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Hane Naoki went all the way in his recovery from 0-3 by winning all 4 remaining games, capturing the Honinbo title from Takao Shinji!

Here is the game record. There was a lot of fighting and sharp moves on both sides.

Hane Naoki won game 6 in Honinbo Title and the score is even: 3-3.

Since he was led 3-0, this is one of those rare, miracle come-backs in 7 games titles. I remember reading in a Go World review that more often than not the one that comes from behind has better chances statistically to win the 7th game and the title.

Takao Shinji, the current Honinbo title owner, seems disappointed in the photo below:

Here is the game record.
Hane looked very inspired in this game: the attachment at 57, and the following sequence (including the sacrifice at 67) show that he deserved to win.

The 7th and last game will be played in just a couple of days, on July 22nd and 23rd.

Hane Naoki recovered after losing the first 3 games in his challenge for the Japanese Honinbo title currently owned by Takao Shinji: he won games 4 and 5, closing the gap to just one game difference.

Photo and game record from 4th game:

Game 5 was particularly spectacular, ending in a huge semeai spawning over most of the board.

Next game will be played on July 16th and 17th. Takao is still one win away from keeping his title, while Hane needs two wins to capture it.

Takao Shinji won the 3rd game as well in this year’s Honinbo Title. As the system is best-of-seven, one more win will assure Takao of holding the title for one more year.

The challenger, Hane Naoki (on the left hand side in the photo below), will have to win four games in a row now to capture the title.

Takao Shinji had a good start in the defense of his Honinbo title: he won the first game against Hane Naoki by 3.5 points.

Here is the game record.

Next game will be played on May 27th and 28th.

Hane Naoki is challenging the Honinbo title holder, Takao Shinji.

The game will conclude tomorrow (May 15 in Japan).

Takao Shinji won the Judan title match 3-0 against veteran Cho Chikun. Takao is also holding the Honinbo title.

Cho must have been exhausted after his attempt to capture the Kisei title from Yamashita Keigo (where he was barely defeated with a 4-3 score) - which ended on March 20th. With this defeat Cho lost his last major title this year.

(Link to the game record)

Takao Shinji is one win away from capturing the Judan title from Cho Chikun after winning the second game as well, since Judan follows a “best-of-five” system.

After his unsuccessful attempt to capture the Kisei title from Yamashita, Cho’s last chance to hold a major title during 2008 is to defend his Judan title. (Cho defended the Judan title against Yamashita in 2007 - you can read last year’s title report on 361points.com).

Next game will be played on April 3rd.

(Links to the games: game 1 game 2)

The challenger in the Judan Title, Takao Shinji (who is also the Honinbo Title holder) won the first game against Cho Chikun (who is also playing the Kisei Title match) by resignation.

Here is the beginning of the game (Takao played Black):

It is interesting to notice the exchange of 24 for 25: White peeps at a point where he could cut later. I have seen this move in several games lately.

Also, after Black’s invasion in san-san with 31 it’s a touch decision for White to pick the side to block on: in this case the decision has nothing to do with the potential White would develop on the outside (because that potential is too small to be interesting anyways, given that White has low extensions on both sides), but with the fight that starts once Black is forced to capture one stone.

Here’s a nice photo montage from the Nihon Ki-in site:

Nongshim Cup is a team tournament between China, Korea and Japan: each team member keeps playing until they lose once, at which point they get replaced by the next team member. In the past few days, Chang Hao of China eliminated Takao Shinji of Japan and Lee Changho of Korea, and he’s playing with Park Yeonghun of Korea as I am writing this (I am following the game live on Cyberoro).

Photo of the end of the game between Chang Hao and Takao Shinji: Chang Hao won by 2.5 points.

Yet another photo from the same moment, different angle: Takao smiles even in defeat. I like the little kid in the background: maybe a future Go champion?

Chang Hao defeated Lee Changho next, by 0.5 points.

I also liked the following photo. Since Nongshim, the sponsor of this international tournament, is an instant noodles producer, is this one of the prizes?