Amazon army

[Ferran]

I just realized... I can't seem to find if the female titles are for all Japanese professionals or for NK members only. Does anyone know?

Take care

[pajaro]

Kansai Kiin pros play in the female tournaments too.

But I think that their level is lower, so they don't get to the main rounds. Or not yet. Someday, someone like Yu Zhengqi 8d might appear.

[gazzawhite]

Choi Jeong beat Park Junghwan in Korean Baduk League on Saturday. Park Junghwan is #2 in Korea and was in particularly good form, having won 14 of his previous 15 games. This was Choi Jeong's first win against Park Junghwan (having lost their previous six encounters), so it is quite a notable result.

[pajaro]

Another round in the female Meijin league.

Sumire beat Asami (first time!), and Suzuki beat Mukai.

With these results, Sumire is 3-1, and becomes a serious candidate to challenger. Xie Yimin is also 3-1 after beating Nyu Eiko. Sumire has to play Nyu Eiko and Xie has to play Asami. If Asami beats Xie, she might help Sumire. And if Nyu beats Sumire in her last game, she might still have a chance to become the challenger.

Things are complicated. Just for the record, last year Nyu could avoid demotion with 3 loses, and the Asami+Ayumi, with 1 loss, played a play-off. Xie Yimin's 2 loses were too many. This year, the challenger might lose 2 games.

[gazzawhite]

Sumire has to play Nyu Eiko and Xie has to play Asami. If Asami beats Xie, she might help Sumire. And if Nyu beats Sumire in her last game, she might still have a chance to become the challenger.

Nyu vs Sumire isn't Sumire's last game (although it is Nyu's last game). Sumire's last game is against Mukai Chiaki 6p.

[pajaro]

Sumire has to play Nyu Eiko and Xie has to play Asami. If Asami beats Xie, she might help Sumire. And if Nyu beats Sumire in her last game, she might still have a chance to become the challenger.

Nyu vs Sumire isn't Sumire's last game (although it is Nyu's last game). Sumire's last game is against Mukai Chiaki 6p.

If Nyu beats Sumire in her last game (in Nyu's last game), she (Nyu) might still have a chance.

In this case, Nyu would finish 4-2. Sumire would be 3-2 and with a game to play (against Mukai). If Asami beats Xie, Asami would be 3-2 and also with a game to play (Ayumi) and Xie would be 3-2, with a game to play... against Omori Ran. If Omori loses against Xie and Ayumi (sorry, but...), Xie would finish 4-2. Ayumi has to beat Asami to finish 4-2.

But if Xie beats Asami (and Omori), she would finish 5-1. Sumire needs to win both of his remaining games, starting with Nyu. There are many ways that more than one player finishes with 4-2.

So, Asami beating Xie helps Sumire. Many things can happen. Actually, 5 players still have chances to become the challenger. And if Omori wins one game, it might have an important effect.

Or not.

[CDavis7M]

Seems like we aren't going to get anymore live streams and commentary for these league matches. I only see Pair Go, Kisei, and Judan lined up. Maybe it will be covered in print.

The YouTube commentator was Tajiri Yuto 5 dan. I don't think I've seen him before but it's nice that they provided commentary on these League matches also.

Funny that I said this just a few days ago because I just watched an entire lecture by Tajiri Yuto 5 dan from the Nihon Kiin Overseas division.

----------

Update: I stumbled upon the schedule on the Nihon Kiin site and indeed there is no live stream. Still, two more of the Women's Meijin league games will be broadcast on the Yugen no Ma server: Xie v. Omori and Nakamura v. Mukai. I believe that most broadcast games on the server require a membership. But since it is broadcast that means that the record will show up somewhere sometime soon... I just checked my 2021 Go Yearbook and it seems like the league matches are not included for the Women's Meijin and so on. I wonder if they are published, and where. Maybe in Go Weekly? I stopped subscribing to Kindle Unlimited but Weekly/Monthly Go but recent back-issues are on there for free.

[pajaro]

Still, two more of the Women's Meijin league games will be broadcast on the Yugen no Ma server: Xie v. Omori and Nakamura v. Mukai.

Nakamura vs. Nyu will be broadcasted too. Tomorrow (17th).

The game is quite important. If Nakamura wins, she will be closer to the challenge (4-1 + 1 game to play, Mukai), and Nyu will finish 3-3, and maybe demoted. But if Nyu wins, she will be 4-2, with chances to be the challenger, and Sumire will be 3-2, risking demotion in the last game.

Actually, right now, Omori Ran is demoted and Mukai Chikai is close, but could still survive. Other than that, nothing is decided yet.

So all the remaining games are important.

[John Fairbairn]

Actually, right now, Omori Ran is demoted and Mukai Chikai is close, but could still survive. Other than that, nothing is decided yet.

