Life In 19x19

I am always surprised that Cho Chikun's name doesn't automatically come up in every discussion of people who have held multiple big titles simultaneously. Maybe it was too long ago and we have just forgotten.

Cho Chikun held the Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, and Judan titles simultaneously in 1983 (or 82?).

In terms of prestige, the Kisei (largest prize, Shuko's claim to being the strongest in Japan), Meijin (traditional title of the strongest player since the Edo era), and Honinbo (oldest title, named after the strongest go family of the Edo era) are a notch above the four other big Japanese titles.

That aside, Iyama Yuta plays a fun game. Perhaps he can win an international title. He's already proven that he can beat the top international players.

lemmata wrote:Cho Chikun held the Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, and Judan titles simultaneously in 1983 (or 82?).

he repeated it in 1996. and afterwards kept all three for three years. see senseis. pretty strong guy.

i can easily imagine we would remind ourselves Iyama in a similar way in 20 or 30 years from now.

So, now that Iyama Yuta has obtained the Honinbo title, what do y'all think the likelihood of him sweeping Hane Naoki for the Gosei is? In my opinion, I believe he'll take it in 3, but I'm biased.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:

hailthorn011 wrote:... he'll sweep Hane Naoki.

I'd never count Hane Naoki out until the last dame. Remember the 2008 Honinbo? He was down 3-0 in best of seven. He then beat Takao 4 straight to take the title.

And he won last year's Gosei with 3 straight wins - after being down 0-2.

Iyama Yuta wins against Hane Naoki in Game 3 by Resignation! He now holds the Gosei, Honinbo, Judan, and Tengen titles!

And here's the game, folks. Iyama Yuta is dominating Japan right now, it appears.

Younggil's published his commentary of the final Honinbo game.

He explained why Yamashita chose to start the ko that I asked about above so early. I would've played one of the other variations

It's a really unusual game. Perhaps it will be viewed as a classic in the future?