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Older News From 23 November 2000:
O IS ON THE LEVEL
O Rissei 9-dan levelled the score to 1-1 in the final of the 48th Oza when he defeated Cho Chikun 9-dan on 22 November 2000.
Further details as they come through.
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Older News From 11 November 2000:
DR CHO TREATS HIMSELF TO A WIN
We can now add the sgf file for Game 1 with a few additional details. Now that Cho has lost all his titles, he is under intense scrutiny as fans watch to see how he will react.
The pressure even got to Cho, apparently, for around move 12 he suddenly doubled up in pain. Unable to bear it any longer, he sent out someone from the hotel - this was the famous Jin'ya Japanese-style inn in Tsurumaki Spa, site of many title matches - to buy some stomach medicine. His instructions were to buy everything the shop had and he would choose whichever suited his symptons best according to what was on the label.
Japanese tournament go is ruthless in one respect - had Cho not played on he would have lost by default. No postponements are allowed. Referee Otake Hideo 9-dan dismissed it as an "occupational illness", saying he used to suffer it every Thurrday when he was young and had to play his Oteai game. A doctor told him he just had to grin and bear it.
Cho went on to win, of course, but the fuseki of this game was of some interest for Cho fans. Move 24 was perverse. Cho decided not to play the way the textbooks prescribe, that is to locate this stone one point higher so that he could be assured of a two-space extension to either side. The problem with that, for Cho, was that it allows the opponent to dictate where to play next. He therefore chose an odd location just to ensure that he kept control.
The attach-and-extend position produced by 31 and 33 in the lower right was also significant. This position had appeared very recently in Game 1 of the Women's Honinbo final, and a follow-up pincer to the right of 38 proved to be very big. Cho therefore decided to play in this area first himself, despite the urgency of a move on the upper side. After thinking for 2 hours 14 minutes out of his 5-hour allowance, he concluded that 34 was necessary and that 67 instead would have led to a quick loss.
For his part, O regretted 43. He should have played the usual move at 68 to stop White connecting up on the right. Allowing that made Cho's three-stone group on the centre-right safe and effectively justified Cho's perversity.
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Older News from 25 August 2000:
CHO TO CHALLENGE
The challengership for the 48th Oza drew to a close on 24 August 2000 when Cho Chikun 9-dan emerged victorious over Yoda Norimoto 9-dan in the challenge knockout final.
Yoda had earlier booked his final place on 17 August with victory over veteran Kudo Norio 9-dan, and in the other semi-final, on 29 June, Cho overcame Kato Masao 9-dan.
The title match between Cho and holder O Rissei 9-dan will begin on 23 October.
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Older News From 24 June 2000:
VETS STILL HOLDING FIRM
The march of the veterans in the 48th Oza continues, most notably 59-year-old Kudo Norio 9-dan. He beat Awaji Shuzo 9-dan by a comfortable 4.5 points on 15 June 2000 to book one of the semi-final slots. He will now play either Kobayashi Satoru 9-dan or Yoda Norimoto 9-dan.
The other two semi-final places were won by Kato Masao 9-dan ( victor over Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan) and Cho Chikun 9-dan (victor over Hikosaka Naoto 9-dan).
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Older News From 28 May 2000:
O RISSEI AWAITS A CHALLENGER
The 48th Oza has come down to the last eight in the knockout to decide who will challenge O Rissei 9-dan. It is looking just like a veteran's tournament. Here are the results of Round 1 of the final stage.
Kato Masao 9d 1-0 Yukawa Mitsuhisa 9d
Kobayashi Koichi 9d 1-0 Goto Shungo 9d
Hikosaka Naoto 9d 1-0 Nakamura Shin'ya 7d
Cho Chikun 9d 1-0 Kono Takashi 6d
Kudo Norio 9d 1-0 Yasuda Yasutoshi 9d
Awaji Shuzo 9d 1-0 Kamimura Haruo 9d
Yoda Norimoto 9d 1-0 Yamashita Keigo 6d
Kobayashi Satoru 9d 1-0 Yamada Kimio 8d
OZA ARCHIVES
HOW DOES THE OZA WORK?
The Oza is sponsored by the main Japanese economic newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shinbun (Nikkei).
Top prize is 10.4 million yen. The losing finalist gets about 2 million yen.
All pros in the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in are eligible.
Nowadays the title holder is challenged by the winner of a final knockout of 16 players. Entry to this knockout is from a series of three preliminaries. The first is a partial knockout for 1- to 4-dans from which 8 players (6 Nihon Ki-in, 2 Kansai Ki-in) go on to the next stage, which is two separate knockouts for these players plus the 5- to 9-dans, one in the Nihon Ki-in and one in the Kansai Ki-in.
The top 16 and 4 players respectively go to the last preliminary stage, where they are joined by winners of Rounds 1 and 2 of the previous year's event. 12 players survive from this stage and are joined by the previous year's losing finalist and the three other semi-finalists for the final knockout. In earlier years the system was broadly the same but the numbers and seedings differed slightly.
The final, held in November~December, has been a best-of-five since Term 16 inclusive. Previously it was a best-of-three.
In the early years, special matches between the new Oza and Go Seigen were also held.
A parallel competition used to be run for the public called Tsugi no Itte (Next Move), and this was so popular it became a standard phrase in go.
Time limits are now 5 hours each throughout, but used to be 6 hours, with 10 hours in the final. Komi was 4.5 in Terms 1 and 2, 5.5 points thereafter.
Oza means throne.
OZA FINALISTS
