The dismal form of Kobayashi Izumi 4-dan in title games continued as she crashed 2-0 to titleholder Aoki Kikuyo 7-dan in the 12th Women's Meijin. Aoki won Game 1 on 1 March in the Hotel Edmond, Iidabashi in Tokyo (site of several IGS-broadcast games), forcing a quick resignation in 117 moves.
In Game 2, on 8 March at the Nihon Ki-in, Kobayashi spun the game out to 226 moves but the result was the same.
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Older News From 19 February 2000: ANOTHER KOBAYASHI CHALLENGE
If there is one thing title holders dread in Japan, it is hearing that the name of the challenger is Kobayashi. The men have long been used to this in the form of Koichi 9-dan, but now the women keep hearing the name Kobayashi Izumi 4-dan, his daughter. She has just won the right to face Aoki Kikuyo 7-dan in the 12th Women's Meijin. The three-game title match starts on 1 March 2000, with Games 2 and 3 scheduled for 8 and 15 March.
Kobayashi beat Komatsu Hideko 3-dan, wife of Komatsu Hideki 9-dan, on 2 February after winning the Losers' Section final against Koyama Mitsuru. Komatsu was, incidentally, the first 1-dan to beat a 9-dan in an even game, way back in 1988 when she was still Ninomiya Hideko.
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Older News From 19 December 1999: FINAL DRAWS NEAR
The battle to challenge Aoki Kikuyo 7-dan in the 12th Women's Meijin is drawing to a climax, but one thing is clear: it pays to think small. Unusually, all three final contenders have names beginning with Ko- (small). That has only happened because Nishida Terumi has now opted to use the name of her husband (Koyama Ryugo 5-dan) - and has also changed her own name to Mitsuru.
She has to overcome Kobyashi Izumi in the final of the Winners' Section. Whoever wins that has to play Komatsu Hideko to decide the challenger.
Formerly more fully known as the All-Japan Women's Go Meijin Tournament, this event has always been sponsored by the evening newspaper Yukan Fuji, now joined by NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation).
Winner's prize money is 4.5 million yen. Runner-up gets 900,000 yen.
The current structure is based on the repechage system of the Judan. The main section begins with a 16-player knockout (the Winners' Section), but the losers cross over to a parallel Losers' Section knockout. The level at which they enter depends on the level at which they were knocked out of the Winners' Section. The winners of the two section eventually play off to decide who challenges the title holder in a best-of-three final. With one exception, a player thus drops out only once he has lost two games. The exception is the winner of the Winners' Section. If loses the play off against the winner of the Losers' Section, he gets no second chance.
All those who win two or more games in the main section retain their places the following year. The other eight players drop back to the qualifying stage.
The event is open to all pros from the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in. Amateurs have also been allowed to join in the qualification stage. This was the first event in Japan to allow amateurs and pros to play together.
The final parts of Terms 1 and 2 were run on a four-round Swiss system for eight players, with ties decided by sum of opponents' scores. This was the first time a Swiss had been used in Japan.
Time limits are 5 hours each. Komi is 5.5 points.
This event was preceded briefly by another event also called Women's Meijin, sponsored by NTV in 1973 and 1975. It was a 16-player knockout with time limits of 2 minutes then 30 seconds a move. Komi was 5.5.
Meijin 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. As a woman's title, however, it has no special history beyond this tournament. There are equivalent women's tournaments in Korea (Myeongin) and China (Mingren).
