He may have lost the big title, but there's life in the old dog yet - Cho Chikun hit the winning trail again as he took the 20th NEC Cup on 10 March 2001. His victim, Kato Masao 9-dan, is another oldie who has gone back to the mental gym and is showing improved performance.
See also the 48th NHK Cup, played the day after, for another case of career revival.
The NEC final will be broadcast on TV Tokyo on 20 March.
They say ikken tobi is never bad, but this game is a remarkable example of the proverb. Of just 170 moves, 34 were ikken tobis (one-space jumps), and not surprisingly there were therefore a large number of peeps - 12. Adding to that the obvious connections that flow from these, around a third of this pro game was played with moves we can all make!
*****
Older news From 24 February 2001: CHO AND KATO TO CONTEST NEC CUP
In the second semi-final game of the 20th NEC Cup on 24 February 2001, Cho Chikun 9-dan got some sort of revenge over the man who stripped him of his Meijin title, Yoda Norimoto 9-dan.
Cho now goes on to contest the final against Kato Masao 9-dan, who beat Ryu Shikun 7-dan in the other semi on 27 January.
The final is scheduled for 10 March in Tokyo.
*****
Older News From 13 January 2001: NEC CUP SEMIS TAKE SHAPE
The 20th NEC Cup reached the semi-final stage on 16 December 2000 when Cho Chikun 9-dan knocked out Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan in Tokushima. Unless his ban is revoked this will presumably have been Kobayashi's last domestic game for a year.
Cho now faces Yoda Norimoto 9-dan, who earned his semi-final place by beating Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan in Niigata on 7 October.
The other semi is between Kato Masao 9-dan (victor in Nagasaki on 23 September over the Takao Shinji 7-dan, winner of last year's NEC Shun'ei Tournament - the Cup's junior partner) and Ryu Shikun 7-dan (victor over Cho Sonjin 9-dan in Yamaguchi on 18 November).
The first semi will be on 27 January 2001 in Kumamoto, and the second on 24 February in Osaka.
The special feature of the NEC Cup, a year-long lightning tournament, is the attempt of the sponsors (Nippon Denki; NEC is its global brand) to bring go to the public. The games are played in a different city every week, and form part of a public presentation that includes the junior NEC Shun'ei Cup.
Many of the games are played in the Melparque complexes, which are leisure resorts for customers of the Japanese National Savings Bank. The games in the regional cities are also broadcast on local television, whilst the final, which is always in Tokyo, is broadcast on Channel 12 Tokyo.
Top prize is 15 million yen, very large for a lightning tournament. Second prize is 3 million yen. The tournament is limited to the top 13 money winners of 7-dan and under, and up to age 25, in Japan. Ten play in the first round, and the five winners join the top three to produce an 8-player knockout. The final is in the Spring.
Time limits are 10 minutes each with overtime of 30 seconds a move. Komi has always been 5.5 points. Note: apart from the NEC Cup and the Shun'ei in Japan, NEC also sponsors tournaments in China, and international events between the two countries.
