Sensei's Gazette

    Keywords: Culture & History, Tournament

Welcome to the Sensei's Gazette. I am an amateur 5 dan player who loves keeping up with the exciting world of professional go. The goal of this page is to allow me to talk about my favourite professional players, and share any interesting anecdotes from the world of professional go with Sensei's Library. Please leave a note on Sensei's Library if you find any of the information provided here to be inaccurate. I also apologize that some of the information here is not credited, but in general, the information is researched and then translated by myself from Chinese or Japanese news sources into English. Some sources, although not comprehensive, include the TOM newscasts, the Zhongguo Qiyuan and Nihon Kiin websites, and various magazines from Go World, to Kido Yearbook, to Weiqi Tiandi. I also use [ext] Mr. Kin's Go News website extensively for research, so many thanks to the creators of that wonderful source of game records and results.

Table of contents
Table of diagrams
Apollo Fuseki
Strange Slant Fuseki
Kada Katsuji: Do we always play on the point of symmetry? (Go World 60)
Kada Katsuji: A couple difficult problems composed in 1992.
Cho U: Tsumego from the heart.

Unofficial World Ranking of Professional Players (updated periodically)

In light of the absence of an official world ranking, I have come up with a unofficial ranking of professionals by scoring their performance in various international world championships. Tournaments included are: Samsung Cup, LG Cup, Ing Cup, Chunlan Cup, Toyota Denso Cup, and the Fujitsu Cup, and to a lesser extent, the Asian TV Cup. For my latest calculations shown here, I have excluded the Zhonghuan / JP Morgan Cup in the overall ranking.

Note that these rankings are unofficial, but it is interesting to identify the movers and shakers in the world of professional go today. There has been a lot of debate as to who the best active player currently is, so I decided to come to a conclusion by using a more rigorous method then just plain conjecture. Compiling the results in three year brackets (ie. the ranking for a particular year takes into account the performance of an individual in world championship tournaments in the previous three years), the recent rankings are as follows (only the top 20 players for each year are shown, and rankings are updated upon the completion of a major international tournament). (Unfortunately, I have stopped updating this list in 2007, primarily because my laptop crashed and I lost the excel file with all the previous results and scoring algorithm, and it would take months of work to recompile):

2007 (results from 2005-2007)

  1. Lee Sedol
  2. Lee Changho
  3. Chang Hao
  4. Gu Li
  5. Cho U
  6. Choi Cheolhan
  7. Zhou Heyang
  8. Park Younghoon
  9. Park Jungsang
  10. Zhou Junxun
  11. Hu Yaoyu
  12. Yu Bin
  13. Luo Xihe
  14. Cho Hansung
  15. Chen Yaoye
  16. Peng Quan
  17. Wang Xi
  18. Yoo Changhyuk
  19. Kong Jie
  20. Song Taekon

2006 (results from 2004-2006)

  1. Lee Sedol (Winner: 9th Samsung, 18th Fujitsu, 2nd Toyota Denso)
  2. Lee Changho (Winner: 8th LG, 5th Chunlan)
  3. Choi Cheolhan (Winner: 2nd Zhonghuan)
  4. Park Younghoon (Winner: 1st Zhonghuan, 17th Fujitsu)
  5. Cho U (Winner: 9th LG,17th Asia TV)
  6. Chang Hao (Winner: 5th Ing)
  7. Zhou Heyang
  8. Gu Li (Winner: 10th LG)
  9. Song Taekon
  10. Yu Bin (Winner: 16th Asia TV)
  11. Yoo Changhyuk
  12. Cho Chikun (Winner: 8th Samsung)
  13. Park Jungsang (Winner: 19th Fujitsu)
  14. Wang Xi (Winner: 18th Asia TV)
  15. Luo Xihe (Winner: 10th Samsung)
  16. Yoda Norimoto
  17. Cho Hansung
  18. Kong Jie
  19. Hu Yaoyu
  20. Hane Naoki

2005 (results from 2003-2005)

