While it's understandable that many of you are most interested in the Chinese and Korean scenes, I'm a little bit surprised nobody has mentioned this year's ongoing Kisei match. Cho U is defending against a resurgent Takao Shinji. Takao won the first by a small margin, and the game currently in progress has erupted into a board-wide brawl. It's exciting!

_________________
Pasta of Muppets, pulled into strings
Twisted fusilli, macaroni with cream,
Filled up with me you can`t taste a thing,
Just call the waiter, he`ll hear you scream.
Pasta, pasta, eat up your pasta!

I've been watching it regularly and have enjoyed the game so far. You're lucky in that you can catch a bit of it on TV.

Who do you guys favor to win? I'm rooting for Cho U.

I'm rooting for Cho U, but as usual, I just hope it goes 7 games.

Cho U wins game 2. The series is now tied 1-1.

Thanks. What's the best place to monitor this online (with game records)?

wbaduk has the game live.

http://kisei.yomiuri.co.jp/

That's the official site.

You can always get sgf from http://igokisen.web.fc2.com/jp/kisei.html

I try to update news about the match as soon as possible at this place: http://beginningpath.blogspot.com/

Game 3 starts in a little over five hours. Takao Shinji should be taking black with both players winning as black so far. The game will be held in Kaga, Ishikawa.

aha, I can watch on my phone now

missed the start though

It's an intresting game until now. Takao Shinji seems ahead by points but he has a weak group which is currently attacked. I guess Cho U will gain a lot by this attack. You can see the current position after day 1 here: http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/2012/02/3121.html

Not so weak as it surrounds his group which is only alive in ko...

I guess I to optimistic with that group because of Cho U's talent to save his groups

However, finally black (Takao Shinji) wins with 0,5 points and leads again. In the next game black (then Cho U) has to win again or this match ends. Sounds nice to me

incorrect, Kisei (as well as Meijin and Honinbo) title match is played as best of 7, so with score 1-2 Cho has still 1 live remaining before it gets to do-or-die. i wish him best luck to defend his title

_________________
Spilling gasoline feels good.

I might be wrong, but probably not.

Damn, you got me here. Forgot we have one of the "big 3" here because I was a bit hasty this morning

Here's what Takao and Mimura Tomoyasu write on their blogs after the third game. My Japanese is not very good but slightly better than Google Translate I think

Takao:
It was a painful/difficult game but in the end I won by half a point by winning the last half-point ko. It was a very lucky win. I'll keep doing my best.
Tomorrow I will play against Cho U again, in the NEC Cup.
The game is in Osaka where I am now going from Ishigawa.
I was planning to go by train but because of the heavy snow, the trains are not moving.
Since going by car would be dangerous too, I ended up going back to Narita airport from where I'll continue to Osaka.
I'm now having a slow lunch at Narita.

Mimura was doing the public commentary at the Nihon Ki-in:
When I started the commentary the game was in the large yose stage. I was saying that it looked like black was winning, but...
As the game progressed, the margin seemed smaller and smaller. Facing the demonstration board, I was desperately trying to calculate the score. I think I did it more than ten times but I just couldn't come to a conclusion. *sweating*
From the fifth floor, where top professionals were discussing the game, word was that white was winning by half a point. From the seventh floor, it was reported that the younger generation thought black was winning. Eventually, after a few more moves, the fifth floor revised their prediction to a black half-point win.

Cool links Gustav! It's really interesting to read Takao's blog - I'm surprised he has time for it, but it's certainly fun to see how the other half live.

_________________
Pasta of Muppets, pulled into strings
Twisted fusilli, macaroni with cream,
Filled up with me you can`t taste a thing,
Just call the waiter, he`ll hear you scream.
Pasta, pasta, eat up your pasta!

and few hours ago Cho won the fourth game by resignation, which makes it 2-2. so far all games were won by black. accidentaly, the results are identical to Cho's last year final with Iyama Yuuta. back then he gained the upper hand by the fourth game and went on to defend the title 4-2. let's see if he will repeat the history

_________________
Spilling gasoline feels good.

I might be wrong, but probably not.

Game 5 is underway.

http://210.155.158.225/kisei.yomi/kisei ... 7ban05.htm

Game 5, the first win for white. Cho U leads 3-2.

Cheers,
Vesa