Fujisawa Rina

Fujisawa Rina (藤沢里菜) is a Japanese professional female go player, born 1998-09-18 in Tokyo, who passed a pro exam in 2010 while in the fifth grade of elementary school. On April 1st 2010, she received her professional diploma at the age of 11 years and 6 months, making her then the youngest person in Japan to become a professional ^[1]. The previous record was held by Cho Chikun who became a professional when he was 11 years 9 months old. Cho played a game with her to mark the occasion, and in a video commentary of her game with Rin Kanketsu in the NHK Cup, 2015, Cho said that she had a great future and could play any style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-Y1p2ZQDq0

Fujisawa began learning Go at the age of 6 and studied under the tutelage of Hong Malk-eun Saem. She was promoted 2 dan in 2013-02-14 (30 wins as 1 dan).

Rina started 2014 with 9 consecutive wins (as of 2014-02-15), extending her winning streak to 9 games.

Title matches

2010s

In 2014, she was part of Japan team at the 4th Huang Longshi Shuang Deng Cup. She won against Song Ronghui in the fourth game, but lost to Kim Hye-min in the fifth game. In the same year, she became the youngest Female Honinbo in Go history by defeating Mukai Chiaki (title holder) 3–0 in the 33rd title match, at the age of 16 years and 1 month old. She lost the title to Xie Yimin 3–2 the next year, then regained it 3–1 the following year. She was the winner of the 1st Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup (2014), beating Okuda Aya by resignation.

In 2016, Fujisawa won the 2nd Ibero-Japan Cup?, an U-18 tournament open to both sexes, the second female winner after Xie Yimin.

In 2017, she probably became the strongest female player in Japan. In March, Fujisawa won the Female Meijin, beating title-holder Xie Yimin 2–0, ending her streak of 9 wins in a row. In June, she beat the same opponent 2–1 to win the Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup (Aizu Central Hospital Cup), and next month she beat Xie again to win the Senko Cup.

In 2018, Fujisawa defended her Female Meijin by beating Yashiro Kumiko 2–0, and her Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup title by defeating Xie Yimin 2-1.

2020s

In 2020, she defeated Suzuki Ayumi and defended her Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup title. This is her 5th victory in this title match.

Family

• Daughter of Fujisawa Kazunari.
• Granddaugther of Fujisawa Hideyuki.

Links

• Mainichi article (Japanese) on Fujisawa Rina's promotion to 1-dan professional
• Nihon Ki-in player profile
• Article on debut match. (dead link) Archived version of article

Career record:

• 2010: 13 games, 6-7
• 2011: 23 games, 8-15
• 2012: 26 games, 13-13
• 2013: 36 games, 23-13
• 2014: 58 games, 42-16

[1] : Nihon Ki-in professional selection slot for female players used to have a restriction: the player must be 15 years or older. This restriction was abolished in 2003, and Fujisawa became the first professional for whom the new rules applied.

Books

• 藤沢里菜実戦集 ―女流四冠への軌跡― (Fujisawa Rina match collection - path to 4 women's crowns). Includes self-commentary, commentary by Takao Shinji, pictures, and articles.