October 1995

Takemiya Masaki is Meijin at last. By defeating Kobayashi Koichi 4-1, he belatedly fulfilled a prediction made nearly a quarter-century ago, that he would be Meijin by the age of thirty. The reason for the delay (Takemiya is forty-four)? "My relaxed attitude toward life" is Takemiya's reply, but over the past year he has turned over a new leaf, meaning that he has stopped playing mah-jong, and has been getting up at 5:30 every morning for a game of go with his son. As a result, his winning percentage in tournament competition, which sank to .333 in 1994, has soared to .777 in 1995 so far.
Takemiya won the Meijin title by winning ko fights. In the third game, played October 4-5, Takemiya was Black in the position below. Just when it appeared that he had run out of ko threats, he produced Black 1. If White connects the ko, Black connects to the left of 1, leading to the capture of four black stones and then the recapture of seven white ones, an under-the-stones tesuji that Kobayashi had failed to see. Kobayashi had no choice but to answer 1 two spaces to the left and concede the ko, taking next to nothing in compensation. After another eighty futile moves, he resigned.

                 . . . . . . . . . . . . @ . . . . . .
                 . @ O . . . . . . . @ O O O . . . . .
                 . . @ O . . O . . . @ @ O . . O . . .
    Kobayashi    . . @ O . . . O O @ @ O @ @ . O . . .   Takemiya
                 . . . . . . O @ @ O O . O @ . . . . .
                 . . . . . . . . . 1 . O . . . . . . .
                       Left edge of the board

So Kobayashi Koichi is down, but don't count him out. On October 16 he defeated Cho Chikun to become Tengen challenger. Last year Kobayashi lost the challenger-deciding game to Ryu Shikun, who went on to capture the Tengen title. The Kobayashi-Ryu Tengen rivalry will resume in earnest on November 1.

In the Kisei preliminaries, however, Kobayashi Koichi lost by half a point to Kato Masao, who will dispute the Kisei challenger's right with Cho in a best-of-three match.

Yuki Satoshi, the talented youngster from the Kansai Kiin with the monkish hairstyle and samurai-like style of play, has won the lightning tournament sponsored by Tokyo TV. It was a well-earned victory: Yuki beat Otake Hideo, Cho Chikun, O Rissei, and Rin Kaiho.

Another talented young player from the Kansai Kiin, Yoshida Mika, is within one victory of defending her women's Honinbo title. After three games, she leads challenger Chinen Kaori 2-1.

The opening game of the Oza match went to O Rissei. Coming from behind, he nosed out Cho Chikun by half a point on October 19.

After losing a Japan-Korea amateur team match by a 4-10 score in April, Japan sent a restructured and younger team to Korea for the rematch on October 7 and 9. The new team did no better than the old, however: Japan--4, Korea--10. Reactions of the non-playing Japanese officials varied. "The Japanese amateurs aren't visibly weaker, but they don't know how to win. They kept giving away leads." said Kikuchi Yasuro. Kawamoto Noboru, professional 9-dan, put it more bluntly: "The Koreans are stronger. The Japanese amateurs will have to improve."