 |
In the first round, the most crowded game was Okada and Yamada pair who played against Umezawa and Ko pair. For fans who cannot see the Go board, there is a screen behind the players. Psychologically, for fans, they want to feel the top professionals’ breathing, even though they cannot see the Go board. There were so many layers of crowds around the Go board.
One of the popular points of the tournament must be that fans can observe the way they want: just observe one game, walk around and observe all the games, watch 8 games together in a commentary hall, and so on. |
Now, in the commentary hall, the commentary by Masaki Takemiya 9-dan and Tomoko Ogawa 6-dan started. |
The game of Okuda and Takao pair played against Izumi Kobayashi and Imamura pair was started with ‘fuseki which was popular 30 years ago’ (Takemiya mentioned) and gradually, the black stones of Kobayashi and Imamura pair was leading. Takemiya 9-dan pointed out the white stones which were surrounded by blacks and said, ‘The white is confined and having a hard time. It is painful to be asked if you are alive or dead. I don’t want to spend life like that, do you?’ |
| The game of Narumi Osawa 3-dan and Chikun Cho Judan pair played against Kumiko Yashiro 5-dan and Michael Redmond 9-dan pair made Takemiya 9-dan excited. To the strong moves of white, Osawa and Cho pair, he said, ‘Oh, that’s Chikun’s style. Ah, really, the blacks are deceived!’ |
Yoshio Ishida 9-dan who says, ‘I will retire after this tournament’ is still strong. At the game of Fumiko Sakakibara 6-dan and Ishida pair against Mukai and O pair, when Ishida played a move, Takemiya 9-dan shouted, ‘A tactician! Great move!’ |
During the tough games, the last game to be finished was Kana Mannami 4-dan and U Cho Meijin Gosei pair played against Kikuyo Aoki 8-dan and Naoki Hane 9-dan pair. Aoki 8-dan said looking back the close game, ‘It was a dangerous situation. We won the losing game.’ The goddess of victory smiled
on Aoki and Hane pair by a 1 and a half stone difference. |
The result of the first round is as follows. At the 2nd round, the winning pair will play against the winners and the losing pair will play against the losers. |
 |
During the second round, too, the commentary hall was livened up by Takemiya and Ogawa whose comments were in sync with each other. When Takemiya 9-dan said, ‘This game, black will win.’ ‘This Go, white will win.’, Ogawa 6-dan said, ‘Takemiya sensei, is that true?’ She kept on confirming.
Ogawa 6-dan said, ‘Before, when Takemiya sensei did the commentary at the NHK Cup, he said that the black won, and from the waiting room on the second floor, a screen which says ‘’please count again’’ came down.’ By the way, at that time, when he did not change the judgment, the screen came down again. Somehow, the judgment in the waiting room was different from his. When they counted again, Takemiya 9-dan’s judgment was wrong. People in the hall rejoiced at this ‘screen’ story.
But on this day, Takemiya 9-dan’s judgment came true. From only the 20th to 50th move, he guessed the winners and all of them were right. |
| The game of the winner against winner, Osawa and Cho pair against Imin Shei Women’s Honinbo and Kono pair was one we could not take our eyes off of. Takemiya 9-dan said, ‘Osawa san does a belly dance and Shei chan does hip hop. Dancers must be strong in Go.’ Ogawa 6-dan said, ‘Talking about dance, Takemiya sensei does social dance.’ Takemiya 9-dan said, ‘Ah, that’s why dancers are strong in Go.’ Their conversation made the audience laugh. |
The game of Aoki and Hane pair played against Izumi and Imamura pair, too, was a close game, and the fierce game lasted for a long time.
The game of Keiko Kato Women’s Meijin and Keigo Yamashita Kisei/Oza pair against Tsukuda and Satoru Kobayashi pair was another close game. |
Ayumi Suzuki Women’s Saikyo and Koichi Kobayashi 9-dan pair against Konishi and Sakai pair, too, played a game which was difficult to guess the result. Eventually, Koichi 9-dan told his strategy, ‘In fact, I was told by U Cho kun who doesn’t usually say good things about people that Ayumi chan is good in tumego (life and death problem). So, I was thinking of getting into a confusing game.’ |
Then, the result of the second round is as follows.
Yukari UMEZAWA Women's Kisei & Iso KO 7-dan [ White wins by resign ]
Yumiko OKADA 6-dan & Kimio YAMADA 9-dan [ White wins by resign ]
Narumi OSAWA 3-dan & Chikun CHO judan [ Black wins by resign ]
Terumi KOYAMA 5-dan & Norimoto YODA 9-dan [ Black wins by resign ]
Kikuyo AOKI 8-dan & Naoki HANE 9-dan [ White wins by resign ]
Kana MANNAMI 4-dan & U CHO Meijin / Gosei [ White wins by resign ]
Ayumi SUZUKI Women's Saikyo & Koichi KOBAYASHI 9-dan [ Black wins by resign ]
Akiko TSUKUDA 5-dan & Satoru KOBAYASHI 9-dan [ Black wins by resign ]
|
At this moment, the 4 pairs who have won twice will proceed to the quarterfinal.
Unfortunately, the 4 pairs who have lost twice had to leave. Even though they lost, it was impressive that they were surrounded by many fans and giving autographs while smiling. |
|
|
