I just read this, about the Senko Cup (international tournament):

https://twitter.com/KK_joryu/status/1493844476229750787

Using google translator, I understand that the top 4 female players in Japan are playing. No surprise here. But then, I "read" that Sumire is going to take another spot, by invitation of the sponsor. Also, because she made the top 8 last year. I am a bit confused here. Is it possible that the Japanese version of the tournament is the Saikyo, and the players with good results go to the international one?

Anyway, it will be a good chance to see how Japanese players do against other countries. It's a pity that there is only one representative from each country, but well...

And last thing: "top 4 female players", "no surprise"... I think that in the near future the top 4 is going to change.

Am I right in thinking that the top four are Rina, Asami, Xie Yimin and Suzuki Ayumi, and that you're speculating that one of the latter two will be replaced by Nyu Eiko?

You are right with the 4 and the 1.

Add Hoshiai Shiho and some time, and the landscape will be quite different.

The Meijin league is getting interesting.

I must have missed some recent results, but at least...

Asami beat Omori Ran and Mukai Chiaki in the female Meijin league. Demotion is close for Omori (0-3).

And the other Ueno, Risa, is doing pretty well. She beat Xie Yimin in the prelims of the Aidu Cup, and Mukai Chiaki in the prelim of the female Honinbo. Risa has qualified for the main event. She was there last year too, but now she qualified beating stronger opponents. Good work. I wonder how far is she from promotion.

Two more games in the Meijin league.

Nyu Eiko beat Ueno Asami. A bit of a surprise, but not so much. Nyu is getting good results and making herself heard. She is 3-1 now, and Asami is 2-1. Remember that there is a free player in each round. And more interesting: they play again next March 3rd, in the Kisei.

In the second game of the Meijin, Omori Ran lost to Mukai Chiaki. Sadly for Omori, she is 0-4 and has lost all chances to avoid demotion. Mukai is 2-2, and the fight for survival will be tough.

Ayami Suzuki is 1-2, Xie Yimin is 2-1 and Nakamura Sumire is also 2-1. Seeing that some players have played 3 games, others have played 4, I'd say that the final result is not clear at all.

The game was played. I know that Asami won, and that's all. I haven't seen the record yet.

Misc info: in the NK website, in female only tournaments, Ueno is "female Honinbo". But in the mixed tournaments, she is "4 dan".

Isn't Rina Fujisawa the female Honinbo?

My mistake.

Ueno Asami is female Kisei.

The league for the Hakata Kamachi Cup is still going, for 2 more rounds after this week. It was nice that the Nihon Kiin broadcast the match between Nyu Eiko and Xie (Hsieh) Yimin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-mpSFS7RmM. Nyu has been doing well here and even in the big tournaments. Though Xie won this game. Nyu has won 3 of 5. Xie won 3 of her 4 games (she had a bye earlier, Nyu has a bye later).

The YouTube commentator was Tajiri Yuto 5 dan. I don't think I've seen him before but it's nice that they provided commentary on these League matches also. Ueno is playing Nakamura on Thursday. Hopefully we get more games streamed this week, though I don't see any scheduled yet.

The 6th (last?) game of the Kisei is next 10-11th. All attention goes to it.

With Xie's win, the league gets close. Both Asami and Sumire are 2-1, so one of them will have 3 wins after Thursday, like Nyu and Xie. The other one, with 2 loses, will have to be careful.
Mukai (2-2) and Suzuki (1-2) play next Thursday too, and the loser will be in serious trouble.

I just realized... I can't seem to find if the female titles are for all Japanese professionals or for NK members only. Does anyone know?

Take care

_________________
一碁一会

Kansai Kiin pros play in the female tournaments too.

But I think that their level is lower, so they don't get to the main rounds. Or not yet. Someday, someone like Yu Zhengqi 8d might appear.

Choi Jeong beat Park Junghwan in Korean Baduk League on Saturday. Park Junghwan is #2 in Korea and was in particularly good form, having won 14 of his previous 15 games. This was Choi Jeong's first win against Park Junghwan (having lost their previous six encounters), so it is quite a notable result.

Another round in the female Meijin league.

Sumire beat Asami (first time!), and Suzuki beat Mukai.

With these results, Sumire is 3-1, and becomes a serious candidate to challenger. Xie Yimin is also 3-1 after beating Nyu Eiko. Sumire has to play Nyu Eiko and Xie has to play Asami. If Asami beats Xie, she might help Sumire. And if Nyu beats Sumire in her last game, she might still have a chance to become the challenger.

