TAKAO IS SECOND CHIKURIN HOLDER
Takao Shinji 7-dan has emerged as the winner of the 2nd Chikurin Cup after beating Kono Rin 5-dan in the final by two games to one.
The winner's prize was one million yen and the final game was important enough to be scheduled for play in the famous Yugen room at the Nihon Room. Unfortunately, on the day the New Stars final between Yamashita Keigo and Hane Naoki took precedence there. This was ironic in that Yamashita had already lost to Takao in the Chikurin, which is also a new stars event of a kind.
The event is sponsored by Go World (the Nihon Ki-in version, not the English one) where it is extensively commented, including contributions by the main supporters by Otake Hideo (Chiku) and Rin Kaiho (Rin). It appears, though, that it will now cease, at least for the time being.
Here is the decisive game from the final in sgf format.
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Older News From 9 August 2000:
2nd CHIKURIN CUP FINAL TO BE ALL JAPANESE
The finalists of the 2nd Chikurin Cup will be all Japanese: Takao Shinji 7-dan against Kono Rin 5-dan.
The results leading to this denouement were as follows:
Round 1
Yamashita Keigo 6d 1-0 Kobayashi Izumi 4d
Takao Shinji 7d 1-0 Takei Takashi 5d
Kono Rin 5d 1-0 Cho U 6d
Kimu Shujun 5d 1-0 Mizokami Tomochika 6d
Semi-finals
Takao 1-0 Yamashita
Kono 1-0 Kimu
Here is one of the semi-final games (Kono-Kimu) in sgf format.
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Older News From 5 January 2000:
CHIKURIN CUP AIMS TO BOOST YOUNG PLAYERS IN JAPAN
The eight members to play for the 2nd Chikurin Cup have been decided. This is a slightly unusual event, but yet another sign of the desire in Japan to bring on younger players to combat the threat from Korea and China.
The Shinjin-O was meant to be the main forum for young players to show their talents but was open to players aged up to 29. The Chikurin regards anyone over 24 as too old. Neverthless, it may be a little worrying, in that regard, that the youngest contender is all of 18, and two of the eight places go to a Korean and a Taiwanese.
The five players who earn their places on the basis of most annual wins are: Takao Shinji 6-dan (48 wins; 80.0%), Yamashita Keigo 6-dan (46; 80.7%), Cho U 6-dan - the Taiwanese (43; 79.6%), Kimu Shujun 5-dan - the Korean (40; 76.9%), Kono Rin 5-dan - the holder (39; 78.0%).
Kobayashi Izumi 4-dan took the woman's place with 32 wins and a 64.0% winning percentage.
The two extra nominations were, first, Mizokami Tomochika 6-dan, a graduate of the Ryokuseien school of amateur Kikuchi Yasuro. he scored the best winning percentage of 85%, but because of fewer games won only 34. The second was Takei Takashi 5-dan, who scored only 29-15, but won his place on the strength of several years of good performances.
CHIKURIN ARCHIVES
HOW DOES THE CHIKURIN CUP WORK?
The Chikurin Cup is sponsored by the magazine Go World (the Japanese one; and its defunct predecessor Igo Club) and supported by Otake Hideo and Rin Kaiho, after whom it is named.
Top prize is 1 million yen. The runner-up receives 200,000 yen.
The eight players are selected in three ways from Nihon Ki-in professionals aged 24 or less and ranked 6-dan or less. The first five places go to those with the best winning record in the previous year. One place is given to a women player (so far selected on the basis of most wins), and the remaining two places are awarded on the recommendation of the promoters, Otake Hideo 9-dan and Rin Kaiho 9-dan. They also comment on the games.
They play a straightforward knockout, the games being published monthly in Go World. The final is a best-of-three.
Time limits are now 2 hours each (1 minute overtime). Komi is 5.5 points.
Chikurin is from the -take in Otake, in its Sinified reading, and Rin is from Rin Kaiho.
CHIKURIN FINALISTS
| Year |
Term |
Winner |
Score |
Loser
|
| 1999 |
1 |
Kono Rin 5d |
2-1 |
Cho U 6d |
| 2000 |
2 |
Takao Shinji 7d |
2-1 |
Kono Rin 5d |
