Yoda Norimoto 9-dan is the new Meijin, in the process wreaking the first ever 4-0 drubbing in a title match on holder Cho Chikun 9-dan.
New Meijin Yoda smiles at last
Game 4 took place in Takasaki City - celebrating the centenary of its founding by hosting its first ever title game - on 11 and 12 October 2000, and left poor Cho without a crown. This time last year he had the big three - Kisei, Meijin and Honinbo.
The game began in dour fashion, Cho in particular feeling as if he was walking on eggs. Only 29 moves were played on Day 1, Cho's sealed move occupying 66 minutes. He had already spent 38 minutes on Black 17 and 45 minutes on move 27.
The sealed move was no surprise in the press room when it was revealed by the referee, 80-year-old legend Sakata Eio, but the same crawling pace was sustained. The longest think of the game was by Yoda on move 34 (79 minutes), to which Cho responded with 63 minutes on move 35. Only 10 new moves were played before lunch on Day 2.
When the resignation came, with Cho facing a multi-step ko, he had just one minute left to Yoda's 17. It was not the first time in this series that Cho began with a reasonable game only to see it slip away. At age 44 he may be suffering what some observers in Japan have called "metal fatigue".
I was able, through the kindness of Jan van der Steen and his wife Kishiko, to go behind the scenes of Game 1 of the 25th Meijin title match at the Hotel Okura, in Amsterdam in September 2000. Click here for the behind the scenes action.
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Older News From 2 October 2000: YODA 3-0 UP BUT FACES THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY
Yoda Norimoto 9-dan moved into a 3-0 lead by winning Game 3 of the 25th Meijin 27 and 28 September 2000 against holder Cho Chikun. But while such a lead looks almost unassailable in a best-of-seven series, the weight of history favours Cho.
On four previous occasions a best-of-seven has started 3-0 only to end 3-4, and on two of those historic occasions it was Cho who ended up triumphant. There does not seem to be an instance of 3-0, 3-3, 4-3.
The first occasion was in 1973 in the 12th Old Meijin when Rin Kaiho came from behind to edge out Ishida Yoshio. The first time for Cho was in the 7th Kisei in 1983 when he overcame Fujisawa Hideyuki. A few months later, however, Cho was on the receiving end against Rin Kaiho in the 38th Honinbo. But Cho repeated his feat in 1992 when he came back against Kobayashi Koichi in the 1992 Honinbo.
Now, however, not only is Cho older and facing a much younger opponent, but there are suggestions that he is still suffering the after effects of his car accident at the end of 1985 (he was hit by a speeding car when he went to help the victim of a previous accident). Otherwise inexplicable early resignations, it seems, may be the result of blackouts at the board by Cho.
This Game 3 was played in the Karakuan Room on the 7th floor of the Miyako Hotel in the Higashiyama Ward of Kyoto. Cho began with a relatively rare Chinese fuseki for White, showing - according to commentator Yamada Kimio 8-dan - that he was opting for a territorial game as a way of ensuring victory. Yoda decided to match his intent with 7, but came out of the opening with (he thought) a disadvantage, despite spending an incredible 2 hours 4 minutes out of his allotted 8 hours on move 29.
Cho slipped up, by his own estimation, with move 50, which should have been at 55, and instead of attacking, as planned, he ended up being attacked. At the end Cho was down to his last minute, whereas Yoda had 6 minutes left.
Game 4 will be on 11 October at the Hotel Metropole in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture.
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Older News From 22 September 2000:
YODA MOVES INTO 2-0 LEAD
Yoda Norimoto 9-dan probably surprised even his optimistic self by moving into a 2-0 lead in the 25th Meijin final against holder Cho Chikun 9-dan.
Game 2 was held on the 15th floor of the RIHGA Royal Hotel Kokura in Kitakyushu City on 20 and 21 September (why always so high in these modern hotel venues?). It began in spectacular fashion when Cho, after five minutes thought, played on the 5-3 point for his first move.
Yoda Norimoto 9-dan at the board
He followed this up with a conventional looking move 3, but commentator Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan said this was a "very rare formation" (which is Japanese for "never seen it in my whole life"). Sensing that Cho was challenging him to a taisha opening, Yoda took up the challenge and, sure enough, Cho did play the
taisha press 5, but only after 49 minutes thought.
