 |
 |
 |
|
The Ricoh Cup Professional Pair Go Championship 2008, which is a dream event in the Go world, played by top 32 male and female professionals, 16 pairs, has came to the climax. The pairs who went up on the stage of the final are Narumi Osawa 3dan and Chikun Cho Judan pair versus Imin Shei Women's Honinbo and Rin Kono Tengen pair. To see the great game by the professionals who are in very good condition, the most numbers in the past at the Ricoh Cup, more than 1,300 Go fans gathered. Fans expected to see the exceptional and splendid game so the hall was filled with excitement.
I will tell you the day of the final held on the 2nd of February, at Yebisu The Garden Hall.
Before the doors opened, in front of the hall, there was a long queue even though it was cold. The number of people was over 200. Because of the fans'overwhelming power of excitement, the door was opened 20 minutes before the scheduled time. After that the fans kept coming in, and the big commentary room started to be filled with fans. This year, the place to play the final game was set far from the commentary room but seats in the room for the final game were occupied in a second. |
| Now, among the 4 players, the first one who arrived was Rin Kono Tengen. He went to the place where copies of all the Go records from this year's Ricoh Cup are located, and he picked 2 pieces of paper and went into the waiting room. Those 2 Go records on the table were Osawa and Cho pair's quarterfinal and semifinal. He was looking at them quietly and started to study his opponent. |
|
|
|
|
Then, Imin Shei Women's Honinbo and Narumi Osawa 3dan arrived together. Their ages are quite far apart but they are good friends. Shei Women's Honinbo said, "She is like an older sister." And she admires Osawa 3dan.
I asked them, "Did you meet each other before you came?"
They answered together, "We happened to meet by accident. That happens a lot."
Osawa 3dan said, "When I was walking in Shinjuku, I bumped into her."
Shei Women's Honinbo said, "We bumped into each other in Korea, too." |
|
Then, Chikun Cho Judan arrived.
He had just played the 2nd game of the Kisei best of seven title match 2 days before. It must be a hard schedule for him. When he was asked, "You must be tired." He answered, "Not really, I put everything in this game." That made everyone's worry blow away. |
|
|
|
|
When the 4 players gathered, they started their strategy meeting.
Shei and Kono pair was pointing out the last 2 Go records of the opponent and study briefly. (They can image without placing stones on the Go board. That is what professionals can do!)
Later, Kono Tengen put stones on the Go board to show his recent game and asked her, "Next, where would you place a stone?" and then they started studying fuseki. |
|
On the other hand, Osawa and Cho pair was sitting in front of the computer and on the screen, a Go record was shown. It was, of course, a record of the semifinal of their opponent, Shei and Kono pair. By the way, the game was (opponent was Izumi Kobayashi 6dan and Toshiya Imamura 9dan pair) a very difficult game with many trades and both of them had more than 100 stones of territory. |
Osawa 3dan said, "This game, I took a look this morning but it is great Go, isn't it." To this, Cho Judan said, "You saw it? You studied? I feel reassured!" When it comes to the scene of the many trading, Cho Judan said loudly, "It is a great Go!" However, the final will be much more "great Go"･･･ |
|
|
|
|
By the minute, the time to start the final was approaching. I asked how they were feeling.
Osawa 3dan said, "The opponent is in perfect synch and they are strong."
Cho Judan said, "Of course, I have confidence to win but you never know what happens." I asked Shei and Kono pair, "You were told that you are in perfect synch." |
|
Shei said, "What? Are we?"
Kono said, "Well. Maybe we are."
Shei said, "(After she heard Kono's confident comment) Ah, maybe we are. We are perfect."
They laughed at each other and Kono Tengen said, "They are, too, in perfect synch. Both pairs agreed about "being in perfect synch". I was so excited to see the game. |
|
|
By the way, both pairs have played at the 2nd round and at that time, Osawa and Cho pair won. Once again, I looked at the waiting room･･･
Osawa 3dan asked Cho Judan, "What is our strategy?" Cho Judan said, "If you just play as you play, it will be easy to win." He was very confident.
Kono Tengen said, "In pair Go, it is important to play as many games as possible. Since we lost the 2nd game, we played one game more so we have an advantage."
Then, 4 of them went to the hall. |
|
|
