Oza - 2007

Yamashita Keeps Oza Title after defeating Imamura 3-1

Quick links to the games: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4

Oza is one of the top seven professional titles in Japan. Unlike the top 3 titles it is played in a best-of-five system, with each game taking "just" one day (top three title are best-of-seven, with two days games).

Yamashita Keigo, who is holding the top Japanese title, Kisei, is also the Oza title holder. He is defending his title against the challenger Imamura Toshiya. What is quite unusual is the fact that Imamura Toshiya comes from Kansai Ki-in, which is a smaller Go organization in Japan. Most of the times the top title matches are played between two Nihon Ki-in players.

Game 1

Game 1 was played on October 26, 2007.

White (Yamashita) killed a huge Black group and won by resignation.

Game 2

Game 2 was played on November 15, 2007.

It was Imamura's turn to kill a large Black group in the middle of the board and win by resignation.

Game 3

Game 3 was played on November 27, 2007.

Yamashita won by resignation. Imamura must have felt like crying after move 80, when Yamashita (White) separated two of Black's groups cleanly, like in a textbook example

Game 4

Game 4 was played on November 29, 2007.

Yamashita won by resignation and kept the Oza title.

As usual, the variations in the game records are the ones I found on Cyberoro: they are produced by professional players following the game live, and are uncommented here.