Ida vs. Yamashita in Playoff for Honinbo Challenger

[ez4u]

Yesterday (4/3) 20-year old Ida Atsushi 7p beat Yamashita Keigo by half a point as White in the final round of the Honinbo League. As a result the two tied for the top spot with 6-1 scores. There will be a playoff on Monday to decide the challenger. Until now it has looked like we would see Iyama - Yamashita in all the majors this year (and we still might) as Yamashita had reeled off six straight wins in the Honinbo and is the only undefeated player in the Meijin League. I'll be rooting for Ida on Monday just for the sake of variety!

[hyperpape]

Not just variety but for the future! Yamashita is a known quantity, but we can root for one of the 20 and under players to mature into a rival for Iyama.

[ez4u]

According to the Nihon Ki'in website Ida won (W+5.5) to become challenger. He also earned promotion to 8p for challenging in one of the big three titles. He was 20 years old on March 15th. The match starts on May 14, 15.

[oren]

The first time Iyama will be defending against someone younger...

[logan]

Cool, can't wait : )

[Mithfalath]

Ida has been showing good results recently. Hope this will be a good series.