Judan challenger: Iyama or Takao?

[gustav]

The game between Iyama Yuta and Takao Shinji to decide the Judan challenger has just started.
This may be the biggest hurdle for Iyama in his quest for the last remaining title. You wouldn't expect him to lose another best-of-five series against Yuki Satoshi, and he has already gotten off to a good start in his Kisei title defence.
Live updates from the game: http://mimiaka.meteor.com/live-games
Overview of Japanese titles: http://igokisen.web.fc2.com/news.html

[ez4u]

Takao spoiled the party, beating Iyama by 5.5 points. See here.

[RBerenguel]

Takao spoiled the party, beating Iyama by 5.5 points. See here.

I checked the live updates this morning and he seemed to have been behind since at least move 150. By my poor judgement, that is. I wonder if he missed the sente connection to the corner when trying to kill W's group... I thought it was a devilish plot to add thickness to kill the LL corner, but I was oblivious to the B contact stone giving an extra eye

[gustav]

A clip from just after the game, when photographers are allowed into the room.
It's hard to hear anything they are saying, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

http://youtu.be/GdR6WSjewVQ

[gustav]

(from the @asahi_igo Twitter account)

Takao: I never felt self-confident. Playing Iyama is a good opportunity to learn so I kept trying to do my best. I've been away from the titles for some time now so I will try hard [in the title match]
Iyama: The opening was difficult to assess. From the middle game on, it is clear that I kept playing sub-optimal moves. I'll have to forget about the seven titles for a while now and just do my best, one game at a time.

(something like that, my Japanese is poor)