  1. Lee Changho (Winner: 1st Toyota Denso, 4th Chunlan, 8th LG, 5th Chunlan)
  2. Lee Sedol (Winner:7th LG, 16th Fujitsu, 9th Samsung, 18th Fujitsu, 2nd Toyota Denso)
  3. Chang Hao (Winner:5th Ing)
  4. Park Younghoon (Winner: 1st Zhonghuan, 17th Fujitsu)
  5. Choi Cheolhan (Winner: 2nd Zhonghuan)
  6. Cho U (Winner: 9th LG, 17th Asia TV)
  7. Song Taekon
  8. Zhou Heyang (Winner: 15th Asia TV)
  9. Yu Bin (Winner: 16th Asia TV)
  10. Yoo Changhyuk
  11. Cho Hunhyun (Winner: 7th Samsung)
  12. Cho Chikun (Winner: 8th Samsung)
  13. Wang Lei
  14. Yoda Norimoto
  15. Cho Hansung
  16. Hane Naoki
  17. O Rissei
  18. Gu Li
  19. O Meien
  20. Kong Jie

Yamashita Keigo 9p (2007)

In the last few years, there has been a lot of attention on the playing style of Yamashita Keigo 9p. His unique playing style has garnered him many fans in Japan and around the world. His somewhat unorthodox use of gonogo, tengen and mokuhazushi have captured the imagination of many amateurs. He seems to favor the chinese fuseki/sanrensei and jabberwocks, and often manages to use his moyo to attack the board effectively. In recent years, he seems to have moved away from the center-oriented plays, but he is still achieving a high rate of success in the Japanese pro scene. As of 2007, he still holds the Kisei title, the most important title in Japan.

The most well-known game was probably the one he played with Takao Shinji in the Shin'ei finals in 2000. The game was made even more famous by references in HnG (refer to strangeproopening3). I have collected some Yamashita Keigo games that I have found to be exciting in one way or another, and have listed them here. They are good study material, so interested parties should look the games up.

  1. Oza-sen Finals Game 3 2006-11-30 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Cho U B+R
  2. Tengen-sen Finals Game 3 2006-11-20 Kono Rin (B) vs Yamashita Keigo B+R
  3. Oza-sen Finals Game 2 2006-11-16 Cho U (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+1.5
  4. Meijin-sen League Match 2006-07-06 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Imamura Toshiya B+R
  5. Fujitsu Cup Round 1 2006-04-08 Cho Hanseung (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R
  6. Kisei-sen Finals Game 3 2006-02-08 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Hane Naoki B+1.5
  7. Tengen-sen Finals Game 3 2004-11-26 Hane Naoki (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R
  8. Oza-sen Challenger Finals 2004-08-30 Yoda Norimoto (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R
  9. Ing Cup Round 2004-04-20 Gu Li (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+1.0
  10. Toyota-Denso World Oza Round 1 2002-03-19 Park Younghoon (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R
  11. Gosei-sen Finals Game 2 2001-07-19 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Kobayashi Koichi B+17.5
  12. Gosei-sen Finals Game 2 2000-07-13 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Kobayashi Koichi B+R
  13. Gosei-sen Finals Game 4 2000-08-23 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Kobayashi Koichi W+1.5
  14. Gosei-sen Preliminary Tournament 2000-06-01 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Kataoka Satoshi B+R
  15. Shinei Finals 2000-03-19 Takao Shinji (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R
  16. Tengen-sen Prelims 2000-01-27 Yamashita Keigo (B) vs Otake Hideo B+R
  17. Shinjin-O Finals Game 2 1999-10-04 Hane Naoki (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R
  18. Shinjin-O Semifinals 1999-07-26 Kim Sujun (B) vs Yamashita Keigo W+R

Gan Siyang 3p (2007)

For those interested in unique opening styles, you can check out the games of Gan Siyang 3p, who can often be found playing on TOM weiqi server. In recent years, he has used 6-4 (ootakamoku) almost exclusively, and his unique style has also garnered him many fans and supporters. In the 2005 Chinese City B League, he played 6-4 in every game, and he estimates that he opens with 2 6-4 points in about 60% of his games. In the 2007 Chinese Rank Promotion Tournament, Gan Siyang opened almost exclusively at the 8-8 point, as both black and white.

