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Amateur Honinbo vs Pro Honinbo 2002
For the last forty years the Mainichi Shinbun (the newspaper sponsor of the Honinbo tournament) has hosted a game between the reigning professional Honinbo and the year's amateur Honinbo. The handicap in the game changes each year based on the previous year's results. There are five incremental komi changes:
A loss by Black steps down this scale (komi decreases) in the next game while a win steps up this scale (komi increases). If Black wins while giving 5.0 points komi, the number of handicap stones decreases by one. If Black losses while receiving 5.0 points komi, the number of handicap stones increases by one. In 2001 the amateur Honinbo lost on two stones receiving 2.5 points komi so in 2002 Black placed two stones and received 5.0 points komi. The 2002 amateur Honinbo was Samejima Ichiro who was appearing for the first time. The professional Honinbo was Kato Masao returning after 23 years.
Since 1995 the tournament has been played with free placement of the handicap stones. Black chose to place them on the 5-5 points in opposing corners. I am surprised that Black did not take the opportunity to play 2 at "a" :-) White immediately settles the situation under the two 5-5 stones.
The game proceeded with heavy fighting and several large ko fights. Black won by resignation after 282 moves, preventing Black from being beaten down to three stones handicap. Next year the amateur Honinbo will play with two handicap stones and give 2.5 points komi. This is a copy of the living page "Amateur Honinbo vs Pro Honinbo 2002" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |