We have a new Kisei. In the thirty years after moving to Japan he has enjoyed the happiest day of his life, he said. He is O Rissei 9-dan, originally from Taiwan (the Chinese version of is name is Wang Licheng). His 4-2 victory over holder Cho Chikun 9-dan in the 24th final in the textile centre Imabari City netted him a prize, including game fees, of 38.2 million yen - by far the biggest in the go world.
It is not O's first title - he has two Ozas to his credit - but it has been a long time coming. He is now 41 and reached 9-dan as long ago as 1988.
Cho was chivalrous in defeat, but gutted. He had set his heart on winning the Kisei five times in a row to earn an Honorary Kisei title (it carries wonderful pension rights), and when he acknowledged the inevitable in Game 6, after move 132 as the timekeeper counted out the seconds in overtime, it was with a small voice he said "makemashita." O responded to the resignation with a small bow. Cho graciously described him as a "splendid new Kisei" and admitted all he could do now was to vow to try harder.
Japanese commentators have used the phrase "metal fatigue" of Cho, now that he has lost his Honinbo and Kisei titles and has "only" the Meijin of the majors, but nothing should be taken away from O. Throughout the match he has led Cho into strategically difficult areas. Probably here we are seeing the first fruits of the new approach to 21st century go and arguably O can now be regarded as its main proponent. But it was noticeable also that he at least matched in technique and nerve.
The key point of the short sixth Game was Cho's mistake on move 125.
O Rissei's disastrous run in the Honinbo League - he is already facing relegation - makes one wonder whether he is saving all his energies for the Kisei match, because he is now 3-2 ahead in the 24th final, one game away from taking the the title away from Cho Chikun.
Playing this time in the Inland Sea resort of Oshima-cho on 23 February 2000, he once again engineered a scrap in the centre. Cho has not looked comfortable with this game plan constantly being foisted on him.
The strategy-defining move in Game 5 was O's cut at Black 63. Black 93 then gave him an edge, but the middle game centred on a confusing trade so it was not really clear that White was losing until Cho played the slack move 132. (Cho also regretted White 60 and said 88 should be at 91.) O was able to coast at the end but did not feel home and dry until after Black 163.
Black's victory also brought the freak run of nine White wins to an end.
Game 6 will be in Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, on 8 March.
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Older News From 17 February 2000: EVEN CHO NODS
The venue may have been traditional - the Suimeikan inn in Gero Spa - but the opening of Game 4 of the 24th Kisei final on 16 February 2000 looked more like something from a late-night session on the internet. Cho Chikun, holding a 2-1 lead, got the better of yet another game that O Rissei managed to turn into a rumbustious side and centre fight. By move 123 O was looking for an honourable way to resign, when suddenly Cho slipped up in a life-and-death fight and played 125 instead of 126.
O's reprieve turned into a rout and Cho lost by 12.5 points. This appears to be the biggest counted loss of his pro career -
the only worse one being an insei game against Kobayashi Koichi in 1961. Whether the record books eventually confirm this or not, it is clearly a disaster or proportions not familiar to Cho - at least on the receiving end - and it will be intriguing to see what effect it has on him in Game 5. At least he will have the "advantage" of White there - the run of White victories in the Kisei finals has now stretched to nine.
The venue shifts to Oshima-cho in Yamaguchi Prefecture for Game 5 on 23 February.
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Older News From February 3: WHITE STREAK
Cho Chikun made it eight wins in a row for White in Kisei finals when he won Game 3 of the 24th term in Hiratsuka City on 2 and 3 February 2000. After a slow-paced start to the game, Challenger O Rissei 9-dan ended Day 1 believing he was in a reasonable position.
But the attack he started with the cap at 71 backfired on him in the centre fighting and he capitulated after 194 moves. Cho characteristically played the latter half of the game in byoyomi.
