Ichiriki Ryo

[John Fairbairn]

We don't seem to have a thread about Ichiriki Ryo, who has gladdened Japanese hearts with a decent showing in the 2020 Samsung Cup.

He has also just won the 29th Ryusei Cup for the third time in a row - the first player to do so - and he bagged his first Big 7 this year (2020) in the form of the Gosei.

He has more than a decent pedigree, as his title wins show: 9th Nakano U20 (2012), 39th Shinjin-O (2014), 4th O-Kage (2013), 8th Young Carp (2013), 1st Globis U20 (2014), 5th O-Kage (2014), 1st Ibero-Japan (2014), 25th Ryusei (2016), 7th O-Kage (2016), 11th Young Carp (2106), 4th Japan Titlewinners (2017), 27th Ryusei (2018), 25th Agon-Kiriyama (2018), 66th NHK (2019), 28th Ryusei (2019), 45th Gosei (2020), 29th Ryusei (2020). Total: 17.

But it is easy to overlook a series of runner-up places which is in some ways more impressive, as they include other Big 7 tatle matches: 7th Young Carp (2012), 62nd NHK (2015), 6th O-Kage (2015), 42nd Tengen (2016), 64th NHK (2017), 65th Oza (2017), 43rd Tengen (2017), 42nd Kisei (2018), 66th Oza (2018), 26th Agon-Kiriyama (2019), 67th NHK (2020) Total: 11.

He had been marked out for success in the traditional Japanese way by being a winner of the Shinjin-O. But more than that, he was the youngest-ever Shinjin-O, in 2014, at age 17 years 3 months. In fact he was also the youngest winner of any Japanese title when he won the O-Kage Cup in 2013 aged 15, but this cup does not yet count as an official title.

For AI fans, there is at the moment much plugging of a book by him on the Direct 3-3 josekis.

But he's 23 now. Has he missed the bus internationally?

[hyperpape]

Before the Samsung Cup, I thought that he'd been having a very good year, but no buzz. He has the highest number of wins in Japanese go for 2020 by a decent margin, and with a very high percentage of wins too.

He's younger than Iyama when he won the Asian TV Cup, same for Cho U winning the LG and Asian TV Cup. Based on his performance, he seems to have a chance.

[jlt]

John now thinks that 23 is too old??

[lichigo]

For baduk 23 is not old but it might be almost the half of his good time. After 30 it is too hard.

[hyperpape]

Seems reasonable. Lee Sedol was the last player to hang on at the very top levels past age 30, and it seems like very few players aren’t peaking by their late 20s, if not by 25.

Right now, Ichiriki is good enough to win a title if everything goes well, but he’d have to improve or at a minimum sustain this level for several years to stand out internationally.

[AloneAgainstAll]

If i am not mistaken, Ichiriki just beat his arch-nemezis Iyama Yuta with black, and is new Tengen (total score 3-2)! So now, Ichiriki holds 2 Big Titles Tengen and Gosei, and he is best ranked japanese player on Goratings - 11th place. Not bad, i think.

[silviu22]

Ichiriki Ryo won Okage 11 on Dec 22, so he now holds 4 japanese titles: Tengen, Gosei, Ryusei and Okage. He also first in the number of wins in 2020 (50-13).
I believe he is now the leader of the young generation of Japanese pros. Well done!

[gowan]

I don't keep up with the international tournaments but I seem to remember that Ichiriki was a player in several international tournaments. Maybe that experience has helped him rise in Japan.

[Gunnar]

A Japanese friend told me that Ichiriki had to drop Go for a year or two to finish study as his father owns a publishing company or similar. So, family duties had to be put first.
Now he is back and playing in tournaments. Winning the 46th Tengen with a 3:2 against Iyama is showing where the road is heading to ...

[Uberdude]

Ichiriki lost the first game of his Ing cup semi final Vs Xie Ke. He was leading for much of the game but couldn't hold on. The opposite of favourite Shin Jinseo in the other semi final Vs Zhao Chenyu.

[hyperpape]

A Japanese friend told me that Ichiriki had to drop Go for a year or two to finish study as his father owns a publishing company or similar. So, family duties had to be put first.
Now he is back and playing in tournaments. Winning the 46th Tengen with a 3:2 against Iyama is showing where the road is heading to ...

I think some details must be off here. Ichiriki never stopped playing (see https://www.goratings.org/en/players/1231.html). It's true he's had other responsibilities with university and the family business, and I'm sure they've affected how much time he can devote to the game at various points. What I don't know is how that's varied over time.

https://www.usgo.org/news/2020/04/the-p ... ofessions/

[John Fairbairn]

Ichiriki did spend some of his time away from go, because he spent time getting degree in social sciences from Waseda University. He graduated last year and was given a post as a newspaper reporter by his father, a newspaper magnate, who runs the family business (founded in Meiji times) in Sendai. It is now known as the Kahoku Shinposha, but the main business nowadays seems to belong to a company they took over, Tohoku Broadcasting.

I don't know what work he has ever done as a reporter, or how much, but I'd guess it means he's the paper's go reporter, and I imagine too that it's a way of giving him an allowance and also giving the company a tax break.

Quite a few pros have likewise followed the elite schools and university routes in Japan in recent years, so Ichiriki is not that unusual. There may be cases where pros are accepted in academic institutions rather in the way university sports scholarships are doled out in the US, but Ichiriki does have the reputation of having a very high IQ. he also seems to write his own very advanced go material. I'd be surprised if he didn't earn his degree fully.

He had a hiccup in qualifying to be a pro, missing out on his first entrance test. Maybe that was due to pressure of academic work. On the other hand, he had what appears to have been full-time tuition from a top amateur, which presumably Daddy paid for. Swings and roundabouts come to mind.

It's noticeable also that he became significantly strong after graduating. Hopefully we've just seen the beginning.

[Ferran]

There may be cases where pros are accepted in academic institutions rather in the way university sports scholarships are doled out in the US, but Ichiriki does have the reputation of having a very high IQ. he also seems to write his own very advanced go material. I'd be surprised if he didn't earn his degree fully.

Waseda has, that I know of, a serious budo programme. I'd be surprised if their attitude was restricted to gendai budo.

Regarding IQ... I'd expect any pro player to have one. My question, and I wouldn't apply it in this case, is wether a particular player has a "wide" enough IQ to reach comfortably past Go.

It's noticeable also that he became significantly strong after graduating. Hopefully we've just seen the beginning.

That will be interesting. Take care.

[SoDesuNe]

Regarding IQ... I'd expect any pro player to have one. My question, and I wouldn't apply it in this case, is wether a particular player has a "wide" enough IQ to reach comfortably past Go.

To quote the legendary psychology professor: IQ is what the IQ-test measures ; )

(By the way, since I'm well versed in how pop culture potrays high IQ-people ("geniuses"): I will only be convinced when people can rattle down all the names of the moons of Saturn (in ascending orbit of course) and everything there is about trains.)

[CDavis7M]

Ichiriki has been busy lately. He did well in challenging the Meijin, he's doing well in the Honinbo league, he beat Shibano in the Kisei league final, he also played in the LG Cup and did fine, and today he's playing the 3rd game of the Tengen match, defending against Seki Kotaro (1 win each).

I'm just following along. Good luck to Ichiriki.