Iyama begins his Kisei title defence today, also against Ichiriki Ryo, who beat Yamashita in the challenger decider. I hope Ichiriki can make it a more competitive match than the whitewash he suffered in the Tengen and Oza at the end of last year. Those were his first best of 5 one day title matches, this is his first best of 7 two day match. As his play deteriorated when he got into overtime hopefully he can make good use of the extra time. Here's the position at the end of the 1st day, I feel like Iyama should be able to either settle the right side group or munch the corner without too much trouble:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Iyama Yuta (white) vs Ichiriki Ryo
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . O O . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . a . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . X . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . O X . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O X . O , . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X . X X O O . . . . . . X . . B . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Update: Iyama won by resign. If John were to write a book on this match, I think this might be "the one with the wishy-washy ko threats" . Iyama got his group on the right out to centre safety, in sente no less, so he tenukid to grow the top at a. Ichirki invaded and his group ended up a ko which Iyama started and immediately won, ignoring a threat on the right side group that wasn't clean. It squirmed out to saftey via another ko, which Iyama won again for another wishy-washy threat on the centre, where Iyama survived again, and then Ichiriki tenukied and got 2 moves (p17 and p18) against the top right corner (but it still wasn't dead!), Iyama gobbled some stones in the centre and then his undead upper right lived in a ko Ichiriki didn't have enough threats for so resigned. Iyama's play just felt more precise than Ichiriki's, successfully calling his bluff several times.

Thanks for the update on the game. Are these being broadcast live on youtube? At all? If not the Nihon Kiin is losing a real opportunity to reach GO fans.

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Anthony

I watched it on wbaduk, but I'm pretty sure I read comments on there saying it was broadcast on nico-nico douga. Will have to tune in myself for game 2 on the 25th!

It was broadcast there

Ichiriki Ryo got into byoyomi again and Iyama Yuta beat him, that's his 11th consecutive wins against him.

Seemed to me Ichiriki was always behind: the m2 turn seemed to indicate a willingness to sacrifice the lower right corner (because then he can capture one stone in sente if Iyama kills), but then he went and spent a move to live there so didn't get much benefit from attacking Iyama's lower left group in exchange for all the tenukis Iyama got to the top side. And then the turn into the right side didn't make sense if he also wanted to stop black's upper moyo.

Yeah, that move really surprised me. It just seemed so... incredibly slow. I guess the idea is that the two isolated black stones become weaker when the white group becomes stronger? But the white group already looked stronger than the black stones anyway so I'd much rather attack the stones directly and maybe develop the left side while attacking. But well, I'm much much weaker than these players so what do I know.

3rd Kisei game starts today and I already like Iyama. It must be mentally tough for Ichiriki to not get dispirited with all these losses. Position at end of first day:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Iyama (black) vs Ichiriki, Kisei title match 3rd game
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . X O . . . X O O O O O . |
$$ | . . X . O X . O . X . X . O X O X X . |
$$ | . . O O . X O O X , . . . O X X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O . . . X . X . X . X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . O X X . . . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . O O X O O . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . X O X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X O . X O . O . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . W . . X O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . X . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Ichiriki Ryo ran into byoyomi while Iyama Yuta had more than one hour left. And the same fate happens. This is Iyama Yuta 12th consecutive win against Ichiriki Ryo.

Now next week is actually the long awaited LG cup final! Hope the Goddess of victory is still side with him then.

Apparently, NHK-e will show a special program following Iyama Yuta 9p during his ascension in the LG cup.

In the People's Honour Award ceremony, each of the recipients got a dashing inkstone set—


source: http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/news/etc/post_715.html

But does that compare to the miniature go set Iyama 9p gave to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a thank you? You decide.


source: http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/news/etc/post_715.html
Let's hope there are no ghosts in this one.

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

Fourth kisei game is today and tomorrow. Can Ichiriki avoid another whitewash? Iyama as black did another diagonal opening and then 3-3 invasion with the subsequent fight sprawling across the board.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Iyama (black) vs Ichiriki
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . O . . . X W . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . O . O O X O . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . O X O . . . . . O X X . . . O X . . |
$$ | O O O X X X X X X O O O X . . . X . . |
$$ | . O . O O O O O X X X O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . O O X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Ichiriki Ryo played faster than Iyama Yuta in this game, though the result is the same (or even worse, Fox commentator with FineArt think the game is already 'done' in the first day).
The streak between these two is now extended to 13-0 games.

Yes, white breaking out along line 13 at the cost of c10 getting munched seemed like a massive failure, and the k16 pain too...

A bit of real-world perspective, if I may...

This Game 4 was played in Ofunato City, which was almost wiped out by a tsunami in the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake - the biggest ever earthquake recorded in Japan, I believe. The affected area included Miyagi Prefecture, where Ichiriki comes from.

Whether that affected him, too, I don't know, but clearly Ofunato's recovery is a measure of the wonderful resilience people can show - a message for Ichiki, perhaps - and it's nice that go can take a small part in signalling that recovery. It was the first title game in Ofunato for almost 50 years, and the present case local boy Sotoyanagi Sebun was also one of the recorders.

The players' own assessments seem to differ slightly from those mentioned here. Iyama said he didn't really understand what was going on around the time of the sealed move, perhaps having overplayed a little before that, and Ichiriki also made the same phase of the game the crux - but he thought it was a "little worse" for him. But he added that nothing seems to have gone right for him from Game 2 onwards.

There's a shortcut for Ichiriki Ryo to recover if he can acquire his position in World Go Championship 2018.

Iyama in international action today in the Nongshim cup: forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14546&p=227938#p227938.

Maybe this one ?

First game of Judan title match today against Murakawa Daisuke. Hopefully not another whitewash. Murakawa did take the Oza from Iyama in 2014.

Update: Iyama won by resign, Big fight between two weak groups, Iyama ended up surviving through ko and the ko threat wasn't enough to stop him killing Murakawa's group afterwards to boot.

It's not really that bad for black. Too early to resign...

Uhm, that entire middle left Black group is going to die so white is ahead 50 points or so. I suppose Murakawa could have played out a few more moves to make the kill clear but probably didn't feel like the humiliation.