Following Nakamura Sumire

[John Fairbairn]

she didn't seem too upset to have lost, and she is more focused on playing well rather than winning or losing. Good attitude.

I found this an interesting contrast to Osaka Naomi who is in the news today for refusing to talk to the press. In some ways I'd say Sumire is even more under media scrutiny than Naomi, and yet she sweetly answers the same trite over an over again. In this latest game the interviewer asked her about a powerful move she missed. I gather (from press reports) that Naomi's reaction o such a question would be to burst into tears and rush off her to sports psychologist. As I understand it, allowing any word equating with "loss" into the brain is seen as a trigger for actually losing. So she has to avoid anyone who may say the L word. This despite taking all the money given to her for a contract she has signed and obliges her to talk to the press. But she can afford to pay the fines. What an unhealthy attitude. I've noticed before, tennis seems to bring out the worst in people. I went to Wimbledon once. Never again.

Sumire's reaction to the L word, i.e. the move she apparently missed and caused her loss, was simply: "I noticed it but..." Doesn't seem to say much, yet we all instantly recognise the moment, which is usually 2 milliseconds after you've played the duff move. Such a simple way to relate to the fans.

For those who don't know, the C Division of the Kisei League operates on the principle of a maximum of 5 games but once you've lost three you drop out. Sumire was ahead against Mizokami 9-dan, a former title holder, so there's no reason yet to be pessimistic. Mizokami's first title was the Phoenix & Chicks Tournament. He said his appearance in this year's Kisei was his first league game for yonks (which meant he was really trying), so here he was playing the phoenix against Japan's most famous chick.

[pwaldron]

Mizokami's first title was the Phoenix & Chicks Tournament...

Is this chick in the youngster sense or the young lady sense?

[Harleqin]

Mizokami's first title was the Phoenix & Chicks Tournament...

Is this chick in the youngster sense or the young lady sense?

When I see such strange names I always assume that it's just the sponsor's name. Might be a fast food chain selling fried chicken (just guessing wildly).

[John Fairbairn]

I'll answer this one, but it will be the last time. I'm sick of the self-flagellation that is required to try and keep some life in this dying forum, and so in future, unless there is some miraculous recovery of the patient, I will limit myself to announcements.

The P & C tournament was more fully the 仁風会鳳雛戦 or the Benevolent Wind Association's P&C Tournament. The BWA was the successor to Kitani Minoru's "Saturday Kitani Club." When he died, his wife continued it, but when she died in 1991 it was continued, in both their memories, as the BWA, the BW being from a Han Emperor's remark that "a benevolent wind has an effect for 1,000 years." It was a favourite phrase of Kitani Minoru, and he used to sign boards with it, including one of the boards used in the famous Kamakura games. He also gave BW an unofficial reading of jinfu, as the expected reading jinpu would normally be understood as 'squall'.

The P & C event ran from 1992 for 9 terms, and was won by the likes of Cho U. It had an unusual format. Proper pros up to 5-dan played each other and inseis, though pro-insei games were played at no komi, and between pros the lower-ranked always took Black. It was unusual also in that the final was a public exhibition held in the Takagi Bonsai Museum.

The phoenix was Kitani and the inseis were his chicks. As a way of nurturing young talent, it was replaced in 2004 by the Nakano Cup.

The Nakano Cup was the brainchild of the head of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Literature, Nakano Koji. He had been playing a game with the poet and sumie artist Kajima Shozo, watched by Takagi Shoichi 9-dan and the go writer Akiyama Kenji. Kashima is a pupil of Takagi. In the bar afterwards, conversation turned to how Japan's youngsters could catch up with the Koreans. Nakano declared that Japan's best young players were not coming through soon enough, in their teens. He backed up his opinion with an offer to fund a small tournament for teenagers. Go Weekly backed him, and three months later the show was on the road, in April 2004.

Regrettably, just before the first event was won by Seto Taiki, Nakano died, on 16 July 2004. Looking back now, it may seem that his venture has failed, but the next three terms were won by the then unknown Iyama Yuta.

[You don't get this kind of information on reddit.]

