YAMASHITA RETAINS SHINJIN-O TITLE
Yamashita Keigo 6-dan has joined the select band of up-and-coming players who have won the Shinjin-O title twice. He defeated Hane Naoki 7-dan (son of Hane Yasumasa 9-dan) 2-0, first in 189 moves on 20 September then again in 190 moves on 4 October.
Both games were played in the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo.Yamashita is from Hokkaido, an island that has produced a surprisingly large number of go professionals, and is a pupil of the amateur Kikuchi Yasuro. He is not the first of Kikuchi's pupils to make a splash, but at 21 (he reached 1-dan in 1993) he is on track to become the most successful. As a fully home-grown player, he will be keenly watched by Japanese fans.
Right click here to download the second game of the final.
*****
Older News From 4th October 1999:
THE NEXT YOUNG STAR?
Hane has been in splendid form recently, clocking up a 19-game winning streak from May to August until stopped by Nakano Hironari 9-dan. He carries the hopes of the Central (Nagoya) Branch of the Nihon Ki-in, which has not had a finalist in this event since Yamashiro in 1979. The
first game was due be held on Hane's home turf on 20 September, and that may give him an edge.
The special significance of this tournament is that the Japanese are desperately hunting for home-grown young talent to match the super-strong teenagers sprouting up in Korea and China. The Shinjin-O has a track record of finding future stars.
FINAL
KNOCKOUT RESULTS 1999
Preliminary playoffs
- Nakaonoda 1-0 Saito T.
- Kimu 1-0 Yamada T.
Round 1
- Kimu 1-0 Fujiwara
- Cho U 1-0 Nakao
- Han 1-0 Takahashi
- Sakakibara 1-0 Kobayashi I.
- Tahara 1-0 Fujii
- So 1-0 Arimura
- Yamashita 1-0 Sugimoto
- Takei 1-0 Katsuma
- Mimura 1-0 Nakano
- Takao 1-0 Kurotaki
- Ogaki 1-0 Nakamura S.
- Sasaka 1-0 Honda G.
- Shimojima 1-0 Takanashi
- Hane 1-0 Kono
- Ishida At. 1-0 Hasegawa H.
- Nakaonoda 1-0 Izumitani
Round 2
- Kimu 1-0 Cho
- Han 1-0 Sakakibara
- Tahara 1-0 So
- Yamashita 1-0 Takei
- Takao 1-0 Mimura
- Ogaki 1-0 Sasaka
- Hane 1-0 Shimojima
- Nakaonoda 1-0 Ishida
Quarter-finals
- Kimu 1-0 Han
- Yamashita 1-0 Tahara
- Takao 1-0 Ogaki
- Hane 1-0 Nakaonoda
Semi-finals
- Yamashita 1-0 Kimu
- Hane 1-0 Takao
HOW DOES THE SHINJIN-O TOURNAMENT WORK?
The Shinjin-O tournament is sponsored by the socialist newspaper Akahata (Red Flag).
The winner takes 2.6 million yen. The losing finalist gets 420,000 yen. The match fees for both is 580,000 yen. Game fees range from 30,000 yen in the early preliminaries for 1-dans to 174,000 yen in the semi-finals.
The title holder is not seeded. The event is open to all Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in who are 7-dan are below at the start of the tournament. In the Nihon Ki-in, two preliminary knockouts are held first. One is find the top players from 1-dan to 4-dan, and the other is to find the
top players from 5-dan to 7-dan. The Kansai Ki-in holds similar events.
This produces a total of 32 players, weighted in favour of the 5- to 7-dans and of the Nihon Ki-in. They are joined by the previous year's winner and losing. After a preliminary playoff between 4 of the players, a final knockout of 32 players is played.
The final is a best-of-three held in September-October. Normally all games are played in the Nihon Ki-in. Thinking time is 5 hours each in all games. Komi has always been 5.5 points.
The word Shinjin-O means King of the New Stars.
Click here for a list of SHINJIN-O FINALISTS.
