CHINEN DEFENDS HER TITLE
Moving into a higher gear, Chinen Kaori 3-dan retained her Women's Honinbo title against Kobayashi Izumi 4-dan in a series of games that left an impression of majestic fighting. It took her just 133 moves to win Game 4 of the 18th term and to seal a third successive triumph in this event.
The venue for this game is a revival of an old practice of playing in the sponsor's premises. Playing in hotels owned by the sponsor's group is, of course, old hat, but actually playing in the headquarters building goes back to the days of the spectacular Yomiuri Shinbun games involving the likes of Go Seigen.
Chinen and Kobayashi played on the 9th floor of the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Building, above the office floors and well away from the noise of Tokyo's traffic. This floor has two traditonal tea rooms, the Ginsho-an and the Anbun-an. The latter was used for the game.
But it is rare for women nowadays to don the traditonal kimono for these games, though it is still de rigueur for ceremonies and festivals, and another sign of the times is that no longer is there a cameraman and reporter. Nowadays the reporter carries a video camera in one hand and sticks a microphone into the face of the winner (who gives variations on the theme of "I was lucky) with the other. There is a no colour. Ah, ou sont les neiges d'antan?
Actually Kobayashi turned up for the last game looking very pale. Observers have commented that for the entire match she has not been her usual sharp self, losing concentration as the game wore on. Perhaps the burden of public expections after the way she scythed through the ranks of the male 9-dans earlier this year is taking its toll. That's another untraditional aspect of modern go in Japan - the women, despite their lowly ranks, are winning the headlines and media attention.
The final game of the final in sgf format can be downloaded by clicking here.
One of the decisive moves in this game was White 44. It was criticised by referee Ishii Kunio 9-dan as merely a territorial move, and one that Izumi would be chided for by her father Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan (though no-one loves territory more than he). Ishii recommended 44
at 59, forcing Black to defend in the left centre, then jumping two points to the left of 26, thus making sense of the forcing move 30. The feeling in the press room wa not that Kobayashi had fallen behind with 44 (indeed, it is worth some 20 points), but that she had lost the rhythm of the game.
*****
Older News From 1 November
1999:
CHINEN KEEPS THE SEESAW GOING IN THE WOMEN'S HONINBO
Having won the first game of the 18th Women's Honinbo and losing the second, Chinen Kaori 3-dan kept her end of the seesaw up by wiining Game 3 on 27 October in Tokyo.
These seesaw games are energetic. Having lost the last game by 9.5 points, she went one better and won by a massive 10.5 points at the sponsor's Asagasumi-so hotel in the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance building.6
The next game in the best-of-five is on 17 November.
*****
Older News From 20 October 1999:
KOBAYASHI PULLS BACK TO ALL SQUARE IN THE WOMEN'S HONINBO
After a recent dip in form - perhaps the aftermath of coming to terms with giant-killing feats in beating three 9-dans - young star Kobayashi Izumi 4-dan has come good again by tying the 18th Women's Honinbo final at 1-1. Even so, she had to come from behind to do it.
On 14 October, playing in the International Exchange Centre in Fukui City on the Japan Sea side of the country - not a common venue for title matches - Kobayashi won by the handsome margin of 9.5 points against holder Chinen Kaori 3-dan.
The large margin was because of an oversight in the endgame by Chinen. Chinen is hugely popular, but any female is finding it hard to compete with Kobayashi in the public's hearts at the moment.
Kobayashi, born in 1977, is the daughter of Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan and mother Reiko 6-dan. Reiko sensei died of cancer in 1996 after refusing surgery on religious grounds, and she was a great loss not just to Japanese fans but to many foreigners who were taught by her at her father's club in Tokyo - she was the daughter of Kitani Minoru, one of the all time greats.
Kobayashi Koichi kept his wife's illness a secret and went through a spell of bad form towards the end, which was only explained after Reiko's premature death. He published a collection of their letters and memoirs of their life together.
With such a background, Izumi clearly wins the sympathy vote. But she is a ferocious competitor in her won right, having inherited her father's attitude to study. He once is supposed to have remarked, though the story is also attributed to other pros, that he must be getting lazy because the nail on his right forefinger (used to grip the go stones) was growing.
Chinen, incidentally, is married to Yo Kagen 8-dan. Go marriages are very common. October is the marriage season in Japan, so we look forward to new pairings being announced soon.
Game 3 of the final was due to be played on 27 October in Tokyo.
HOW DOES THE WOMEN'S HONINBO
TOURNAMENT WORK?
This tournament was originally simply called the Women's Championship (or more fully, the All-Japan Women's Go Championship) but became the Women's Honinbo in 1982. These could easily be treated as two separate events, but they are usually grouped together.
The original sponsor of the Women's Championship was the Tokyo Times. Kyodo News Agency took over in 1982 and renamed it the Women's Honinbo, but Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance joined them from Term 14 inclusive and the name changed yet again to the Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Cup Women's Honinbo.
In addition, 14 (used to be 15) regional newspapers subscribe to the games. It is not only the oldest annual women's tournament, but is also one of the oldest in the whole professional calendar. It is also the most prestigious and richest women's event.
Top prize is 5.1 million yen. The losing finalist gets almost a third of that.
The event is open to all female pros in the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in. The format has changed over the years, not just because of the changes in sponsorship but as the number of females pros has grown.
Term 1 was a one-game final. In the following terms the holder was challenged to a best-of three final in April by the winner of a four-player league. The bottom three players dropped out and were replaced by the winners of three parallel preliminary knockouts.
Nowadays, all players up to 4-dan compete in a preliminary knockout to win places not filled by seeds (5-dans and above plus previous year's top performers) in the final knockout of 16 players. The winner plays a best-of-five title match with the holder in October.
Time limits were 6 hours each in the early days but are now 4 hours each with one minute per move overtime. Komi is now 5.5 points but was 4.5 points up to 1974 inclusive (Term 20 of the Women's Championship).
The Honinbo title is the oldest in Japan. Originally it was the priestly name of a Buddhist monk Nikkai, from his abode in the Jakkoji temple in Kyoto. He was later (1605) known as Honinbo Sansa and was appointed the first Meijin by the Shogun in 1612.
The successive heads of the school he founded took the title of Honinbo until the 21st and last hereditary holder, Shusai, surrendered it to the Nihon Ki-in for an annual event. The main Honinbo for men and, technically, women began in 1941. The women's own event with this name began in 1982.
To see a list of past Women's Honinbo Winners click here.
FAMOUS MOMENTS
In Game 4 of the final of this event in 1997, as Chinen Kaori was expecting her first baby any day, she and challenger Yoshida Mika sat on chairs. This invoked huge press coverage.
To download this game in sgf format, right-click here and choose to save the link on your machine.
