Yes seconded we need to know!

I don't know, and on past performance we may never know. Sumire played games with Takemiya and Rin Kaiho on this channel a couple of years ago and they never saw the light of day except, I presume, for the people who pay the Premium subscription on the channel. I never even saw the results.

Never say never!

How does she always manage to avoid Cho Chikun!?!?

When Sumire and Rina played the final game of the female Kisei, I thought it was a good game to broadcast on youtube. But it wasn't. Later, I "read" an article in Kyodo, I think, with images from the Igo/Shogi Channel. It made sense. The game had been played in a nice environment, with Takao Shinji commenting live, NHK style, for premium users. They seem to want to make some money from the games... who saw that coming? So I remembered the game with Joanne Missingham. I see I was not the only one interested, and not the only that perhaps will never know. In the past, I have seen a few short videos of other events, so I was hoping that at least we could know the result, and maybe see some pictures. Looks like... not.

About the non-game with Cho Chikun, I don't believe we are the only ones who think that it would be great and draw a lot of attention. I am starting to think that there is some hidden reason why this hasn't happened. But again, another thing that (most likely) we will never know.

What if they've already played and it was secretly broadcast on premium without us knowing, haha

NOOOOOO!!!!!!

See https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1pD4y1e7cd/.

I just found a page with lots of data of Sumire, since she became a pro:

https://gorisenri.livedoor.blog/archives/nakamura-sumire-all.html

She is currently ranked 102 (in Japan, I guess), and 98 just one month ago. She has won more games against odds than lost games also against odds.

As for the promotion situation, she has won 72 games so far. So, 30 for 2-dan and 40 for 3-dan. At this point, she has only 2 wins in the long way to 4-dan.

There are lots of interesting data. The web is in Japanese, but as you need to understand very little to know what's everything, the translator is enough here. If you know Japanese or are brave enough, perhaps you can navigate to other player's data.

Nice find.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sumire gets to 4-dan by April on the basis of prize money. She appeared in the Samsung Cup and is in the Women's Kisei title match. I've never seen how prize-money is totalled for promotion, but if it includes game fees, then the Women's Meijin will add a lot as it's a league (i.e. all games), and it might therefore also include her games in China, which would have attracted a big payout, I expect. And nobody leaps out at me as a rival for prize-money promotion.

Not by April.

The rules for promotion are here:

https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/player/rank.html

Prize money is criteria 3. It's based on ranking the whole year (January-December), and only the big seven seem to count. Two promotions per rank. Also, if a player has been promoted based on games, that player can't be promoted based on money the same year.

These promotions are effective on January 1st. I remember because Sumire's first opponent this year was promoted like this. I saw her schedule and her opponent, and after the game, something in my head was strange. It was his rank. I posted about this, but I am too lazy now to look the name of that player.

In 2021, Sumire got to the kisei C league and to the A prelim of the Judan. But she was also promoted to 2-dan with 30 wins. In 2022, promoted again by wins. Could she have been promoted based on prize money too? Quite likely. Now, 4-dan is far away. Even if she wins a lot, 38 wins in 2023 are too many, so a promotion to 4-dan based on wins in 2023 is unlikely. But on prize money... I think she could make it.

Nakamure Sumire v Kim Eunji New Years Exhibition Match!

Sumire lost the first game.

She was playing her usual attacking game, and she was ahead most of the game. But she made a mistake in the middlegame, and it was game over.

To win, you have to win when the game finishes, not before, so kudos to Kim. But Sumire showed how she can fight.

Good luck for games 2 and 3.

New Year's Eve I sorted some games and a moment ago I added a Sumire entry near the bottom of https://homepages.cwi.nl/~aeb/go/games/index.html. The last SGF there is for the first game of this match.

If only she had used an AI to cheat. Oh wait, wrong player...

_________________
be immersed

I read/see here

https://twitter.com/dadachannnnn/status/1611663784787181568

that Sumire played in the New Ryuusei against Ichiriki. She lost. In the image, there is a white group, dead, in the center.

I don't know much about this tournament. It doesn't seem to be official. The reason must be its Mickey Mouse time conditions (1 min main time, +2 sec/move, or something like that). Good for the public to watch, if you want some blood, unexpected mistakes, unexpected winners (from time to time...). Also, pro and amateur comments. It's so unofficial that it isn't regularly updated in the NK website.

Interesting fact: Sumire played Ichiriki in the first round, but last year, she played Iyama in the first round too. Both loses, but such a coincidence... was it set up?

I likewise have a sour taste about past behaviour, but we can't ignore Kim's recent form. In 2022, she equalled Mok Chin-seok's record of 93 wins in a year and had two games left. I haven't checked but I'd be surprised if she hasn't now broken the record.

She also featured in a final (in the Women's Kiseong) and got close in the Women's Strongest League. She also has a remarkable promotion record. She has reached 5-dan in under three years, despite being out for one year on the naughty step.

She will be 16 in May, which age seems to be Zimmer-frame time for pros nowadays.

She will always be someone who cheated in my eyes. I suspect that high hopes for her potential were related to the lax punishment she received.

To me, the definition of pro should be partially about skill, but also about honor. She doesn't meet the latter definition of pro.

Unfortunately, Korean pros, apparently, don't need to have honor to keep their job. I don't want to say it that way, but that's the decision that was made in allowing her to continue being pro.

_________________
be immersed

Sumire did it.

In the 3rd game of the female Kisei match, she won Ueno Asami to become Nakamura Sumire female Kisei.

It was, as expected, a fought game. After a good begginning for Sumire, Asami came from behind, and I thought her experience would prevail. But Sumire fought back again and after a few big exchanges (that I still don't understand) and an important ko fight (which was probably the compensation), the game was settled. There was no mistake in the final moves, and Ueno resigned.

This is, as everybody knows, a new record. Sumire is not 14 yet, and this is the first of, quite likely, many titles.

Omedetou gozaimasu!

(also, I think this means she will play in the NHK tournament)

An article in the English-language version of the Asahi Shinbun.
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14833884 [edited link]

And the Mainichi version.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20 ... na/025000c

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

The first link takes me to a "page not found" message. But https://www.asahi.com/ajw/search/result ... rds=sumire suggests that you mean https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14833884 ?