Yu Zhengqi

[macelee]

We should give more attention to this Japanese new star. At age of 18, he just managed to secure a seat in the Honinbo League, the youngest ever player to do so. This earned him a direct promotion to 7-dan from 3-dan.

This was not about one-time luck. He also entered this year's Shinjin O tournament final. And he was eliminated from the Tengen tournament only at semi-final stage. He scored a winning streak of 18 games recently.

He was originally from Taiwan.

His game collection is at: http://www.go4go.net/go/games/byplayer/1114

[logan]

Couple of more players like this. For example, Ichiriki Ryo with a 16-game win streak, wherein he defeated Cho Chikun, Kono Rin, Michael Redmond, Nakamura Shinya, O Rissei, Yamashiro Hiroshi and Yuki Satoshi; and a record of 20-2 so far this year.

There may also be another professional. He qualified as a professional in Taiwan but declined, then went to Japan and qualified & accepted there. I can't remember his name.

[gustav]

Yu Zhengqi: his profile page at Kansai Ki-in gives his name as Yo Seiki. That's the Japanese way to pronounce his name, I guess, and possibly the way he will be referred to in the future. In the same way as we know Cho U by his Japanese name.

[hyperpape]

Lest year, I started making a list: http://senseis.xmp.net/?Hyperpapeterie% ... esePlayers. Both Ichiriki Ryo and Yu Zhengqi were on there.

Just going by age, we're due for a new crop of players. With the glaring exception of Iyama Yuta, most of the top Japanese players are over 30, sometimes even 40. Of course longer times at the top are typical of Japan, but today's players are not especially young by even Japanese standards.

But predictions are a crapshoot, at least without a better overview of the information than I had. A few years ago, Ko Iso set a record for entry into the Meijin league. He looked really promising, and he still could be really good. But right now, he's 25 and he hasn't shown it.

[HermanHiddema]

@hyperpape: Perhaps Kotaro Seki is a good addition to your list? He just won the under 12 division at the World Youth Goe Championship, the first ever Japanese player to do so. The list of former winners contains some big names (E.g. Chang Hao, Gu Li and Park Jung-hwan)

[hyperpape]

This morning I was poking around and saw that my comment that "we're due" is not quite right. If you look at the cohort that appeared at the top around 1975, they dominated the tournament scene much longer than the current cohort.

But it is also true that the folks at the top aren't particularly young: look at the title holders in 1975 or 2003, when a new crop of players were startaing to win titles. In those cases, you had many or even most titleholders in their twenties, perhaps even below 25. Today, that's true, but only because Iyama is winning everything. The players he is beating in title matches are 33 (Cho U), 35 (Yamashita), 37 (Takao, Hane), 41 (Yuki).* Not ancient at all, but there's little other new blood.

Herman: he definitely could qualify. And to say something that isn't heavily emphasized on that page: you're welcome to add to it. I haven't been looking a lot at the prelims these days.

* Except of course for those pesky off by one errors you get with ages.

[macelee]

19-year-old Ida Atsushi has secured the last seat for this year's Honinbo league. It is nice to have some fresh faces in the league. Another direct promotion to 7-dan.

A small collection of Ida's game is at http://www.go4go.net/go/games/byplayer/1188