Life In 19x19

Today, the 55 Go Awards were announced.

Sumire won the prize to the rookie of the year. Very good. I wonder if Fukuoka Kotaro came close in the poll.

The irony comes now: also today, Sumire played her first game in the Shinjin O (King of New Stars, but sometimes called Rookie of the Year too)... and she lost
The game was against Imabun Taro 2-dan, from the Kansai Kiin. Next, he will play the first round of the tournament because, for reasons unknown to me, the total players are 33, not 32. So 2 players had to play an extra game.

What are the 55 Go Awards?

bugcat wrote:What are the 55 Go Awards?

Every year, the Nihon Kiin gives awards to best player, great player, longest winning streak, and a few more. This year it was the 55th term.

When Hikaru gest his shodan diploma, Waya says that they are "just an extra". The main event are the awards. These ones.

These are the Kido Prizes that were originally sponsored by Kido magazine but, since its demise, from 1999 by Go World. They were originally modelled on sumo (with now defunct categories for e.g. Technique and Fighting Spirit) but over the years the categories have been tweaked, e.g. the addition of an International Performance Prize.

These are for Nihon Ki-in players only. The Kansai Ki-in has a parallel set-up.

The awards ceremony is actually in late March (ideal host Ricky Gervais?), but a press release was issued early in Feb. The headlines splashed by the non-go media were for Iyama the Grand Champion (and also International Performance) and Sumire, who gets the Newcomers Prize (but Rina was Best Female).

There was only one non-Japanese player in this year's list (Kyo Kagen), and even that was really a runner-up prize (i.e. second to Iyama as Grand Champion).

OK, what's what I thought, thanks.

Sensei's Library has a full listing of Kido Prize winners and statistics, at https://senseis.xmp.net/?KidoPrizeWinners, based on the Japanese Wikipedia page.

Feel free to add the 2021 results, which hadn't arrived on Ja. Wiki last time I checked. Or just post them here and I'll put them in.

It's what I thought too... about 50%

I knew that in the past, Kido gave awards. I remember when Cho Chikun was the Iyama Yuta of the time.

After the end of this, I thought that the NK had taken over. I thought it was strange, because it was/is a press thing, but I saw the awards in the NK website, so I assumed... wrong.

I saw the awards in the NK website, so I assumed... wrong.

You are not wrong. Just as Kido was, Go World is owned by the Nihon Ki-in. But the magazines do/did have a degree of editorial independence (including a budget) which should be respected, I think. In particular, they tend to try to reflect the fans' opinions/wishes rather than the pros'. Nevertheless, they are not called the GW prizes. Calling them the NK awards would more accurately emphasise that they go only to NK players, perhaps, but the Japanese stick with Kido-sho. Probably, the word associations nowadays are more along the lines of "Way of Go" awards rather than "Kido magazine" awards.

Yesterday, Sumire beat Xie Yimin in the female Meijin league.

That's her first win against one of the top 4 female in an official game, AFAIK. She beat Ueno Asami in that spa, but it was more of an exhibition game.

I think this is an important milestone in her career (Sumire's, not Xie's). She has beaten strong players before, but Xie is a direct rival in her goal, that is, winning a title while in school (2 years left?). Psycologically, it may be important.

pajaro wrote:Yesterday, Sumire beat Xie Yimin in the female Meijin league.

I'm interested to see the record. I wonder if and where it will be published. I did a quick search and didn't find it.

On go4go: https://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/101702

Nakamure Sumire 2p beat Teriyama Rei 6p in the 78th Honinbo!!!

Yes, great game.

It's not in go4go.net (yet), but in youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypR0hWnG8z0

Even if you don't understand Japanese, notice the "KO!" in the title.

I watched the beginning, and then had to leave. I thought that Sumire had set up a terrible attack. White survived, but black was ahead in territory and influence, old concepts. Sumire will play the A prelim, and we can expect a stronger opponent.

BTW, the record keeper was Fukuoka Kotaro 3-dan, another of the strong new players. They might play often in the future.

菫ちゃん(菫先生）、お誕生日おめでとうございます！

Sumire turns 13 today.
Only 13...

https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match_news/ ... um=twitter


Kobayashi Izumi mentioned that Nakamura Sumire always brings this mouse and mouse pad with her when playing online. Comfort and missclick protection? Good luck? Or some other secret? I'm more interested in why Kobayashi noticed.

Anyway, if we are just playing notice Sumire's accessories -- I notice that she often brings a blanket. But this is not the same one I noticed before.

By the way, this picture was from an international youngster team match against "Chinese Taipei," which I've noticed is the preferred term to use by the Nihon Kiin and it's members.

More on topic, Nakamura won her match but the Japanese team lost overall. More games happening soon. They are streamed on the Go server but I don't have the subscription. It's not on Go4Go yet but I'll check again later.

I bought the same mousepad one year ago to relieve wrist pain.