Since this will also be the last time I post new about Sumire, I'll leave with an apposite photo:

[Ember]

I'll answer this one, but it will be the last time. I'm sick of the self-flagellation that is required to try and keep some life in this dying forum, and so in future, unless there is some miraculous recovery of the patient, I will limit myself to announcements.

Since this will also be the last time I post new about Sumire, I'll leave with an apposite photo:

Very sad to read this... I must admit I'm on the pretty much reader-only-side, too, but I love this forum as a reader and always highly enjoyed your posts as they gave insights into the history of this beautiful game and the Japanese culture I'm much interested in that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else because auf the language barrier. I thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all the information you gave us over the years, I'll miss those stories... Maybe, if you're still willing to share, you could write something for the European Go Journal or in some other way that is not frustrating for you? It'd be sad if no one heard those stories again..

[pajaro]

I'll answer this one, but it will be the last time. I'm sick of the self-flagellation that is required to try and keep some life in this dying forum, and so in future, unless there is some miraculous recovery of the patient, I will limit myself to announcements.

Yes, quite a loss. I am new to this forum and appreciate your knowledge. So for what it's worth, I thank you.

Today Sumire played (and won) the last game of the prelims in the 60 Judan against Nakane Naoyuki 9p. From what I could see, all other games of the prelims were played long ago. Maybe it was because of Sumire's schedule, school life or because it was played in Nagoya, but it was delayed for several weeks/days. Also... Naoyuki has a life and a career too. This said, the next step is the preliminary tournament A, with tough opponents, like the Kisei.

Why all preliminary tournaments have "preliminary" in their name, I don't know.

[jlt]

I think that John regrets that there is not much discussion going on here, and the forum is often a superposition of monologues.

On the other hand, I also appreciate him very much, and I also appreciate to read contributions of other forum members, so I wouldn't say the forum is dead; it is at least alive by seki.

[silviu22]

Sumire lost to Ryoya Takeshita (1p, 16yrs) on June 10 in Gosei 47 prelims.

May games:

• 1. Defeated Torii TORII, Yuta (3p) on 5/6 in Kisei prelims. Huge win, made it to a main major tournament for the first time.
  2. Defeated Nyu Eiko (3p) on May 9 in 2nd round of Female Honimbo 40.
  3. Defeated HORIMOTO, Mitsunari (5p) in Judan 60 prelims on May 13. Big win
  4. Lost to Komatsu Hideki (9p) on May 20 in Meiji prelims
  5. Lost to Mizokami Tomochika(9d) on May 27 in Kisei 46 C league

June games:

• 1. Defeated Naoyuki Nakane (9p, 48) in Judan 60 prelims B. Made it to the next stage of Judan prelims for the first time.
  2. Lost to Lost to Ryoya Takeshita (1p, 16yrs) on June 10 in Gosei 47 prelims.

Here is a summary of all her tournaments (she is out of tournaments with black names). She is still active in tournaments with red names:

Majors tournaments (eligible for prize money rule and promotion by wins):

• • Kisei 46 - Defeated Ha Youngil (6p, 35 years old, rating 3040, #530) on Feb 4, 2021, Tajima Shingo (但馬　慎吾, 6p, 2879, #805) on March 11, Hara Masakazu (原　正和 3p, 23 yrs, 3059, #495) on Apr 14 and TORII, Yuta (3p, 28yrs, 2964, #668) in last game of prelims on May 6, 2021 to make it to C league. Lost to Mizokami Tomochika(9d) on May 27 in 1st round of C league.
  • Meijin 47 - Defeated Okada Yumiko 6p on Apr 5, 2021 and NOBUTA, Shigehito (信田　成仁六段 6p, 60 yrs) on Apr 22. Lost to Hideki Komatsu (9p) on May 20, 2021. See Tokyo 16 in https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/meijin/047.html. Meijin 48 should start Apr 2022.
  • Honimbo 77 - eliminated on Dec 3, 2020. Honimbo 78 should start around Oct 2021?.
  • Oza 70 - Will play Endo, Yoshifumi (8p) in 1st round of prelims. Oza 71 should start in May 2022
  • Tengen 48 - Will play Atti Tormanen (1p) in 1st round. See Tokyo 23 https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/tengen/048.html
  • Gosei 47 - Defeated Rafif Shidqi Fitrah (フィトラRS, 1p, 18 yrs) in first round of qualifying on March 29. Lost to Ryoya Takeshita (竹下　凌矢) 1p on June 10, 2021 so she is out of Gosei 47. See Tokyo 4. Gosei 48 should start March 2022.
  • Judan 60 - defeated Minematsu Matsaki (6p, 2698, 57yr old) in first round of qualifying C on Jan 21, 2021, SAKAGUCHI, Ryuzo, 9p on Apr 15, GOTO, Shungo (8p, 2979, #645) on Apr 29, HORIMOTO, Mitsunari (5p, 31yrs, 3037) on May 13 and Naoyuki Nakane (9p, 48yrs, 2940) on June 3, 2021 to make it out of prelims B & C. Will play MURAMOTO, Wataru (3p, 24 yrs) in first round of prelims A. See Chubu frame 8 https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/jyudan/060.html

