Sugiuchi Watch

[snorri]

Any photos of that match?

[ez4u]

Not as far as I know.

[macelee]

News of Sugiuchi Kazuko - at age of 87 she beat three opponents in a row in the preliminary tournament of 34th Female Honinbo. Her latest victory was earlier today against rather strong Kato Keiko.

(;EV[34th Japanese Female Honinbo, preliminary]
DT[2015-02-12]
PB[Sugiuchi Kazuko]BR[8p]
PW[Kato Keiko]WR[6p]
KM[6.5]RE[B+R]
SO[Go4Go.net]
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[ez4u]

Yesterday Sugiuchi Masao beat Ko Mosei 9p in the Kisei qualifier. It was nothing special in age terms since Ko is a mere 38 years junior. However if Sugiuchi wins one more game, he will qualify for the inaugural C league under the new format at the age of 94!

[ez4u]

Yesterday, 2/26, Sugiuchi Masao beat Takahashi Hideo in the Meijin preliminaries. This gives him a 4-1 start in 2015 AFAIK. Since opening with a loss to Tsuneishi Takashi in the Gosei, he has beaten Sotoyanagi Sebun (Kisei), Ko Mosei (Kisei), Matsubara Taisei (Honinbo), and now Takahashi. Not bad for a 94 year old!

[DrStraw]

He's been around for so long he has probably seen every game possible and remembers them.

Very impressive, however he does it.

[tentano]

It really is amazing.

By now, he must be leaning on experience a LOT more than he can depend on being a little sharper than his opponents.

I wonder if he ever thinks "Why won't you try something NEW for a change!?" when he's winning.

[Elom]

You may know that there is even an article on tygem about him!

http://www.tygem.com/news/news/viewpage ... &findword=

He is the world's oldest active professional Go player. To think that he became a professional in 1937 sends shivers down one's spine looking at his recent record.

[John Fairbairn]

This week is the birthday of Mrs Sugiuchi - she will be 88 on 6 March 2015. This is one of the special birthdays in Japan ("rice age").

Perhaps for that reason she features in the March edition of Bungei Shunju, one of Japan's most famous magazines. She recounts the difficulties she faced in the go world, not just as a woman but as a repository for her father's hopes. He was a passionate amateur who would have loved to have been pro. Instead he allowed his three daughters to turn pro, despite advice to the contrary. All were successful, but Kazuko reached the highest grade and is of course now the world's oldest active female pro.

She was the first woman to achieve high grade in the Oteai and once got as far as a semi-final in a major event, but latterly she has restricted herself to women's tournaments.

Also featured in the magazine is Fujisawa Rina, as one of 120 women who typify Japan today.

[macelee]

There is a new game record of Sugiuchi Masao:

http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/46340

Unfortunately he lost this game and failed to enter the C league of the Kisei tournament.

[macelee]

Updates on Sugiuchi Kazuko:

Yesterday she beat Nagashima Kozue (57 years younger than her) in the preliminary of Japanese Female Honinbo tournament. The victory gives her a position in the main tournament.

http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/46492

[macelee]

Sugiuchi Masao keeps playing and actually winning:

http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/46820

[ez4u]

I confess that I have not been monitoring Sugiuchi Masao's games closely recently. However, he remains of interest and pops up in conversation fairly often as a figure of admiration among all older Japanese amateurs. Let's remember that on Tuesday (October 20th) he will celebrate his 95th birthday. Mamumamu lists him at 8 wins versus 8 losses through the end of September (ranked 203 out of 430 active pros). Unfortunately he lost in the Honinbo qualifier last Thursday and so will not have a positive record to go with his cake.

[Elom]

For a bad joke,

We should follow in the "footsteps" of Sugiuchi Sensei!

http://www.pandanet.co.jp/English/souda ... 512-1s.htm

[Elom]

It's finally happened, and a very heartwarming statement from Sugiuchi sensei, especially considering recent events.

It is as if that, no matter what is happening to the Go world, there would always be a wise Go sage giving us mysteriously related advice.

www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match_news/match_info/801595.html