Things are complicated. Just for the record, last year Nyu could avoid demotion with 3 loses, and the Asami+Ayumi, with 1 loss, played a play-off. Xie Yimin's 2 loses were too many. This year, the challenger might lose 2 games.

Nyu vs Sumire isn't Sumire's last game (although it is Nyu's last game). Sumire's last game is against Mukai Chiaki 6p.

If Nyu beats Sumire in her last game (in Nyu's last game), she (Nyu) might still have a chance.

In this case, Nyu would finish 4-2. Sumire would be 3-2 and with a game to play (against Mukai). If Asami beats Xie, Asami would be 3-2 and also with a game to play (Ayumi) and Xie would be 3-2, with a game to play... against Omori Ran. If Omori loses against Xie and Ayumi (sorry, but...), Xie would finish 4-2. Ayumi has to beat Asami to finish 4-2.

But if Xie beats Asami (and Omori), she would finish 5-1. Sumire needs to win both of his remaining games, starting with Nyu. There are many ways that more than one player finishes with 4-2.

So, Asami beating Xie helps Sumire. Many things can happen. Actually, 5 players still have chances to become the challenger. And if Omori wins one game, it might have an important effect.

Or not.

Seems like we aren't going to get anymore live streams and commentary for these league matches. I only see Pair Go, Kisei, and Judan lined up. Maybe it will be covered in print.
Funny that I said this just a few days ago because I just watched an entire lecture by Tajiri Yuto 5 dan from the Nihon Kiin Overseas division.

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Update: I stumbled upon the schedule on the Nihon Kiin site and indeed there is no live stream. Still, two more of the Women's Meijin league games will be broadcast on the Yugen no Ma server: Xie v. Omori and Nakamura v. Mukai. I believe that most broadcast games on the server require a membership. But since it is broadcast that means that the record will show up somewhere sometime soon... I just checked my 2021 Go Yearbook and it seems like the league matches are not included for the Women's Meijin and so on. I wonder if they are published, and where. Maybe in Go Weekly? I stopped subscribing to Kindle Unlimited but Weekly/Monthly Go but recent back-issues are on there for free.

Nakamura vs. Nyu will be broadcasted too. Tomorrow (17th).

The game is quite important. If Nakamura wins, she will be closer to the challenge (4-1 + 1 game to play, Mukai), and Nyu will finish 3-3, and maybe demoted. But if Nyu wins, she will be 4-2, with chances to be the challenger, and Sumire will be 3-2, risking demotion in the last game.

Actually, right now, Omori Ran is demoted and Mukai Chikai is close, but could still survive. Other than that, nothing is decided yet.

So all the remaining games are important.

One thing you may not be aware of is that Japanese leagues usually operate on a ranking system. Your initial place in the league depends on what place you finished last time, and any newcomers come in in joint bottom place. In this case, there are four seeded players, ranked 1 to 4, and three new qualifiers, all ranked 5. This ranking is called upon in the case of ties at the end, so that if Player A ranked 2 gets a top score of 5-2 and Player B also scores 5-2 but is ranked 5, Player A wins the league. The same system operates for demotions, and in the following year the title holder takes rank 1 if he/she loses the title, and the rest take their places according to how they finished, assuming they avoid demotion.

The Women's Meijin has only become a league this year, so we need to wait and see whether this system will operate in full or in part (e.g. sometimes demotions depend on rank but a tie for first place elicits a playoff game). But if it operates as normal, it stacks the odds against Sumire.

I am aware of this.

In the Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo leagues, sometimes you can see "league rating" or something like that. In this case, last year there was a play-off for the challenge. But read in twitter, when Sumire beat Asami, that she might be on course for a play-off. I might be wrong.

Mukai is 2-3, she might beat Sumire and end 3-3. Sumire would be 3-2 and one game to play. If Sumire loses to Nyu too, she would be 3-3. And below Mukai for the rating reason.

Ayami and Asami have to play each other. Both are now 2-2, so one will be 2-3 and 1 game to play, and might end 2-4 (demotion). The other, 3-2, will already be safe. Asami has to play Xie too, in a game where Xie might get to become the challenger, or not, and Asami might be fighting for survive, or not.

In this scenario, Omori, Asami and Sumire, could be demoted. Not quite likely, but not impossible. The chance of multiple 4-2 is small, but exists.

On the other hand, if Sumire beats Nyu, Sumire would be safe (4-1) and Mukai would be demoted (2-3) before playing each other the last day. Sumire would have to play an opponent that risks nothing and go for, at least, a play-off with Xie. If there is one, of course.

Sumire needs Asami to beat Xie, but Asami also needs Sumire to beat Nyu.

A lot of "might" in this post.