Mixed tournaments counting towards promotion by wins:

• • Kiryama (aka Agon) 28 - defeated Yasufumi Tahara (7p, 46yrs, 2714, #1000) on Mar 1st and MATSUBARA Taisei (6p, 49yrs, 2772, #948) on Mar 15 but lost to Koyama Kuya (4p, 24 yrs, 3171, #332) that same day. So she is out of Kiryama 28. Kiryama 29 should start Feb 2022.
  • Ryusei 30 - Defeated Araki Issei 4P on June 29, 2020 in final of prelim B. Lost to Nakano Shoya 1p in Prelim A. Ryusei 31 should start in April-Jun 2021?
  • Hiroshima 15 (Young Carp). Eliminated in Nov 2020. Hiroshima 16 should start Sept 2021.
  • Okage (Thanks Cup) 11 - eliminated on Apr 6, 2020 by Xie Yimmin. Okage 12 should have started in March 2021
  • SGW Nakajima 3 - did not participate? SGW 4 should start in Aug 2021
  • Globis Cup 8 lost to Miura Taro 1p on Apr 19, 2021. Globis Cup 9 should start Apr 2022.

Women-only or other tournaments not counting for promotion:

• • Shinjin (King of New Stars) 46 - eliminated in Nov 16, 2020. Shinjin 47 should start in Nov 2021.
  • Okan (Crown) Cup - Not eligible (seems to be for Nagoya branch only).
  • Kansai Go open 1: eliminated in Nov 2020 in the semifinal of class C (this was in main tournament). Kansai Open 2 might start Sept 2021 (but she might not be eligible to play anymore).
  • Wakatake 5: Lost to Hiroki Muramatsu 6p in first round on Nov 29, 2020. Her opponent eventually ended up in 3rd place. It seems to be Kansai only, so she will probably not play in it next year.
  • Female Honimbo 40: Defeated Saeka Iwata 1p on Jan 25, 2021, Takao Mari (髙雄　茉莉, 1p, 19 yrs) on Feb 18 in prelims. Defeated Yukari Yoshihara (吉原由香里 6p 48 yrs) on April 1st in first round. Defeated Nyu Eiko (3p) on May 9, 2021 in 2nd round. See https://gotoeveryone.k2ss.info/news/jp/fhoninbo/40.
  • Female Meijin 32: defeated Akiko Tsukuda 5p (2741) on Jan 7, 2021 but lost to Ueno Asami in last qualifying game on the same day. Female Meijin 33 should start in Nov 2021?
  • Female Aizu (aka Tachiaoi) 8: Won 1st qualifying game vs Chiharu Miyamoto 1p on Dec 17. Won 2nd vs Fumiko Sakakibara 6p on Jan 18, 2021. Won 3rd vs Akane Tatsuni (辰己　茜, 3p, 38yrs) on Feb 11. Defeated Wang Jing Yi (王　景怡, 3p, 35yrs, 2769, #934) on March 18 in last qualifying game, so she has made it to the main tournament. Defeated Konishi Kazuko (8p, 49yrs) in 1st round on Apr 28. Will play Nyu Eiko 3p in 2nd round. See https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/aidu/008.html
  • Female Kisei 24 - Lost in 2nd round of main tournament to Aoki Kikuyo 8p on Oct 26. Kisei 25 should start July 2021.
  • Female Senko/Saikyo 6: Defeated Tamura Chiaki (田村　千明, 3p, 42yrs, 2648, #1029) in 2nd round of qualifying on Mar 10th. Defeated Hiromi Mizuno 5p (水野　弘美, 53yrs) in last qualifying game on Apr 12 and made it to the main tournament. See West 4 of https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/senko/006.html