The venue shifts to Gifu Prefecture for Game 4 on 16 February
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Older News From January 27 1999:
BACK TO ALL SQUARE
O Rissei 9-dan kept his challenge on an even keel when he tied the 11th Kisei match at 1-1 on 26-27 January 2000. Playing at the novel venue of Shizukuishi-cho in Iwate Prefecture, he won in 180 moves.
The venue for Game 3 on 2 February is Hotel Sunlife Garden in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, home of the late but legendary Kitani Minoru. Cho was a live-in pupil of Kitani, so wll be in familiar territory. In recent years Hiratsuka has made great efforts to exploit its go heritage, with events such as huge (as in HUGE) open-air go events in the city centre for the public, attended by hordes of pros - mostly Kitani's pupils. We can expect something special from Hiratsuka - can O Rissei match it?
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Older News From 14 January 2000:
CHO DRAWS FIRST BLOOD
Cho Chikun 9-dan fended off the first attempt of the challenger in the final of the 24th Kisei - the last before it takes on its new format. Playing O Rissei 9-dan in Nago City, Okinawa, he let him take all four corners in return for frail-looking moyos. But the consensus among the attendant pros was that he played a splendid game.
When O, as Black, tried to pull out his lone stone 29 from this moyo, he got into trouble. But it survived, and at that stage Cho was pessimistic. The next phase began when Black attempted to erase the moyo on the other side with 67. Cho had a superb move in reserve at White 74, and this gave him the upper hand in the centre.
For Game 2, the players switch to the opposite end of Japan and play in Shizukuishi-cho in Iwate Prefecture.
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Older News From 23 December 1999
KISEI TO BE REVAMPED
The format of the Kisei is to change from its highly complicated knockout in Term 25 in the year 2000. The final will remain a best-of-seven but the challenger will now come from a less complicated, but still not straightforward, league system. The winner will also be substantially better off.
The sponsors, Yomiuri Shinbun, believe the present format, which has the distinctive feature of championships at each dan level, no longer matches the reality of young players being stronger than their dan grades suggest. Dan grades have to be earned over long periods of time, but games fees in most tournaments are tied to these grades. The young stars are thus effectively penalised.
There is also concern that there are too many 9-dans and the original concept of a pyramid structure (or at least a two-tier structure with a majority of low-dans and fewer high-dans) has been lost. In the 1st Kisei there were 16 1-dans, 48 5-dans and 34 9-dans. Last event (Term 24) there were 17 1-dans, 54 5-dans and 91 9-dans.
This may now create pressure for a reform of the grading system itself. Though unspoken when the Yomiuri first made its proposal to the Nihon Ki-in in October (it was confirmed in mid-November), there is probably also an undercurrent of concern that the present system is holding back Japan's youngest players in their rivalry against the precocious talent from Korea and China. It should also be noted that the Yomiuri has been a trailblazer in Japanese go throughout most of the 20th century.
The new structure will be built as follows. In the first preliminary, all pros will be divided into four groups based on dan grades, with separate qualification for the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in. Winners of each group go to a final preliminary. In the case of the Nihon Ki-in, two places are allocated from the group of 1-dans to 4-dans (currently about 90 players). 6 places are allocated from the group of 5- and 6-dans (98 players). 7 places are allocated from the group of 7- and 8-dans (83 players), and 9 from the group of 9-dans (68 players).
These 24 qualifiers from the Nihon Ki-in are joined in the Final Preliminary by 8 players from the Kansai Ki-in and, as seeds, the Meijin, Honinbo, Judan, Tengen, Oza and World Champions, plus players demoted from the previous league (obviously none in the first new term). The 11 (initially) top players from this event go into the League where they are joined by the loser of the last final.
This league of 12 players is divided into two groups of six (A and B). The winners of each group will play off in a single game to decide the next challenger. In the event of ties, players' grades will be used in the first new term, but thereafter ties will be broken according to results in the previous term. The bottom two players in each group will be demoted.
