The Kansai Ki-in pair of Yoshida Mika 6-dan and Tono Hiroaki 9-dan kept tradition alive and won the 6th Ricoh Cup for the Osaka region yet again. Fittingly the final took place in Osaka's IMP Hall, where they beat the hybrid pair Yamada Kimio 7-dan (Osaka) and Hosaka Mayu 2-dan (Tokyo).
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Older News From 3rd January 2000: KANSAI KI-IN HAS FIRM GRIP ON RICOH
The exceptional performance of Kansai Ki-in players in the Ricoh Pair Go Championship continues, with Yoshida Mika 6-dan and Tono Hiroaki 9-dan making their way to the final of the 6th annual event. They will be joined in the final, which takes place in Osaka on 8 January 2000, by Hosaka Mayu 2-dan and Yamada Kimio 7-dan.
The winners of the last two terms, Honda Kunihisa 9d & Aoki Kikuyo 7d, did not take part because of a regulation barring successive winners.
Repechage Round (11 December 1999, Tokyo)
Umezawa Yukari & Kataoka Satoshi 1-0 Aoki Kikuyo & Kobayashi Satoru
Chinen Kaori & Rin Kaiho 1-0 Koyama Mitsuru & Yoda Norimoto
Hosaka Mayu & Yamada Kimio 1-0 Inori Yoko & O Rissei
Yoshida Mika & Tono Hiroaki 1-0 Osawa Narumi & Takemiya Masaki
Round 3 (18 December 1999, Tokyo)
Umezawa Yukari & Kataoka Satoshi 1-0 Kobayashi Chizu & Honda Kunihisa
Hosaka Mayu & Yamada Kimio 1-0 Nakazawa Ayako & Hikosaka Naoto
Yoshida Mika & Tono Hiroaki 1-0 Kato Tomoko & Ryu Shikun
Chinen Kaori & Rin Kaiho 1-0 Kobayashi Izumi & Kobayashi Koichi
Semi-finals (18 December 1999, Tokyo)
Hosaka Mayu & Yamada Kimio 1-0 Umezawa Yukari & Kataoka Satoshi
Yoshida Mika & Tono Hiroaki 1-0 Chinen Kaori & Rin Kaiho
HOW DOES THE RICOH CHAMPIONSHIP WORK?
This unique event in the pro scene has been taken over from the amateur world, where it is quickly increasing in popularity, acquiring a social atmosphere rather similar to that of bridge and whist drives in the west. It is sponsored by Ricoh Co. Ltd., office automation manufacturers, with support from the Yomiuri Shimbun under the umbrella of the Japan Pair Go Association, which is the main force in the amateur world. The event is also supported by the Nihon Ki-in, the Kansai Ki-in, the magazine Go Weekly (Shukan Go). Since 1999 games are also being broadcast on the IGS go server. Pictures of current participants can be found at http://www.joy.ne.jp/RICOH.
Top prize is nominally 5 million yen, but at least part is given to charity (in Term 1, 3 million yen was given to help spread go in schools and the rest to the find for the Hanshin earthquake). The event is more a chance for the public to see top pros in action. In Term1, 800 members of the public paid to join the players in Tokyo's Ebisu Garden Place.
After a qualifying event, sixteen pairs of professionals (one male and one female) from the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in take part in a knockout. The pairs were formed freely in Terms 1 and 2, but since then have been formed on the basis of the qualifying event except that established pairs are retained.
Currently, all pairs play in both Rounds 1 and 2. Those who win two games pass to Round 3 (the main knockout). The eight pairs from Rounds 1 and 2 who have won just one game are given a second chance to play off and the winners also pass to Round 3. The last eight pairs play a straight knockout down to a single-game final. (Term 1 was a straight knockout throughout.)
Time limits are 30-seconds a move except that on up to 15 occasions per side it is possible to spend up to one minute instead.
The special rules of pair go are that the women in each team start, then play is in strict rotation (woman-man-woman-man). No conferring is allowed except to discuss the option of resigning. Mistakes in play order are subject to a 3-point penalty if the opponents point out the mistake before playing themselves.
