Following Iyama Yuta (no world ranking discussions)

[kimidori]

Lian Xiao just beat him!

I don't understand 131, it seems to me that 132 is bigger, and also why did W reply at 134, do I miss something? Also for 147, isn't capturing the isolated W stone on 2nd line bigger? Or can W press B down and gain enough point. I slightly prefer W at that moment, but the game should be still playable.

[John Fairbairn]

Iyama is playing Lian Xiao of China today, but what event? Maybe Meijin vs Mingren match?

I call it the Super Meijin, following Japanese practice - World Meijin sounds as if it could be open to anyone but Super Meijin carries the nuance of it being a very restricted invitational better. And it's not an annual match-up of the current Meijins, unfortunately.

You may recall that Iyama both won and lost in the final of the last term in 2015. His opponent had a seki with a point inside and under Japanese rules Iyama won, to the premature delight of watching Japanese fans, but the game was played in China, so he lost.

Apart from that, Iyama has never quite cut the mustard in this event despite having reasonably generous time limits of 2.5 hours.

[Uberdude]

I don't understand 131, it seems to me that 132 is bigger, and also why did W reply at 134, do I miss something? Also for 147, isn't capturing the isolated W stone on 2nd line bigger? Or can W press B down and gain enough point. I slightly prefer W at that moment, but the game should be still playable.

I think black didn't want to connect at 132 because it is gote, and then white gets to play first on the right side (the last big macro endgame point - tedomari) : this whole sequence is a battle for black to get sente to play at 135. At first it looked to me like black's plan with 123 was to create an eye option at h14, which would mean white's blocking at 132 wouldn't be sente (black would have miai for 2nd eye on 2nd line and centre at h14, assuming white would cut f15 (is this false assumption?). But black 129 ruined that h14 (maybe) half eye, but did make the capture of 4 stones sente (yes there is something inside if white tenukis).

P.S. As the Korean Myeongin is defunct ( ), does this mean the event is already over and Lian Xiao wins?

[Vesa]

P.S. As the Korean Myeongin is defunct ( ), does this mean the event is already over and Lian Xiao wins?

I guess Lee Sedol qualifies as the eternal Myeongin... See http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match_news/m ... 810_1.html

Cheers,
Vesa

[Uberdude]

Iyama lost to Lee Sedol too.

[EdLee]

[macelee]

I don't like the "Super Meijin" translation. While it may be a more sensible use of language, the sponsor chose the name "世界围棋名人争霸赛“ so we should respect that. And this is an event with a Chinese sponsor so there's no reason to use a Japanese practice.

[Uberdude]

As winner of the OGS Meijin tournament can I play too?

[macelee]

As winner of the OGS Meijin tournament can I play too?

Yes I think so. I was the Meijin of my university department so I can play too.

[Uberdude]

Lee Sedol managed to beat Lian Xiao in the final. I thought he was behind following a ko trade on the top side but he kept the game scrappy and killed a group at the end.

[Uberdude]

Iyama begins his Kisei title defence today, also against Ichiriki Ryo, who beat Yamashita in the challenger decider. I hope Ichiriki can make it a more competitive match than the whitewash he suffered in the Tengen and Oza at the end of last year. Those were his first best of 5 one day title matches, this is his first best of 7 two day match. As his play deteriorated when he got into overtime hopefully he can make good use of the extra time. Here's the position at the end of the 1st day, I feel like Iyama should be able to either settle the right side group or munch the corner without too much trouble:

$$Bc Iyama Yuta (white) vs Ichiriki Ryo
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . O O . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . a . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . X . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . O X . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O X . O , . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X . X X O O . . . . . . X . . B . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Iyama Yuta (white) vs Ichiriki Ryo
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . O O . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . a . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . X . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . O X . X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O X . O , . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X . X X O O . . . . . . X . . B . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Update: Iyama won by resign. If John were to write a book on this match, I think this might be "the one with the wishy-washy ko threats" . Iyama got his group on the right out to centre safety, in sente no less, so he tenukid to grow the top at a. Ichirki invaded and his group ended up a ko which Iyama started and immediately won, ignoring a threat on the right side group that wasn't clean. It squirmed out to saftey via another ko, which Iyama won again for another wishy-washy threat on the centre, where Iyama survived again, and then Ichiriki tenukied and got 2 moves (p17 and p18) against the top right corner (but it still wasn't dead!), Iyama gobbled some stones in the centre and then his undead upper right lived in a ko Ichiriki didn't have enough threats for so resigned. Iyama's play just felt more precise than Ichiriki's, successfully calling his bluff several times.

[goTony]

Thanks for the update on the game. Are these being broadcast live on youtube? At all? If not the Nihon Kiin is losing a real opportunity to reach GO fans.

[Zenit]

Thanks for the update on the game. Are these being broadcast live on youtube? At all? If not the Nihon Kiin is losing a real opportunity to reach GO fans.

I watched it on wbaduk, but I'm pretty sure I read comments on there saying it was broadcast on nico-nico douga. Will have to tune in myself for game 2 on the 25th!

[oren]

I watched it on wbaduk, but I'm pretty sure I read comments on there saying it was broadcast on nico-nico douga. Will have to tune in myself for game 2 on the 25th!

It was broadcast there

[pookpooi]

Ichiriki Ryo got into byoyomi again and Iyama Yuta beat him, that's his 11th consecutive wins against him.