One thing you may not be aware of is that Japanese leagues usually operate on a ranking system. Your initial place in the league depends on what place you finished last time, and any newcomers come in in joint bottom place. In this case, there are four seeded players, ranked 1 to 4, and three new qualifiers, all ranked 5. This ranking is called upon in the case of ties at the end, so that if Player A ranked 2 gets a top score of 5-2 and Player B also scores 5-2 but is ranked 5, Player A wins the league. The same system operates for demotions, and in the following year the title holder takes rank 1 if he/she loses the title, and the rest take their places according to how they finished, assuming they avoid demotion.

The Women's Meijin has only become a league this year, so we need to wait and see whether this system will operate in full or in part (e.g. sometimes demotions depend on rank but a tie for first place elicits a playoff game). But if it operates as normal, it stacks the odds against Sumire.

[pajaro]

I am aware of this.

In the Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo leagues, sometimes you can see "league rating" or something like that. In this case, last year there was a play-off for the challenge. But read in twitter, when Sumire beat Asami, that she might be on course for a play-off. I might be wrong.

Mukai is 2-3, she might beat Sumire and end 3-3. Sumire would be 3-2 and one game to play. If Sumire loses to Nyu too, she would be 3-3. And below Mukai for the rating reason.

Ayami and Asami have to play each other. Both are now 2-2, so one will be 2-3 and 1 game to play, and might end 2-4 (demotion). The other, 3-2, will already be safe. Asami has to play Xie too, in a game where Xie might get to become the challenger, or not, and Asami might be fighting for survive, or not.

In this scenario, Omori, Asami and Sumire, could be demoted. Not quite likely, but not impossible. The chance of multiple 4-2 is small, but exists.

On the other hand, if Sumire beats Nyu, Sumire would be safe (4-1) and Mukai would be demoted (2-3) before playing each other the last day. Sumire would have to play an opponent that risks nothing and go for, at least, a play-off with Xie. If there is one, of course.

Sumire needs Asami to beat Xie, but Asami also needs Sumire to beat Nyu.

A lot of "might" in this post.

[pajaro]

Today, Nakamura Sumire beat Nyu Eiko in the female Meijin league. Sumire is 4-1 and will play Mukai Chikai the last day. Nyu ends 3-3. If there is a play-off for demotion, Mukai needs to beat Sumire. If not, she is already demoted, because she ranks lower than the remaining players.

Suzuki Ayumi beat Omori ran, too. This means Suzuki is 3-2, will play Ueno Asami the last day, and if both Xie and Sumire lose their final games, she could still be the challenger if she beats Asami.

Ueno Asami has to play Xie Yimin and Suzuki Ayumi. Ueno might not be the challenger, but might be the deciding factor. Only Sumire and Xie can end 5-1.

According to this post:
https://twitter.com/asahi_igo/status/15 ... 1190153222

there could be a play-off. Asahi is the sponsor of the Meijin, not the female Meijin. But perhaps they know about the play-off.

[CDavis7M]

Nyu and Nakamura's game is on Go4Go. I can see that it was broadcast on the U-Gen server but I can't access it without a subscription. I had a trial subscription but that is gone. Does anyone know if there is commentary on Nakamura's game in U-Gen like how there is commentary on the Kisei game?

The variation diagrams (I'm assuming) on U-gen don't work for me though.

[gazzawhite]

According to this post:
https://twitter.com/asahi_igo/status/15 ... 1190153222

there could be a play-off. Asahi is the sponsor of the Meijin, not the female Meijin. But perhaps they know about the play-off.

There was a playoff last year when Ueno Asami and Suzuki Ayumi both finished on 5-1. So I don't see why the same wouldn't happen this year.

[pajaro]

There was a playoff last year when Ueno Asami and Suzuki Ayumi both finished on 5-1. So I don't see why the same wouldn't happen this year.

The league started last year. Until then, it was a knock-out tournament. So there was no previous history, ratings of the league, etc.

Is one year enough to have a history? I don't know. Until the end of this league, perhaps we won't know 100% sure.

[pajaro]

One more day in the female Meijin league, two more games played.

Nakamura Sumire beat Mukai Chiaki, B+0.5. Closer than it seemed. With this, Sumire will, at least, play a play-off, and Chiaki (2-4) is demoted.

Xie Yimin beat Omori Ran. This result was expected. Now Xie is 4-1 and has to play Ueno Asami next week. If Xie wins, she will finish the league 5-1 and will play a play-off with Sumire. Also, in this case, Asami will be 2-3, and risks demotion. But if Xie loses to Asami, Sumire will become the youngest challenger ever. Ueno will be 3-2, like Ayumi, and they will fight to avoid a play-off demotion with Nyu Eiko who, btw, has beaten both of them in this league. The last game, Ueno Asami-Suzuki Ayami, can be dramatic.

Omori Ran was demoted before today.

The female Honinbo prelims are also ongoing.
Nakazawa Ayako 5-dan beat Kato Tomoko 6-dan, Nyu Eiko 4-dan beat Mori Chisaki 1-dan, and Tatsumi Akane 3-dan beat Hane Ayaka 1-dan.

There were other games today, but I don't know the results.

All these winners (and others), will play the main event.