< The First Round Pairings: Drawing Lots >

As of this year, the method of this tournament has changed, with the competing teams being split into two blocks and two winning teams being decided. These two teams will earn the right to participate in the Pair Go World Cup 2010 being organized by the World Pair Go Association, which was founded in 2008.
Word spread among the professionals that a training camp would be held before the Pair Go World Cup 2010. The competitors seemed to be visualizing their victory.

In the midst of a genial atmosphere, the holding of the draw for first-round pairings finally got under way. The first order of business was the forming of the pairs. The lady professionals in attendance went up on to the stage one by one and drew balls with letters on them out of a box.

Mukai 3-dan said excitedly to Okuda 2-dan, ‘Your turn comes around immediately.’
When Akane Ishii 1-dan and Chien Cho 1-dan, who were making their debut, went up on to the stage, there was a warm round of applause for them.

After about half of the lady professionals had drawn lots, the male professionals started drawing out balls. However, the gods kept us in suspense and no partners were decided. We thought that Kataoka 9-dan had drawn ‘B’, which meant that he would have secured Ishii 1-dan as a partner, but we had misheard. Actually, it turned out he had drawn ‘G’, which had not yet been drawn by a lady. ‘What a pity!’ said Kataoka, and the hall was enveloped in laughter.

One by one, pairs started getting decided, to a chorus of exclamations of joy and screams (?). The pairs who would shape this year’s drama were as listed below.

Once the pairs had been decided, conducting the draw for opponents was next on the agenda. Since the tournament was divided into A and B blocks this year, one draw would decide all the pairings right through to the finals.
Which block would one be allocated to? If one won in the first round, which team would one be likely to meet next? As they watched the draw, the competing professionals gazed avidly at the panel with the tournament chart on the stage.

The all-important pairings are given below. There were many ‘dream matches’