaiho, Otake Hideo, Kato Masao, Takemiya Masaki, Kobayashi Koichi, and Cho Chikun. Age may be overtaking these seven samurai, however: they are being hard pressed both at home and abroad. Four of the seven main domestic titles are now in other hands, and who can recall the last Japanese victory in a top-level international event?

There are signs of change in the Japanese amateur go world as well, with young players like Hiraoka Satoshi, Takano Hideki, and Sakai Hideyuki emerging to challenge the established veterans. It was veterans who triumphed in the two events held in August, however. Samejima Ichiro beat out Takano Hideki to win the Amateur Best Ten tournament, and Nakazono Seizo defeated Hirata Hironori by half a point to take the Amateur Honinbo.