< Final >

The final of the Professional Pair Go Championship 2013, in which 16 female and 16 male Japanese professionals who are currently doing very well competed, was held at the Ryusei Studio in Ichigaya, Tokyo, on Sunday, 10 March. The final was telecast in a special program covering the tournament on the Igo & Shogi Channel on Sunday, 31 March.

The final matched the team of Hsieh Yi Min (Yimin Xie), holder of the Women's Triple Crown, and Satoru Kobayashi 9-dan against the team of Narumi Osawa 4-dan and Tomochika Mizokami 8-dan. Hsieh had been teamed with Wang Ming Wan (O Meien) 9-dan until the previous year and they had won the tournament two years in a row. Playing as an individual, Hsieh has demonstrated overwhelming strength in winning all the women's titles. Even though her partner had changed, she was still, naturally, a big favourite. From the moment their pairing was decided, Kobayashi 9-dan had seemed to feel a lot of pressure. 'I have a heavy responsibility,' he said. 'At the least, I want to reach the final.'

Osawa 4-dan, who had experienced victory before, was relaxed. Her partner, Mizokami 8-dan, reacted with a modest comment when his team won the semifinal. 'I'm happy just to be able to play in the final,' he said. Would his team be able to play in its usual fashion despite the tension of the final? If they could maintain their normal state of mind, they would have a good chance.

Before the game began, the two pairs lined up in the anteroom as they waited for the preparations in the studio to be completed. The commentators on the final, 24th Honinbo Shuho (Yoshio Ishida 9-dan) and Tomoko Ogawa 6-dan, chatted with them to relieve the tension. With Ms. Hiroko Taki, Director and Secretary General of the Japan Pair Go Association, looking on, the game finally got under way.

< Beginning of the Game >

The pair of Osawa and Mizokami drew black. Osawa 4-dan played the first move, starting the game. The opening was a quiet one, but fierce hand-to-hand fighting started when the team with white, Hsieh and Kobayashi, made an invasion.

Osawa and Hsieh were sitting face to face. Absorbed in the game, their faces were full of expression. Both were leading forward, so their faces over the Go board were quite close to each other. Viewed from a distance, they seemed to be playing one on one. Next to them, Mizokami and Kobayashi were both sitting up straight and were expressionless. They were both making sure they showed no reaction no matter what kind of move their partners played. The feeling you got was that they were both calmly watching their partners, who were leaning forward, from a little behind. Of course, in teams reaching the final the women were strong players, but there were reasons why the men behaved like this.

The woman player plays first, so the order was Osawa playing black, Hsieh playing white, Mizokami playing black, and Kobayashi playing white. Lights had been set up near the four corners of the Go board. When it was a player's turn to play, the light near his or her corner went on. That made it clear at a glance to TV viewers whose turn it was to play. This was also convenient for the commentators; a glance at the monitor would tell them who had played a good move or a bad move.

This year, too, Ishida was in fine form with his pointed commentary. As the game rapidly proceeded, he quickly produced variation diagrams and made his comments. Both pairs were playing the strongest moves in the midst of fierce fighting. 'The quality of play is no different from a one-on-one game,' Ishida commented in admiration.

The fighting gradually became more violent, and a very severe move by Hsieh (the clamp of White 1 in the reference diagram) built a superior position for White at one blow. This move took Ishida by surprise, but Hsieh's partner, Kobayashi 9-dan, was just as surprised. 'This severe move wouldn't occur to me,' he said. 'All I had to do was just follow Hsieh's lead.' Hsieh, the holder of the women's Triple Crown, was truly the star of the game.

'We were playing cautiously to avoid being dragged into a fight by Hsieh,' commented Mizokami 8-dan, 'but before we realized it we'd been caught up in a fight.' The Osawa/Mizokami pair had chances to win the game, but the Hsieh/Kobayashi pair seized the initiative when this chaotic fight started, while Osawa and Mizokami completely lost their rhythm. They resisted to the end, seeking a chance to stage an upset, but they finally ran out of steam and had to resign.

Hsieh and Kobayashi scored a splendid victory. For Hsieh personally, it was her third victory in a row. Osawa and Mizokami did their best, but the odds may have turned against them when the game became a contest in fighting strength.