He hopes that his opening ideas will become mainstream in time to come. Chinese fans have given his openings rather interesting names, a few examples of which are given below. You can also find some of his games at [ext] http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/byplayer2.php?pid=487

[Diagram]

Apollo Fuseki

This was named for the Apollo space program for its cosmic nature. Gan relates it to playing cosmic sanrensei.

[Diagram]

Strange Slant Fuseki

This is related to Go Seigen's concept of ideal sanrensei and the sanseiren opening Go Seigen played during the [ext] game of the century, according to Gan 3p.


The Art of Composing Tsumego and Famous Artists (2007)

Tsumego, like chess problems, can often be exquisite works of art. Looking at some of the masterpieces presented in the classic problem collections like the igo hatsuyoron, the gokyo shumyo, the gengen gokyo, or the kanzufu, it is apparent that some problems must have taken a long time to compose, and bear variations that are mind-blowingly complex. While professionals are adept at solving tsumego, only a few professionals have developed a reputation for being experts at tsumego composition.

It is usually mind-boggling to amateurs how one goes about composing go problems. In the Go Q&A Room on IGS Pandanet [ext] http://www.pandanet.co.jp/English/soudan/htm/0506-2s.htm, Suzuki Ayumi 3p gives three common methods she employs:

  1. Take positions from actual games
  2. Randomly scatter some stones on a goban
  3. Sequences that occur to you in play

She does mention that methods two and three are indeed quite difficult.

In the last century, three Japanese professionals gained reknown as tsumego composers, namely Kada Katsuji 9p, also known as Tsumego no Kamisama (the god of life and death), Maeda Nobuaki 9p, and Hashimoto Utaro 9p. In addition, Go Seigen 9p is also known to be a very accomplished creator of tsumego.

Kada Katsuji 9p

Kada Katsuji was aptly named the god of life and death. Go World 1990 No. 60 highlighted a couple of Kada sensei's problems (presented below), and had this to say: "Rather than spinning out variations ad infinitum on the standard problems, which is how a lot of problem composers fill their quotas, he is noted for the originality and ingenuity of the problems he creates. The drawback is that they are sometimes quite difficult to work out, though the solutions are always elegant and convincing." His problems have been known to stump even top professionals. Shown below is a sample of four tsumego composed by Kada Katsuji. Feel free to wrack your brains out. All are white to play (problem 3 has colours inverted from the original problem to make this the case).

[Diagram]

Kada Katsuji: Do we always play on the point of symmetry? (Go World 60)

[Diagram]

Kada Katsuji: A couple difficult problems composed in 1992.


Cho U 9p

Among contemporary players in Japan, Cho U 9p has shown an uncanny talent for creating original life and death problems. His latest book, Cho U's Tsumego, is an exhibition of his craft. More information on the book can also be found at [ext] http://www.gogod.co.uk/NewInGo/ChoU_1.htm. His autograph is often accompanied by one of his tiny tsumego. He specializes in small tsumego that require very few stones, but substantial hair pulling to solve. It is rumoured that he is quite obsessed,and has to compose a new tsumego daily.

Here are a few amusing anecdotes about Cho U concerning life and death problems. Legend has it that Zhou Junxun 9p was unable to solve a particularly difficult tsumego despite substantial effort, and wasted no time in seeking help from tsumego expert Cho U himself. Cho solved it instantaneously, much to Zhou's dismay. What he did not suspect was that this particular problem was actually one of Cho U's proud creations.

Cho Chikun 9p is a formidable life and death aficionado, writer of an incredible life and death encyclopedia. He is well-known as an expert in amashi and shinogi. Just like Cho U, he seems to be able to make life under the most adverse conditions. In Cho U, Cho Chikun has found a worthy adversary. At a ceremony during the 5th Chunlan Cup, Cho Chikun pulled out his latest tsumego creation as a test for the various experts present. When Cho U's eyes fell on the problem, he whispered to Hane Naoki 9p who was standing right next to him, "This problem does not look too hard!" At which Hane exclaimed, "I knew you were going to say that!"

