Posts Tagged ‘japan’
First game of Honinbo Title starts today
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007
Today is day 1 of the first game in Honinbo Title match.
Yoda Norimoto is challenging Takao Shinji.
It is interesting to see that the match is between the authors of last 2 Go books I read: Takao Shinji wrote “Pure and Simple: Takao’s Astute Use of Brute Force” and Yoda Norimoto wrote “Vital Points and Skillful Finesse for Sabaki”.
(I bought both books from slateandshell.com a couple of months ago, I finished Yoda’s book and I’m almost done with Takao’s book – both are wonderful books, I highly recommend them).
So let’s see what style is prevailing this year: “pure and simple” or “sabaki”
Cho won the 45th Judan title 3-2
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007
Cho Chikun defended the Judan title 3-2!
He won the last game by 3.5 points.
Interestingly, this last game was played on a Western-style table, instead of the traditional tatami mat – see pictures here and here.
I am very glad Cho Sensei won – he is one of the last representatives of the old Kitani School that is still competing successfully with the newer generation of players in Japan.
Hikaru-no-Go
Monday, April 2nd, 2007
There is a new volume of the Hikaru-no-Go manga coming out tomorrow: number 9 of the series:
Becoming a Professional Player in Korea
Monday, February 12th, 2007I just found this nice article: Becoming a Professional Player in Korea
The title is self-explanatory. I was impressed with the number of Korean insei at any given time: 168! That is more than 3 times the number of insei in Japan, at least at the time when I was insei.
By the way, the article is part of a nice series of Korean lessons.
In the “Proverbs Part (2)” one, I found a quite funny comment in the “If You Have Lost All Four Corners, Resign” section:
“However, after many brilliant professionals in Korea discovered the value of the sides and the center, the modern version of this proverb goes like this: “If you have secured the four corners, resign.”
The funny thing is that I have known the updated proverb from Japanese sources for a very long time now, so the brilliant professionals in Japan must have discovered that before the brilliant professionals in Korea
Catalin Taranu
Thursday, February 8th, 2007
I think every Go player knows about Catalin Taranu – one of the very few Europeans to became professionals in Asia. He is 5 dan pro at Nihon Ki-in (in Japan). Catalin is currently living in Romania, on an extended leave from Nihon Ki-in, in order to promote Go.
I recently discovered Catalin’s website. What I like in particular is his concentrated Guide to Go – which summarizes in very few words and examples a lot of key concepts – make sure you read it!
While I was insei starting in early 1994, Catalin came as an insei to Japan next year, in 1995, together with Mirel “Tsurukame” Florescu. There was quite some concentration of Romanian insei at Nihon Ki-in that year
They literally came to Japan together (I picked them up from the airport in Narita) – but while Mirel stayed, just like me, at the Igo Kenshu Center near Tokyo, Catalin was to become an insei at the Western branch of Nihon Ki-in, in Nagoya.
We did meet, all three of us, during the summer vacation in 1995 for a great vacation in Kyushu – thanks to the wonderful, late Nishimura-san – I am sure many European players remember him from several European Go Congresses. (Mirel and I also met Catalin during the same summer of 1995 at the annual insei Go camp at Hakone).
Soon after that great summer of 1995 I returned home from Japan, after a little more than 18 months as an insei – to continue my University studies – while Mirel and Catalin enjoyed many more years in Japan.
They literally came to Japan together (I picked them up from the airport in Narita) – but while Mirel stayed, just like me, at the Igo Kenshu Center near Tokyo, Catalin was to become an insei at the Western branch of Nihon Ki-in, in Nagoya.
We did meet, all three of us, during the summer vacation in 1995 for a great vacation in Kyushu – thanks to the wonderful, late Nishimura-san – I am sure many European players remember him from several European Go Congresses. (Mirel and I also met Catalin during the same summer of 1995 at the annual insei Go camp at Hakone).
Soon after that great summer of 1995 I returned home from Japan, after a little more than 18 months as an insei – to continue my University studies – while Mirel and Catalin enjoyed many more years in Japan. Yamashita Keigo – Kobayashi Satoru 2 : 0
Thursday, February 1st, 2007
Yamashita just won the second Kisei game – I feel very sad for Kobayashi Satoru. I sure hope he will be able to recover in the following games.
I am not only sad on a personal level (he’s the brother of my ex-sensei in Japan, Mrs. Kobayashi Chizu) – but also since he’s one of very few “old boys” from the Kitani school that can still put up a fight with the new generation of players in Japan.
Go, Satoru sensei!
