Following Iyama Yuta (no world ranking discussions)

[dsatkas]

I don't get it why Motoki keeps resigning so early...

[Uberdude]

Iyama beat Motoki Katsuya in the 3rd Honinbo title match game by resign, so just 1 more win to hold the Honinbo.

I don't get it why Motoki keeps resigning so early...

Well, that double peep of Iyama is devastating (though pretty obvious, so I don't understand why he didn't push instead of knight's move), he can't keep all his bits connected. But also being the much weaker player in your first big final is tough on the nerves, and would require a great deal of fortitude to keep on fighting in a bad position. Plus there is some bad aji in white's top left corner.

72nd Japanese Honinbo, title match #3 Iyama Yuta 9p (Black) vs. Motoki Katsuya 8p (White) B+R

$$B
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O X X . . X . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . X O O . . O X X O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X X X O O . O O O O O X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X O O X X O X O X X X . X . |
$$ | . . . O O X O O O X X X X O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . O O X O . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . O X . . X X O O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X O O X . X . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O O X O . X . . , 1 . . . . , . . . |
$$ | X O O X O . X O . O . . O . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . O X X . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . X X O . X O . X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O X . O . . . O X . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O O . O X O X . . O X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O X . . , O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . X X X . X X . . . . . X . . X . . . |
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$$ +---------------------------------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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$$ | . . . O X X . . X . . . O X . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . X O O X X O X O X X X . X . |
$$ | . . . O O X O O O X X X X O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . O O X O . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . O X . . X X O O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X O O X . X . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O O X O . X . . , 1 . . . . , . . . |
$$ | X O O X O . X O . O . . O . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . O X X . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . X X O . X O . X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O X . O . . . O X . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O O . O X O X . . O X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O X . . , O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . X X X . X X . . . . . X . . X . . . |
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$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

[pookpooi]

Iyama Yuta successfully defends Honinbo title. I think he's doing very good after disappointing result from world go championship. His rating also reaches a new high.

[Uberdude]

Iyama did well to get 2 wins in the LG cup, but Motoki was hardly stiff opposition for the Honinbo so I wouldn't say beating him was "very good" but expected, dropping more than 1 game would be a disappointment, and losing the title a huge upset. goratings puts him at #115 with 3292 (maybe he's on good form though as he won Honingo league) so Iyama's win rate per game at 80% or 42% for 4-0. Personally I think that 80% could be too low given the psychological pressure of playing the top dog in your first 2-day-game title match.

[dsatkas]

Don't get me wrong, i really the guy, from the way he places the stones to his games, with the fighting and whatnot...if only he would play more in the international scene...

[Uberdude]

Iyama beat Yamashita Keigo 3-0 to defend his Gosei title. The last game had a huge kill.

[hyperpape]

He's also now cinched his place as the meijin challenger: he beat Murakawa Daisuke to give himself a 7-0 record. There's one more game against Yu Zhengqi, but every other player has at least three wins.

Earlier this year, he had some shaky results, but he's had great results these past few months.

[photonic]

Iyama lost to Takao Shinji by 0.5 in the first game of the 42nd Meijin title match:

http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match_news/m ... 42_20.html

[Uberdude]

Iyama lost to Fan Yunruo 6d (goratings #18 3479, one of the many rising young Chinese players) in the 1st round of the 22nd Samsung Cup main tournament. It's double elimination, so he's not out yet, but a disappointing start to one of his rare international excursions.

[pookpooi]

6d or 6p?

[Uberdude]

6 dan pro (amateurs aren't going to be world #18), the pro is kinda implicit but yeah I'm not consistent as I do sometimes write 'p'.

[xiayun]

His group is pretty weak comparing to some of the other groups, so he should still win the next two matches and advance, assuming Fan doesn't get careless against Song.

[Uberdude]

Although Iyama beat Mateusz as expected, Song beat Fan (26% chance by goratings.org) so it's an Iyama vs Fan rematch to decide who advances.

[Uberdude]

Iyama won the rematch so progresses to the round of 16. Glad we get to see more of him.

[pookpooi]

I am so happy. After World Go Championship people are afraid that Iyama Yuta can't keep up with international level. But he proved himself in LG cup round 1-2 and Samsung Cup group A too. It's still very early to celebrate though.