The gauntlet was thrown. On the flight back to Japan, Cho Chikun challenged Cho U to a contest in tsumego composition. In a short time, Cho Chikun presented an original tsumego to Cho U, who promptly solved it and even pointed out some small refutations. The elder Cho immediately snatched the kifu back, and set about correcting his problem. He tidied up his problem in short order, and was soon fast asleep. Cho U did not expect Cho Chikun to take the contest so seriously, and started to panic. His mind blanked and was unable to get any inspiration. Fortunately, he was able to draw on his wealth of experience, and came up with a tsumego before the plane landed. Cho Chikun looked at the problem and concluded,"From the standpoint of content, it seems that I should lose. However, I composed my problem in a much shorter time, so I get bonus points. Let's call it a draw."

It is said that in courting his future wife, Kobayashi Izumi, Cho U presented her with a couple of tsumego on her birthday. The two tsumego cleverly represented the two characters in Kobayashi Izumi's given name. Cho U's teacher and grand-teacher, Rin Kaiho and Go Seigen respectively, could only be impressed with such a unique method of courtship.

His expertise in life and death translates into his play, and his groups have often been described as "charmed" and are almost impossible to kill. A few games that illustrate his life and death prowess are listed below:

  1. Meijin-sen Finals Game 2 2005-09-22 Kobayashi Satoru (B) vs Cho U W+6.5 (Dragons are really hard to kill!)
  2. Honinbo-sen Finals Game 1 2005-05-09 Cho U (B) vs Takao Shinji W+R (He lived in the most unlikely of places but eventually lost the game.)
  3. Honinbo-sen League 2002-12-02 Cho Chikun (B) vs Cho U W+R [ext] http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=2625(This game is one of my personal favourites. It terminates in an incredibly complicated life and death problem. Cho U proves that he is just as good at killing as he is at living, and killing Cho Chikun is no small feat! A very detailed explanation of the life and death problem at the end of the game can be found in stonebase under the collection of Cho U's games.)

Shown below are a couple of famous tsumego composed by Cho U. Black to play.

[Diagram]

Cho U: Tsumego from the heart.


Youngest Players to be Promoted to 9 Dan Professional and Professional Promotion Systems (2008)

On 13th June 2007, Chen Yaoye of China defeated Choi Cheolhan 9p of Korea in the semifinals of the 19th Asia TV Cup by 6.5 to earn a place in the finals against Lee Sedol 9p. Having been a finalist twice in major international competition, Chen earned automatic promotion to 9p according to the rules laid out by the Zhongguo Qiyuan. This makes him the youngest 9p in history, acheiving this amazing feat at the tender age of 17 years 5 months and 28 days, smashing the previous record held by Ma Xiaochun 9p who was promoted to 9p at the age of 19 years 3 months and 3 days. Chen Yaoye is the 27th Chinese professional to be promoted to 9p.

The youngest player to be promoted to 9p from Korea is Park Younghoon 9p at the age of 19 years 3 months and 4 days. A more recent promotion to 9p in Korea was Kang Dongyun at the end of 2008, also aged 19, but he fell shy of breaking Park's record. The youngest player to be promoted to 9p from Japan is Cho U 9p at the age of 23 years 5 months and 21 days. It seems that this record is likely to be broken by Iyama Yuta, who is still in his teens and is already 8p. Recent promotions credited to the new promotion rules in China and Korea include Wang Xi 9p, who was promoted for winning the Asia TV Cup in 2006 at the age of 22 years 7 months and 2 days and Park Jungsang 9p for winning the Fujitsu Cup in 2006 at the age of 21 years 10 months 10 days. One of the fastest promotions in history was that of Lee Sedol, who in 2003, captured the LG Cup title and Fujitsu Cup title, and was a finalist in the Korean KT Cup, earning a promotion from 3p to 9p in the short time span of 4 months. It should also be noted that if the current promotion rules in Korea applied, Lee Changho would have been promoted to 9p at the age of 15 for winning oodles of local titles in Korea. If he was subject to the current promotion rules in China, he would still have been promoted to 9p at the age of 16 for winning the Tongyang Securities Cup in 1992. However in reality, Lee Changho was only promoted to 9p at the age of 21.