As expected, after lunch, Cho had a novelty up his sleeve in Black 21. The outcome could only be judged, according to Kobayashi, by how much territory Black could get in the centre.
Move 50 was the sealed move on Day 1, but everyone predicted it. Even so, Yoda spent 64 minutes on it.
The size of Black's centre also became the crucial factor in evaluating the subsequent fighting in the lower left, but (apparently sensing he was falling behind), Cho went for a ko fight. Yoda skilfully let him use up his ko threats there, then gave in for that ko only to start another, for which Cho had no threats.
Older News From 9 September 2000: YODA'S DEFIES THE PUNDITS TO GO AHEAD
Yoda Norimoto 9-dan comfortably won the first game of the 25th Meijin final on 6 September 2000, after making what commentator Takemiya Masaki 9-dan condemned as an "unnatural move" (Black 49), and after referee Ishida Yoshio had predicted a half-point game.
But Yoda was aided by an error by holder Cho Chikun 9-dan, but it was subtle enough not to be discovered immediately in the post-game analysis.
The event was held, as it was in 1992, in the Hotel Okura, Amsterdam. Go editor John Fairbairn was allowed special access and on his return will file an exclusive behind-the-scenes report together with more detailed coverage of the game itself (moves given here for the time being), including a complete record of the times taken for each move. Watch this space.
Game 2 is scheduled for the 20 September at the RIHGA Royal Hotel Kokura in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture (Kokura is the old, and still used, name for Kitakyushu).
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Older News From 8 August 2000: RESIGNED BUT VICTORIOUS
Yoda Norimoto 9-dan has won the playoff to decide to faces Cho Chikun 9-dan in the final of the 25th Meijin. He defeated O Meien 9-dan, long-time front runner in the league, on 7 August 2000 by just 2.5 points in a long and tense game of 247 moves.
When it was over, Yoda said, "I just feel exhausted. I am no longer winning games because of my own efforts, and I half felt like giving up, but I had the luck." Unusually for him, as a go media star, he refused to be drawn on his hopes for the best-of-seven final: "I can't think about anything now, no words will come..." Perhaps, however, he was recalling his 4-1 drubbing last year at Cho's hands in his first challenge for the Meijin. Cho has won the title for the last four years and is determined to hold on to it long term now that he has lost his 10-year hold on the Honinbo title.
Game 1 is on 6-7 September in the Hotel Okura, Amsterdam. That may give Yoda some hope. On his last visit to Amsterdam, for Game 1 of the 20th Kisei in 1996, Cho sensationally resigned after just 85 moves, giving a strong impression of having no appetite for the game. He seems to be a poor traveller and has never performed really well in international events, whereas Yoda is an excellent traveller and is Japan's best performer overseas. Although it is only his second challenge for the Meijin title, he is a veteran in the League, being the youngest ever entrant at age 18 and he has kept his place for the past 11 years.
Of the other pros visiting Amsterdam, Ishida Yoshio 9-dan will also stay on for the Obayashi Cup soon after.
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Older News From 4 August 2000:
Final positions in 25th League as of 3 August 2000
After one of the tensest finishes for years we still don't know who will join Cho Chikun for the first game of the Meijin in Amsterdam in early September. O Meien fluffed his chance of a guaranteed first place by losing to Kato on 3 August, while Yoda came up on the rails with victory over Hane. Yoda and O will therefore playoff on 7 August.
We miscounted in the last report and demoted Ryu Shikun prematurely and said Kobayashi survived. In fact Kobayashi leaves the Meijin League (or higher) after 21 years, during which time he won the title eight times. Even now he holds the Judan, Tengen, Gosei and Hayago titles.
Y
K
R
O
K
T
O
I
H
1
Yoda Norimoto 9d
-
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
=
6-2
2
Kobayashi Koichi 9d
0
-
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
=
3-5
3
Ryu Shikun 7d
0
1
-
0
0
1
1
1
0
=
4-4
4
O Rissei 9d
1
1
1
-
0
1
0
1
0
=
5-3
5
Kato Masao 9d
0
0
1
1
-
0
1
1
0
=
4-4
6
Takemiya Masaki 9d
0
0
0
0
1
-
0
1
0
=
2-6
7
O Meien 9d
1
1
0
1
0
1
-
1
1
=
6-2
7
Imamura Yoshiaki 8d
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
-
0
=
1-7
7
Hane Naoki 7d
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
-
=
5-3
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Older News From 23 July 2000:
25th League as of 17 July 2000
It's all the luck of the draw, but it's strange how the tension is being maintained down to the very last games. It is still a three-horse race at present, but O Meien has his nose in front, and is showing his Honinbo challenge was no fluke. If new Honinbo O Meien slips up in his last game, either Yoda and Hane - who have to play each other - will take him to a playoff to see who challenges Cho Chikun for the title.
