February 1997

The third straight Kisei title match to be contested between Cho Chikun and Kobayashi Satoru ended on February 27 in Abashiri, a harbor town on the north coast of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. The final game was a close one that more or less summed up the match. Kobayashi played well in the middle game and took a very promising position into the endgame. To add to his advantage, he had over an hour left on his clock, while Cho was down to a minute a move. When Kobayashi cut off and captured an isolated stone in the middle of the board it seemed certain that he would win, and this showed in the players' manner, Cho spending fifty seconds or more on every move, visibly struggling, hair tousled, while Kobayashi responded quickly and confidently, hair-style unruffled. But near the end of the game, Kobayashi began to look uncomfortable, and when the score was counted, Cho was ahead by a point and a half. The match was over and Cho had won, four games to one.

The whole story was not so one-sided, however. Kobayashi lost the first two games by resignation in January, giving many observers the impression that he was off his form, but his form returned with a vengeance in February. First, he forced Cho to resign in the third Kisei game by killing a group of Cho's stones in the endgame. Next, he beat Cho in the quarterfinal round of the Tongyang Cup in Seoul, Korea. Then Cho and Kobayashi returned to Osaka, Japan, to play each other in the NEC Cup, and Kobayashi won once more, by killing another group in the endgame.

That brought matters up to the fourth game of the Kisei match, and this time, Kobayashi developed an attack on two large groups in the middle game. One group or the other should have died, but with ample time on his clock, Kobayashi made a hasty move in a critical situation. Cho managed to save all his stones, putting dents in Kobayashi's territory in the process, and it was Kobayashi who had to resign. If Kobayashi had been a little less certain of victory and a little more careful in the clutch, he could have won both the fourth and fifth Kisei games and made a clean sweep of Cho in February.

One reason for Cho's successful Kisei defense may be that he has added a new element to his game -- serenity. This was first observed and much remarked on when Cho won the Meijin title last fall. In the past Cho often seemed to be torturing himself both physically and mentally during his games, but now he is calm in victory and equally calm in defeat. "Machigaechatta" (literally "I made a mistake," but roughly equivalent to "tsk-tsk") has become his standard remark after losing a big title game through the unexpected death of a group. Perhaps this has something to do with turning forty, and realizing that his main rivals are now all younger than he is. Or perhaps it has something to do with having taken up golf. Anyway, here is the record of the Kisei match.

    Game 1 (January 15-16, Ko Olina Resort) Cho won by resignation
    Game 2 (January 29-30, Takayama)        Cho won by resignation
    Game 3 (February 5-6, Kamasaki)   Kobayashi won by resignation
    Game 4 (February 19-20, Yamaguchi)      Cho won by resignation
    Game 5 (February 26-27, Abashiri)       Cho won by 1 1/2

Cho now has a month to rest up for his first game in the Fujitsu Cup, then another month or so before he faces a challenge to his Honinbo title. As for Kobayashi, he meets Lee Changho in the Tongyang semifinals next week.

Other items:

Jinro Cup: Seo Bongsoo wins nine games in a row

    January 27:  Seo Bongsoo (Korea)  beat  Chen Linxin (China)
    January 28:  Seo Bongsoo (Korea)  beat  O Rissei (Japan)
    January 30:  Seo Bongsoo (Korea)  beat  Cao Dayuan (China)
    January 31:  Seo Bongsoo (Korea)  beat  Yoda Norimoto (Japan)
    February 23: Seo Bongsoo (Korea)  beat  Ma Xiaochun (China)

Tongyang Cup: quarterfinal round (February 13, Seoul)

     Cho Hunhyun (Korea)       beat  Wang Lei (China)
     Kim Younghwan (Korea)     beat  Ryu Shikun (Japan)
     Lee Changho (Korea)       beat  Ma Xiaochun (China)
     Kobayashi Satoru (Japan)  beat  Cho Chikun (Korea)

Women's Meijin title: Nishida Terumi leads Ogawa Tomoko 1-0

     Game 1 (February 26, Urayasu) Nishida won by 6 1/2

Judan title: Kato Masao will challenge Yoda Norimoto

     First game: March 3