Comparing the path to 9p in the 3 countries, it can be said that Korea has the most stringent promotion criteria. There is no mechanism to be promoted directly to 9p in Korea. Winning a major international title merits a promotion of 3 ranks, and being a finalist only merits a promotion of 1 rank. (Following these rules, Wang Xi would now only be 8p and Chen Yaoye would only be 7p). Winning one of the three major Korean titles merits a promotion of 2 ranks. Another means of promotion is to maintain a rather high win rate in games against other professionals, which is more stringent than in other countries.

Promotion in Japan is probably the easiest, winning one of the three major national titles (Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo) or winning a major international title merits an automatic promotion to 9p. Challengers for the three major titles and finalists in major international titles merit promotion to 8p. Winning one of the remaining four major national titles (Judan, Tengen, Oza, Gosei) merit promotion to 8p and challenging for them merit promotion to 7p. Retaining one of these titles for two consecutive years, such as recently acheived by Kono Rin 9p for keeping his Tengen title two years in a row, also merits promotion to 9p. Furthermore, it is also possible to get promoted by having the highest win rate or the highest tournament winnings (prize money) for the year in each rank class.

The Chinese promotion system is the only one of the three that still retains a rank promotion tournament (like the Japanese Ooteai of old). Since there is still a rank promotion tournament, it is not possible to gain promotion through win rate like is the case in Japan and Korea. Since many Chinese professionals no longer participate in the promotion tournament, the "easiest" way to attain 9p rank is to be a winner or finalist in major international tournaments (winning or becoming a finalist twice merits promotion to 9p). The most recent player to be promoted to 9p is Ding Wei in 2007 via the Chinese promotion tournament. Ding Wei said it is becoming increasingly harder to promote, as many high dan Chinese professionals no longer play in this tournament. The primary deterrent being the lack of monetary incentive for doing well in this tournament, and the risk of losing rating points. In the Chinese professional go world, it seems that rating has become more important than rank. In fact, as an indicator as to how unpopular this tournament has become, in the 2007 rank promotion tournament, only 2 Chinese 8ps participated, Ding Wei and Qiu Jun. Ding Wei had been promoting pretty steadily at a pace of 1 rank a year since he turned professional, but it took him from 2001 to 2007 to get enough promotion points to move from 8p to 9p. In 2008, no 8ps took part in the Chinese promotional tournament, a rather dismal state of affairs.

A Brief Summary of Formal Promotion Systems in Professional Guilds

 | SYSTEM         | IT  | NT  | WR  | AI  | RP  | PT  |
 | China          | Yes | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes |
 | Korea          | Yes | Yes | Yes | No  | Yes | No  |
 | Japan          | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No  | No  |
 | Chinese Taipei | Yes | Yes | Yes | No  | No  | No  |

IT = Performance in International Tournaments

NT = Performance in National Tournaments

WR = Annual Win Rate/Games Won

AI = Annual Tournament Income

RP = Rating Points

PT = Promotion Tournament

This is a very simple comparison table. An indication of "Yes" means that it is possible to promote by the means described above, and an indication of "No" means that it is not possible to promote by the means described. Note that the rules determining each means varies from country to country (some of which has already been explained above). It is also important to note that while some systems such as Rating Points are not used for professional dan promotion in China, Rating Points in China are used for many purposes, including national rankings and selection for international tournaments, and are highly regarded.

See also Nihon Ki-in new promotion system, and Professional promotion tournaments.

Updates: Iyama Yuta has indeed been promoted to 9p after winning the Meijin title in 2009 at the age of 20 years 4 months. Park Junghwan is now the youngest Korean player to be promoted to 9p at 17 years 11 months.




This is a copy of the living page "Sensei's Gazette" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2012 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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