Kato Masao

Kato Masao, (加藤正夫 Katō Masao, 15 March 1947 – 30 December 2004) was a Japanese 9-dan professional Go player. He was known for his attacking play in his youth and his endgame skill play in his mature career. Kato won 46 titles.

Table of contents Early life Promotion history Game and title wins Head-to-head scores against other leading players Pupils Books available in English Books at Sensei's Library Lead administrative roles Style Personal life Links Pictures

Early life

Katō Masao was born in Asakura-machi, Asakura-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture (now Asakura City ). He learned to play Go when he was 9, and became a pupil of the Kitani Dojo when he was 12. He became a professional when he was 17, and was promoted to 2 dan within a year.

Promotion history

• 1 dan 1964
• 2 dan 1964
• 3 dan 1965
• 4 dan 1966
• 5 dan 1967
• 6 dan 1969
• 7 dan 1971
• 8-dan 1973
• 9-dan recommended in 1978.

Game and title wins

Katō Masao is one of the few to have won 1,200 professional games—the second player to do so after Rin Kaiho. In total, he had scored career 1253 wins (second only to Rin Kaiho) to 664 losses. His last game was played on 2 December 2004, the month he died; he defeated the next Kisei challenger, Yuki Satoshi. After Kato died, Yuki paid tribute by saying, “I got stronger by losing to (Kato).”

Katō’s 46 titles comprise the Meijin (twice), Honinbo (4 times), Judan (7 times), Tengen (4 times), Oza (11 times, including 8 in a row) and Gosei (3 times).

His most recent title was Honinbo in 2002, which set the record for oldest player ever to win this title, at age 55. There was a 23-year gap between that win and his previous Honinbo win. Katō followed an old tradition and, upon winning, he resumed using the name “Katō Kensei” as he had in the past when winning that title. He lost this title in July 2003 to Cho U.

• 2003 10th Agon
• 2002 57th Honinbo
• 2001 10th Ryusei
• 1999 32nd Hayago Championship
• 1998 4th JT Cup?
• 1997 35th Judan, NEC Cup
• 1996 3rd Agon, 18th Kakusei
• 1995 2nd Agon, 17th Kakusei
• 1994 27th Hayago Championship
• 1993 41st Oza
• 1992 NEC Cup
• 1991 NEC Cup
• 1989 37th Oza
• 1988 36th Oza, NHK Cup, 21st Hayago Championship
• 1987 12th Meijin, 25th Judan, 12th Gosei, 35th Oza
• 1986 11th Meijin, 34th Oza, 8th Kakusei
• 1985 33rd Oza
• 1984 32nd Oza
• 1983 21st Judan, 31st Oza
• 1982 30th Oza
• 1981 7th Tengen
• 1980 28th Oza, 6th Tengen, 2nd Kakusei
• 1979 34th Honinbo, 17th Judan, 27th Oza, 5th Tengen
• 1978 33rd Honinbo, 16th Judan, 4th Tengen
• 1977 2nd Gosei, 15th Judan, 32th Honinbo
• 1976 1st Gosei, 14th Judan

Head-to-head scores against other leading players

(Based on Kato Masao, Go rating profile and game list

• Kobayashi Koichi (fellow strong Kitani dojo graduate)): 54–49
• Cho U: 6–7
• Cho Chikun (fellow strong Kitani dojo graduate): 37–69
• Takemiya Masaki (fellow strong Kitani dojo graduate): 32–22
• Otake Hideo (fellow strong Kitani dojo graduate): 36–40
• Ishida Yoshio (fellow strong Kitani dojo graduate): 23–9
• O Rissei: 18–16
• Rin Kaiho: 46–44
• O Meien: 15–11
• Yoda Norimoto: 11–18
• Kudo Norio: 7–3
• Yamashita Keigo: 0–5
• Fujisawa Hideyuki: 21–13
• Fujisawa Hosai: 5–0
• Go Seigen: 1–3
• Sakata Eio: 17–12
• Takagawa Kaku: 2–3
• Hashimoto Utaro: 7–5
• Shimamura Toshihiro: 3–1
• Yamabe Toshiro: 7–0
• Ohira Shuzo: 8–4
• Kajiwara Takeo: 3–0
• Sugiuchi Masao: 3–1
• Hane Yasumasa: 16–10
• Ishigure Ikuro: 3–0
• Lee Changho: 2–4
• Cho Hunhyun: 2–4
• Yoo Changhyuk: 0–1
• Nie Weiping: 6–8
• Ma Xiaochun: 3–10
• Yu Bin: 0–1
• Cao Dayuan: 0–1
• Chang Hao: 0–1
• Michael Redmond: 1–0

Pupils

Katō’s pupils include Okada Shinichiro, Omori Yasushi, Suzuki Isao, Nishida Terumi, and Umezawa Yukari.

His teachers include Kitani Minoru, Katoō being one of the Three Crows of the Kitani dojo.

Books available in English

Katō was the author of two books available in English: Kato's Attack and Kill and The Chinese Opening.

The Chinese Opening: The Sure-Win Strategy is published in English by Kiseido. His name is ordered in the book and in some Anglophone sources as Masao Kato, while many Go-related sources and websites order his name as Kato Masao. The English version of Kato's Attack and Kill also uses "Masao Kato". Usually in Japan a person's name is written family name followed by given name but in many Western books and other sources the names are written given name followed by family name.

Books at Sensei's Library

Lead administrative roles

Katō, elected in 2004 to be Chief Director of the Nihon Kiin and President of the International Go Federation, successfully led many important reforms during a difficult period. These reforms included reversing the financial deficit, changing the dan promotion rules by eliminating the Oteai, changing komi to 6.5 points, and shortening game time limits among others. At the same time he still managed to play actively in the top tournaments of Japan.

Style

In his youth, Katō had a very aggressive style. There are many classic examples of Kato killing large groups. One such took place on March 11&12, 1970 during the 25th Honinbo League. Katō (black) played Takagawa Kaku and forced him to resign in 93 moves! Katō’s awesome power is frightening in this game (eg. Black 67). The game can be found on Gobase, but be warned, it is not for the faint of heart.

The tables were turned on Katō by Fujisawa Hideyuki (Shuko) in a Kisei title game in which Fujisawa mounted a severe attack and killed one of Katō’s large groups. Later in his career Katō’s style became more moderate and instead of “Killer Katō” his nickname was “Endgame Katō”.

Personal life

Kato Masaō married Katō Izumi (泉, née Sasaki) in 1977. She is the fourth daughter of calligrapher Sasaki Tainan. Her artname as Japanese calligrapher is Sekisen (石泉).

In late 2004, Katō became seriously ill and needed to be hospitalized. He was diagnosed with a bleeding blood vessel in his brain, and underwent an operation on 10 December. At first this seemed successful, but then his condition suddenly worsened on 28 December. On 30 December 2004, he died of a cerebral infarction, aged only 57.

He was very popular and modest. He was known as a man of integrity, which is why his fellow professionals trusted him to take leading administrative roles.

Links

• English Wikipedia
• Japanese Wikipedia
• Nihon Ki'in profile
• Go Ratings and Games
• In Memoriam: Katō Masao (1947-2004), Nihon Ki'in)

Pictures

Kobayashi Koichi vs Katō Masao Judan 1984 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

Fujisawa Hideyuki (left) vs Katō Masao 1993 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

Katō Masao (Image credit: Foxwq.com)