Yoda Norimoto 9-dan secured his third consecutive NHK Cup title by winning the 47th term against Imamura Toshiya 9-dan on 26 March by 7.5 points. Winning back-to-back titles is relatively rare in events like this, where the previous winner is not seeded into the final, but Yoda is something of a quick-play specialist.
Click here for the final game between Yoda and Imamura in downloadable sgf format.
In the semi-finals Yoda beat Kiyonari Tetsuya 9-dan and Imamura beat Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan.
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Older News From 25 March 2000: NHK CUP AT SEMI-FINAL STAGE
The wheels turn slowly, but the 47th NHK Cup has at long last come down to the semi-final stage. Holder Yoda Norimoto 9-dan will play Kiyonari Tetsuya 9-dan, while Imamura Toshiya 9-dan is pitted against Ryu Shikun 7-dan. Kiyonari earned his entry as top-ranking prize winner from the Kansai Ki-in, and he was the last to qualify for the last four when he beat Hokosaka Naoto 9-dan. Hikosaka is rated as one of the best in the business as counting games, but in this case boobed in assessing the value of a ponnuki capture.
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Older News from 10 October 1999: The NHK Cup
The 47th NHK Cup is still in its early stages. The current holder is Yoda Norimoto 9-dan. As one of the seeds, he has yet to play.
HOW DOES THE NHK CUP WORK?
The NHK Cup is a year-long lightning tournament sponsored by the government-owned broadcasters NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai). It was the first tournament to be broadcast by radio, then - from Term 10 in 1963 - by television. It now appears on Sunday afternoons in a two-hour programme, the first part of which is a go lecture.
Top prize is 4 million yen. The losing finalist gets 800,000 yen.
In the early days of radio eight players of 8-dan and above played a knockout. The previous winner was not seeded. This developed into a 16-player knockout with places decided by seeding based on a popular vote.
Nowadays, 50 players are selected from the major title winners (including the NHK Cup holder and the women's title holders) and the top money winners in the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in. The 14 top title holders and others are seeded.
The unseeded players play in Round 1 (18 games). The 18 winners and the 14 seeds then play a normal knockout culminating in a single-game final. The games are all televised. The final is in March or April.
Time limits have varied over the years. In the days of radio, one format was for each player to have 25 minutes each with 30 seconds a move overtime, giving a 90-minute transmission. Another format was 15 seconds a move with the option for each player to take 3 minutes on any three moves. Later, in television days, the format switched to 10 minutes each with 30 seconds overtime.
