SATORU FINDS SATORI
Kobayashi Satoru achieved enlightenment - satori - and won the final of the 33rd Hayago lightning go championship against namesake Koichi 9-dan. The game was broadcast on TV Tokyo on 15 and 22 October 2000.
Here is the final game in sgf format.
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Older News From 21 October 2000:
KOBAYASHI BOUND TO WIN TITLE
The final of the 33rd Hayago Championship will be an all-Kobayashi between Koichi 9-dan and (no relation) Satoru 9-dan.
In their semi-final games Koichi saw off Yamada Kimio, while Satoru disposed of Kiyonari Tetsuya.
The final was due to be broadcast on 15 and 22 October 2000.
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Older News From 24 September 2000:
INTO SEMIS AFTER AVALANCHE
The semi-finals in the 33rd Hayago Championship will be contested between Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan and Yamada Kimio 8-dan, and between Kiyonari Tetsuya 9-dan and Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan.
In the quarter-finals, Yamada saw off Honinbo O Meien - we give that game here as a relatively rare case of an avalanche joseki in the top right-hand corner. Even more interestingly, it ended in a yose ko after move 31.
In the other quarter-finals, Kobayashi Koichi beat Kato, Kiyonari beat Ryu and Kobayashi Satoru beat Tono.
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Older News From 29 July 2000:
NOW FOR THE AFTER EIGHTS
The year-long 33rd Hayago Championship is now down to the last eight players.
The results of Round 1 were:
Kobayashi Koichi 9d 1-0 Yamashita Keigo 6d
Kato Masao (holder) 9d 1-0 Cho Sonjin 9d
Sonoda Yuichi 9d 1-0 O Meien 9d
Yamada Kimio 8d 1-0 Cho Chikun 9d
Kiyonari Tetsuya 9d 1-0 O Rissei 9d
Ryu Shikun 7d 1-0 Yoda Norimoto 9d
Kobayashi Satoru 9d 1-0 Hikosaka Naoto 9d
Tono Hiroaki 9d 1-0 Takemiya Masaki 9d
HAYAGO ARCHIVES
HOW DOES THE HAYAGO CHAMPIONSHIP WORK?
The Hayago Championship is a year-long lightning tournament sponsored by TV Tokyo (Channel 12). It is strictly for the top players but there is a junior version by the same sponsor called the Shin'ei Tournament.
Top prize is 4 million yen. The losing finalist gets 800,000 yen.
24 players are selected from the major title winners and the top money winners in the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in. After a one-round preliminary among the lower seeds, these are whittled down to 16 who play a final knockout.
The games are all televised. The final is in November.
Time limits are 5 minutes each (used to be 10 minutes) with 30 seconds a move overtime. Each player also gets two spells of 3 minutes to think about tricky moves.
Hayago means lightning go (as here) or quick go (1-2 hours each).
To see a list of past Hayago Winners click here.