The winner's prize in term 25 will be increased from 33 million yen to 42 million. There is a catch, however. The Japanese go world has long been used to prize money and substantial game fees, related to the stage of the tournament and/or dan grade. In the case of the Kisei, the title holder was given 9 million yen game fees for the best-of-seven final. These game fees will now be dropped. Pressure to do this has apparently come from the practice of the world championships and other sports. It looks better for the sponsor to be able to quote a high winners' prize, as the game fees are never mentioned in reports.
In 2000, the Yomiuri will be vying for attention not just from the annual Korean international championships, but also from the quadrennial Ing Cup, the richest event on the circuit.
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Older News From 6 December 1999 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
The schedule for the best-of-seven final of the 24th Kisei in 2000 has been announced.
Game 1: 12, 13 January in Okinawa
Game 2: 26, 27 January in Iwate
Game 3: 2,3 February in Kanagawa
Game 4: 16, 17 February in Gifu
Game 5: 23, 24 February in Yamaguchi
Game 6: 8, 9 March in Ehime
Game 7: 15, 16 March, venue to be decided
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Older News From 1 November 1999 O RISSEI TO CHALLENGE FOR 24th KISEI TITLE
O Rissei 9-dan made redundant the third game of best-of-three final to decide the challenger to holder Cho Chikun.
He defeated Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan without counting
on 21 October. It will be
his first challenge for the Kisei title.
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Older
News From 20 October 1999:
O RISSEI DRAWS FIRST BLOOD IN 24th KISEI CHALLENGERSHIP
O Rissei 9-dan has won the first game of the best-of-three final to decide the challenger to holder Cho Chikun. He defeated Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan without counting on 14 October at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo.
O is Taiwanese but transferred to Japan in 1971 at age 13 to become a pro. His name is Wang Licheng in Chinese.
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Older News From 17 October 1999: 24th KISEI CHALLENGER: HIKOSAKA OR O RISSEI?
This complex tournament - the major event in the Japanese calendar -
has reached the end of final qualification stage, Strongest Players Challenge.
Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan will meet O Rissei 9-dan in a best-of-three to see who
challenges holder Cho Chikun 9-dan. Hikosaka defeated in-form and Honorary
Kisei Kobayashi Koichi on 23 September. Whoever wins, we are sure of a new face
in the title match.
KISEI ARCHIVES
The Kisei tournament is sponsored by the newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun,
which does not have the oldest pedigree in go sponsorship but
certainly the grandest.
Top prize is 33 million yen.
The title holder is challenged in January-March by a challenger who
is the winner of a complex year-long qualification system designed
to give lower ranked players their moments of glory. (The winner
also became the title holder in the first term.)
Players at each of the nine dan grades play a knockout among
themselves. The number of rounds obviously varies but is usually six or
seven. The winners of the 1- to 6-dan events and the runners-up in the
7- and 8-dan events then join together in another knockout tournament.
(This stage has been handled differently in the past. The 1-dan winner
played the 2-dan winner; the winner of that game played the 3-dan
winner, and so on up the chain. This was called the Paramas system.)
The winner of this knockout, the top places in the 9-dan events and
the 8-dan and 7-dan winners go forward to yet another knockout where
they join various seeds - winners of other major tournaments and the
former Kisei and challenger.
The composition of the seeds depends on who
holds which title, but as an example, the 23rd Kisei featured the
Fujitsu, Oza, Judan and Tengen champions.
The semi-finalists of this knockout, called the Strongest Players
Challenge, play a best-of-three final to determine the challenger.
In the final (best-of seven) each player has 8 hours thinking time over
two days. Each game of the final is played in a different city.
In all other games thinking time is 5 hours each. Komi has always been
5.5 points.
The word Kisei means Go Sage and has traditionally been regarded as
a supreme accolade for a go player. It goes back almost 2,000 years to
Han times in China (as Qisheng; Korean: Kiseong).
In Japan the first Kisei was Honinbo Dosaku
(1645-1702). Honinbo Jowa (1787-1847) was regarded as a
Go Sage by some, but lost the accolade when his
political shenanigans were exposed. Honinbo Shusaku
(1829- 1862) is currently ranked with Dosaku as the only
two historical Go Sages.
