Cho U and Iyama share the spotlight

*taken from Nihon kiin

So far this month, the spotlight on the Japanese go stage has been monopolized by Cho U and Iyama. We are not referring just to the Meijin title match being fought by the two. In the period of eight days from 4 to 11 September, both played three very important games, two of them against each other. They had equal success, each winning two out of three. Perhaps Cho’s wins were more significant, as they ensured that, regardless of what happens in the Meijin title match, he will keep his place on centre stage for most of the rest of the year.

Cho　U	Iyama　Yuta

Cho U defends 33rd Gosei title

Cho U has successfully rebuffed the challenge of Yamashita Keigo Kisei for his Gosei title, defeating him 3-1 in the best-of-five title match.
　 Game Two was played at the Nagaoka Grand Hotel in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, on 27 July. Cho U (B) won by resignation. Game Three was played in Naha City in Okinawa just four days later on 31 July. The hectic scheduling is mainly because of Cho's tight schedule. It worked to the advantage of Cho, who, taking white, again won by resignation.
　 The fourth game was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on 15 August. Playing black, Cho forced a resignation after 153 moves. Cho has now won this title three years in a row.
　 So far, these two have played each other in four title matches, of which Cho has won three. In each case, Cho was defending a title. In the victory interview, Cho said: ‘Next time, I'd like to attack him.' He was presumably referring to the Oza tournament, in which he has to win just one more game to become the challenger to Yamashita Oza. Looking further ahead, we could also take it as referring to the Kisei title, as Cho is leading in one of the leagues

Supercomputer with innovative software beats Go Professional

For the very first time in history, and after 40 years of research, a program defeated a professional Go player in a 9 stones handicap game. This success was the result of revolutionary algorithms that were invented in the period 2006-2008. The match involved the collaboration between French researchers, who developed most of the software, and Dutch researchers, who provided the cutting-edge Supercomputer Huygens and contributed to the code. “MoGo played really well,” said Kim, who estimated its current strength at “two or maybe three dan,” though he noted that the program – which had a processing power more than 1000 times higher than the chess program Deep Blue – “made some 5-dan moves.” “I think there’s no chance on nine stones, it would even be difficult with eight stones. MoGo played really well; after getting a lead, every time I played aggressively, it just played safely, even when it meant sacrificing some stones. It didn’t try to maximize the win and just played the most sure way to win. It’s like a machine.” The game was played live the 7th of August at the U.S. Go Congress, with over 500 watching online on the internet Go server KGS.

Samsung Cup

In the second round of the 13th Samsung Cup held on 9/5, Lee Sedol 9p defeated Zhang Li 4p by resignation, Lee Changho 9p knocked out Jo HanSeung 9p by resignation, Yamashita Keigo 9p eliminated Zhou Heyang 9p by resignation. Other winners are five Chinese players including Huang Yizhong 7p, Wang Xi 9p, Kong Jie 7p, Li Zhe 6p and Zhou Ruiyang 5p. Especially Li Zhe 6p and Zhou Ruiyang 5p defeated Jin Siyoung 3p and Lee Yeongkyu 7p respectively by half point, in the last round Lee Yeongkyu 7p and Jin Siyoung 3p both won by half point. The quarter final will take place on 11/18 and 11/19.