Kobayashi Kolichi survives demotion by the skin of his teeth (based on previous league ranking) but Ryu, Kato, Takemiya and Imamura will have to rejoin the qualifying herd next year.
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Older News From 27 June 2000:
25th League as of 26 June 2000
It's a three-horse race at present, but O Meien has his nose in front, and is showing his Honinbo challenge was no fluke.
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Older News From 22 May 2000: Takemiya can kiss the Meijin League goodbye next year - maybe he needs to come back to earth occasionally. Imamura has also managed top get himself demoted from the league already, but the other new boys are going great guns: apart from great results here, Hane Naoki is enjoying recent promotion to 8-dan and O Meien is now in the title-winner class.
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Older News From 25 March 2000:
Takemiya has probably managed to get himself demoted already, but the bright start of new boy Hane Naoki is to be noted, too. Takemiya has a new book out called "How to win with White." Maybe he should read it.
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Older News From 5 January 2000: 25th MEIJIN LEAGUE KICKS OFF
The Nagoya-based Central branch of the Nihon Ki-in is crowing at the moment. To add to recent successes it now has two new faces into the year-long 25th Meijin League. Hane Naoki, 23, son of Hane Yasumasa 9-dan, has already been making a name for himself over the past year, and now has a double celebration to go with his league membership - he has just married Matsuoka Shigeko 1-dan.
The other new face will be totally new to most westerners. He is Imamura Yoshiaki 8-dan, born in 1968 in Hiroshima. He has had some tournament successes. He won the 5-dan section of the Kisei in 1989, and was runner-up in the 7-dan section in 1994.
There are three new entrants to the League each year. They come from the winners of three preliminary knockouts. The third was O Meien.
Despite the similarity of the names, he is not related to O Rissei, though his two brothers Tei Meiki and Tei Meiko are pros (all are Taiwan born). He is currently campaigning for international standardisation of the rules of go.
The Meijin tournament is now sponsored by the newspaper Asahi Shinbun. It was previously sponsored by the Yomiuri Shinbun, but after a dispute with the Nihon Ki-in over funding, the Yomiuri switched to the Kisei tournament and their version of the Meijin, which ran from 1962 to 1975 - when it was the most important tournament - is now referred to as the Old Meijin.
Top prize is 28 million yen.
The title holder is challenged each Autumn by a challenger who is the winner of a nine-man all-play-all league. The bottom three in the league are demoted. Entry to the league is via preliminary tournaments held in three stages. The Third Preliminary comprises three separate knockouts, and the winners of each take one of the vacant league places.
Ties for first place are resolved by a playoff (between the two top ranking players if there are more than two tied). Ties for demotion places are decided according to previous performances in the tournament.
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 Meijin (Mingren in Chinese, Myeongin in Korean) derives from Chinese and denotes a Master of something esoteric, such as medicine. In go it was famously first applied to Honinbo Sansa by the military ruler Oda Nobunaga at the end of the 16th century. Since then it became the lifetime title of the senior player of the age, and was equivalent to 9-dan. The last lifetime Meijin was Honinbo Shusai who died in 1940 after bequeathing his titles to the Nihon Ki-in. The first 9-dan who was not a Meijin emerged in 1949 (Fujisawa Kuranosuke).
Honinbo Shusai is the subject of the novel "Meijin" by Nobel prize winner Kawabata Yasunari (translated by Edward Seidensticker as "The Master of Go"). It is a slightly fictionalised account of Shusai's famous last game against young star Kitani Minoru. It can be seen as an elegiac comment on the passing of the old ways in Japan.
The format of the tournament sponsored by the newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun was similar but the komi was 5 points, White winning jigo (ties). A win by jigo was classed as less than other wins, and this affected the outcome of the first term which was decided by a 13-man league.
