Remember this thread?

Well on September 19th, Yao Zhiteng 1p (DOB 31-Jan-1998) won his third game in the Oza preliminaries. His next opponent? Sugiuchi Masao (DOB 20-Oct-1920)! This next game will be between players 77 years, 3 months, and 11 days apart in age. So far the Nihon Kiin website has no date for the game.

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Hmmmmm.... I thought the Nihon Kiin had set a mandatory retirement age of 80, some time ago.

But great achievement! Does the Guinness Book of Records know about this?

Just some things I realized about the opponents in this game.

When Sugiuchi Masao became a professional:

* Komi was not usually used.
* Matches were broadcast in the newspapers.
* Japan was about to go to war with China during World War II.

When Yao Zhiteng became a professional, on the other hand:

* Komi was 6.5 in Japan, and had been either 5.5 or 6.5 his whole life.
* Matches were broadcast online.
* Hikaru no Go had been off the air for 9 years.

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"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

The subject game is being played today.

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

That make him 93 years old! Has anyone else ever played a tournament game at such an advanced age?

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

No idea. However, Sugiuchi beat that 'kid', Konagai Masaru (DOB 1963-11-11), last week in the Judan preliminaries. Meanwhile wife Kazuko, a mere 86 years old, beat Aoba Kaori in the Honinbo prelims. So it was a good week for the Sugiuchi family overall.

Edit: In GoGoD there is a game between Michael Redmond (White) and Iwamoto Kaoru with the comment below. I take it to mean that there probably has not been anyone else. I can't think of likely candidates in the mean time.

"Michael Redmond 7d - Iwamoto Kaoru 9d, W+4.5 (Komi 5.5)
Game sponsored by Kido, Published 1992-09
Iwamoto was oldest player (90) to appear in a pro game. Though sponsored for that reason, conditions were set to be equivalent to a tournament game. Colours decided by nigiri. Scorekeeper was Yoshida Harumi."

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Hashimoto Utaro was the oldest active player at the time of his death (age 87, 1994), so that also helps narrow the range (since any active player then would have been < 87, they could not have reached age 93 until 2000).

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Occupy Babel!

Unfortunately the younger crew came through again. Yao goes up to the Oza final preliminary tournament while the Sugiuchi family continues to pursue that first 70+ age-gap victory. Good hunting to all parties!

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21