Now, the rest of the pairs, 1 loss 1 win, will be playing in the 9X9 board game to decide who proceeds to the quarterfinal. The lottery to decide the matching was held by the female professionals. During the lottery, at the waiting room, each pair started to practice the 9X9 board game.

Tsukuda and Satoru Kobayashi pair who won at the second game said, ‘For 30 minutes, we could study the 9X9 board game!’ Kobayashi said that he had learnt a lot from Tsukuda 5-dan who was the assistant of commentator when the 9X9 board game tournaments were held in Kansai, and walked towards the tournament room with confidence.

Then, Kobayashi 9-dan said, ‘If I play black, I was told to take offensive to white at the third move so the cause of wining was the third move that I made.’ They won against Terumi Koyama 5-dan and Norimoto Yoda 9-dan pair who were strong opponent, and will proceed to the quarterfinal.

Okada and Yamada pair said, ‘1 win 1 loss is what we planned.’ And they went to the tournament room with a smile. Yamada 9-dan who is known well as a strong player in Kansai has absolute confidence and experience. However, this year, after a few moves, Yamada 9-dan’s expression on his face started to change. And believe it or not, they resigned from the game played against Shei and Kono pair. This year, things did not work out as they had planned.

Kono Tengen, who will be proceeding to the quarterfinal said, ‘Shei san is my partner so I felt confident. Next week, I think I will play better. I am looking forward to seeing you all at the final game.’ He declared the victory. Ogawa 6-dan faced a microphone to Shei Women’s Honinbo and asked, ‘Takemiya sensei says that dancers are strong in Go.’ Shei Women’s Honinbo said, ‘But I lost the second game. May be, I suppose dancing, too, is not enough.’

Before the game, Sakai 7-dan said, ‘Professionals from Kansai are strong in the 9X9 board game but I don’t participate in the tournament so it is my first time to play the 9X9 board game.’ But he practiced a lot with Konishi 8-dan and he seemed to learn the knack of it. They won against Mannami and Cho pair who resigned and will proceed to the quarterfinal.

[ The Quarterfinal advance determination game ]