36th Kisei - Title match games

The title match of the 36th Kisei tournament is between the current title holder Cho U (right) and Takao Shinji (left). Before the match the win-loss-record was 27-21 in Cho U's favor. The first game was played at the 12.01.2012 and 13.01.2012.


Takao Shinji took black in this game. Cho U showed his talent to handle weak groups, but Takao Shinji was able to take advantage and win with 2,5 points. Here is the kifu:



The second game was played at the 26.01.2012 and 27.01.2012.


This time Cho U was black and created a big framework. It was Takao Shinji who started a long battle with move 26. This battle spread over a big part of the board until Takao Shinji played a stone in Cho U's corner which looked like a probe, but it was ignored by Cho U. Cho U continued the fight instead and after 171 moves Takao Shinji resigned.



This equalizes the standing to 1-1. The next game is at the 01.02.2012 and 02.02.2012. Who will take the lead then? Will Cho U win the last game?

50th Judan challenger

At the 23.01.2012 the game to decide the challenger of Iyuma Yuta in the 50th Judan title match was played between Cho U and Ko Iso.

After 157 move Cho U was able to force Ko Iso to resign. Here is the kifu of a great game with some complicated battles:



This leads to a really interesting title match because last year it was Cho U who lost the Judan title to the challenger Iyuma Yuta with 2:3.