My calculations show her results to be as follows:
In 2021: 25-5 (#2 in overall 2021 Japanese ranking by wins on gotoeveryone web site).
In 2020: 21-17
Overall: 65-30
Promotion to 3p: 9 wins
Go rating: 3016, #449 overall, #45 female

Here is her 2p -> 3p promotion record:

• Gosei 47: 1 win
• Meijin 47: 2 wins
• Kisei 46: 2 wins (ongoing)
• Judan 60: 4 wins (ongoing)

[pajaro]

Sumire lost to Nyu Eiko 3p in the semifinal of the Tachiaoi Cup.

The game had already be played before the previous post, so that red line should not be red...
But, again, I saw her talking after the game. I don't understand what she says, and I can barely hear her. She speaks in a very quiet voice. Not yet used to speak up, it seems. But very calm. I have seen her other times after a loss (not many, because, you know...). She looked dissappointed (nobody likes losing), but took it better.

[pajaro]

Sumire lost her 2nd game in the Kisei, C league by 1.5.

It seems she played a good game and at some AI gave her 98% chances of victory... but her opponent, Shoto Shun 8p managed to win. In the end, she told again "I want to play my best go, result is not important".

She will play at least another game in the league. The next loss means game over.

[silviu22]

Sumire Lost to Koyama Terumi 6d on July 5 in Female Honimbo 40 (3rd round), so she is out of Female Honimbo40.

She defeated Ueno Risa 1p on July 8 in 1st round of Female Saikyo 6

I believe this last victory was her first since early June. She is struggling now against the better players from the upper stages of these tournaments.

She is still 2nd with a 26-8 in the Japanese ranking by number of wins. Ueno Asami is 1st, with 30 wins. But her go rating dropped to 2993, so she is now #490 in the world and #52 in women's world ranking

[pajaro]

Sumire has had some setbacks. She is out of the Meijin, female Honinbo, and some others that I don't remember. Also, in the kisei, the next loss is good bye (although I expect her to win her 3rd game). On the bright side, she has advanced to the preliminary A in the Judan. BTW, she will play Muramoto Wataru 3p, and they already played 1 year ago. It's that game with the comment by Baduk Doctor about how stronger could she get if she improved her judgement. Let's see how it goes. I think he will be the first male player to play her again.

But that's not too important, IMHO. According to some comments, she has lost games with IA giving her very high chances of winning (and also won "lost" games, to be fair). It seems to me that sometimes she loses focus. Not surprising, due to her age, she is a junior high student, pressure... Let's see how she can cope with all of this.

[pajaro]

Sumire won today in the Judan against Muramoto Wataru 3p.

I don't think the game is recorded, because they were hitting the clock themselves. Also, in a short video that I saw, the gamekeeper would have been too far away. Anyway, I read a comment in twitter "too strong" (google translator), and another one, stating that they played 165 moves. Sounds like a big win.

Next is Muramatsu Hiroki 6p. He is from Osaka, so perhaps they know each other.

[pajaro]

Today Sumire played her 100th official pro game.

It was against Kim Cheayoung 6p, in the Wu Qingyuan Cup. I don't know about international competitions or the Korean players, but this player is a former champion (of this cup? I don't know). W+1.5. This is Sumire's first international official win, and so far she has 68% of wins. go4go.net has 76 games, 61.8% winning percentage.

Pretty good, I think.

[silviu22]

On July 22, Sumire lost her 2nd round game vs Zhou Hongyu in Qingyuan Cup International tournament for women. But Zhou is #4 in world and the current title holder, so the loss was not a big disappointment.

She won her 1st prelim game in Oza 70 on July 22 vs Endo Yoshifumi (8p). Good win in a major, which counts for promotion.

She has 11 wins in her 2p->3p promotion race (needs 40).