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The most popular game among the audience was
Suzuki and Cho pair against Shei and Satoru Kobayashi pair. It was
like a final (?) because the game was played by the winner from
last year against a likely winner. But the game finished quickly.
The pair who came back to the waiting room first was Shei 3dan and
Satoru Kobayashi 9dan pair who lost the game.
Kobayashi 9dan said, “Oh, no. That pair is too strong!” |
The winners who won twice will proceed to the
quarterfinals. The losers who lost twice will drop out. The pairs
who win once and loss once will play on the 9X9 board game to proceed
to the quarterfinals. The rule is the same as last year. For fans,
we are sorry that the pairs who lost twice have to leave. (We cannot
do anything about it.)
The most popular professional to be asked for signature and picture
taken is Yukari Umezawa 5dan. When Umezawa and Kono pair lost, the
audience let out a sigh.
Also, Mannami and Yamashita Kisei pair who were said to be a likely
winner lost, believe it or not. Yamashita said, “I made the 1st
game badly.” Mannami said, “The 2nd game was my fault.” They blamed
themselves.
Izawa and O pair could not do their best and lost. Izawa 3dan smiled
with sadness. O 9dan left the hall and he seemed sad.
The last game which finished was Yashiro and Yuki pair against Osawa
and Hane pair. Yashiro and Yuki pair who won by 2 and a half stones
will proceed to the next round. |
The 4 pairs who will proceed to the quarterfinals
are as follows. Suzuki and Cho pair is young but they seem to have
confidence. The reason why they win twice in a row must be because
they get on really well.
Ayumi SUZUKI (3-dan) & U CHO (Oza / Gosei)
Mika YOSHIDA (8-dan) & Shinji TAKAO (Meijin / Honinbo)
Izumi KOBAYASHI (Women's Saikyo) & Chikun CHO (judan)
Kumiko YASHIRO (Women's Honinbo) & Satoshi YUKI (9-dan) |
Before the 9X9 board game, at the waiting room,
the study class was started as usual.
In Kansai area, “9X9 board tournaments” are held so Satoshi Yuki
9dan and Kimio Yamada 9dan seemed to have confidence in it. So,
this year, people gathered around Yamada 9dan. When Norimoto Yoda
9dan said, “I never played 9X9 board before.”, Keiko Kato 5dan said
to him, “Let’s go there (study class).”
Later, Chikun Cho 10dan who won twice came and said provocatively,
“What are you doing? 1 win and 1 loss people, are you practicing?”
But nobody listened to it. |
Time went by and the pairs were asked to go
to the hall by the staff again.
First of all, the lottery was done. The matching is as follows.
Whether they can proceed to the 2nd day or not, the 9X9 board games
started. |
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| At the waiting room, Keigo Yamashita Kisei
was saying, “9X9 board game is scary, isn’t it? I had this
experience that at the 8th move, I knew I could not win the
game.” When I was surprised to hear the horrible story, it
happened, this year. When observing the Konishi and Ishida
pair against the Koyama and Meien O pair, as soon as the 7th
move was played, Yuki 9dan said quietly, “White will not |
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| lose in this game.” Later, the game was tangled
up and the audience was watching with holding its breath. But as
Yuki 9dan said, the white, Konishi and Ishida pair won the game.
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| Before the game, Yumiko Okada 6dan was
complaining to Yamada 9dan, “You teach other people. Why don’t
you teach me anything!” But Yamada 9dan smiled confidently.
They won the game and will proceed to the 2nd day. |
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| The pair who won with a half stone was
Shei and Satoru Kobayashi pair. It was impressive to see Kobayashi
9dan saying happily, “Oh~. I am so glad we won the close game
in the 9X9 board game.” |
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| The last pair to proceed to the quarter
final was the Kato and Yoda pair. Yoda 9dan said, “I have
never played 9X9 board game before so I thought I would be
bad at it… But we were lucky.” Before Hane 9dan left, he said
embarrassedly, “Even though, I won one game, I didn’t do well
at all.” |
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| Again, the pairs who will proceed to the quarterfinal
are as follows. Now, the long exciting day was finished. |
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