■Ricoh Cup First and Second Rounds

The Pair of Izumi and Chikun Plays Aggressively

Whatever new equipment or system is adopted, its effects will depend on how well the game is played. Actually, every game was interesting and made the spectators excited.。

In pair Go games, it is important that the paired players get along well together above all. This year's Ricoh Cup that is being held for the seventh year makes me feel that pair Go might be becoming something more serious and difficult. The first and second round games may be briefly expressed as, "true games to live or die". A good partnership only is not sufficient. How each player plays skillfully is also important.

	Looking around the entire hall makes you understand the whole situation. If it is a hot game, people will gather in the section. There were such crowds here and there. In particular, the pair of Ms. Izumi Kobayashi and the 25th Honinbou Chikun attracted the attention of the spectators throughout the day because of their aggressive play.

In the first round, this pair competed with the pair of 6-dan Ms. Kazuko Konishi and 9-dan Mr. Satoru Kobayashi. As Ms. Konishi had won a Ricoh championship before, Mr. Kobayashi expressed his great confidence in her by saying, "I will leave everything up to her." The game between these two pairs started. If you feel interest, please refer to the record of this game. The white team or the pair of Izumi and Chikun started fiercely attacking with the white 42nd move by Izumi, and took a number of black stones on the left side. The black team was put on the defensive and let the white team have its own way throughout the game.

The second round was competed between the winners in the first round. The pair of Izumi and Chikun was matched with the pair of Ms. Kikuyo Aoki and Mr. Naoto Hikosaka. The latter pair, which had been considered to be very strong, defeated the pair of Ms. Tomoko Ogawa and Mr. Yoshio Ishida in the first round. The game was so fierce that both pairs killed more than 30 stones of their opponent.

Naturally, it was expected that the game between the pair of Izumi and Chikun and the pair of Ms. Aoki and Mr. Hikosaka would be hotly contested. As soon as the game entered the middle stage, a blaze of battles broke out on the upper side. In this section, spectators kept standing still to watch the development. Both pairs' dame were reduced one by one and it seemed that a false step would make the pair fall into the bottomless pit. I strongly recommend that you will refer to the record of this game. The white team or the pair of Ms. Aoki and Mr. Hikosaka held the black with the white 78th move to be relieved for a moment. Then, the black's counterattack began with the black 81st haikomi on the upper left. After the game, the 25th Honinbou Chikun praised Izumi, "The black 93rd move or ate made by Izumi was successful. That play didn't occur to me at all. It was difficult to get the white stones with any moves other than that." Mr. Hikosaka also agreed with Chikun on this respect. Four-dan Izumi explosively hammered the white stones on the upper left to seize them.

When the pair of Izumi and Chikun was made at the meeting for deciding the pairs, it was supposed that both players have too strong personalities to smoothly continue winning as a pair. I wonder what Go fans think about this pair.