Meijin - 2007
Cho U captures the Meijin title from Takao Shinji by 4:3
Quick links to the games: Game 1|Game 2|Game 3|Game 4|Game 5|Game 6|Game 7
Meijin is one of the top three professional titles in Japan, together with Kisei and Honinbo.
Just like the other top Japanese titles, Meijin is an annual event, the previous year's title holder is playing a best-of-seven match with the winner of a qualification tournament.
Takao Shinji, Meijin, tries to defend his title this year against the challenger Cho U, Gosei. It is interesting that Cho U was the Meijin title holder in 2004 and 2005, before losing the title to Takao in 2006. Takao also captured the Honinbo title from Cho U in 2005. So it looks like Takao has a very eager challenger this year!
Game 1
Game 1 was played on September 6th and 7th, 2007.
Black (Takao) built a huge moyo in the center, starting from the lower side, which eventually became territory. He won the game by 4.5 points after 198 moves.
I wrote an article based on the fight in the upper-right corner: "Learning from professional games (1)".
Here is the game record - plus variations found on the Cyberoro Go server, without any comments. Either download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.
Game 2
Game 2 was played on September 19th and 20th, 2007.
Cho U evened the score with a solid win - he forced a resignation in yose.
Some interesting exchanges took place in both of the lower side corners.
The game record contains uncommented variations found on the Cyberoro Go server. Either download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.
Game 3
Game 3 was played on September 26th and 27th, 2007.
It started very interestingly: White (Cho U) played symmetrical-Go for a little while. It ended with Cho U winning by a small margin: 1.5 points
Download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.
Game 4
Game 4 was played on October 10th and 11th, 2007.
Black (Cho U) played a very thick game: he forced White to invade, then took advantage of White's weak invasion group just to build more thicknes and kill White somewhere else, after sacrificing a small group of his own.
Download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.
Game 5
Game 5 was played on October 17th and 18th, 2007.
The title-holder fights back: with the back to the wall after 3 consecutive wins by Cho, it was Takao's turn to win a solid game with Black. The final margin was small (2.5 points) but it looked to me as if Black kept an advantage for most of the game.
Download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.
Game 6
Game 6 was played on November 1st and 2nd, 2007.
The title-holder gets even: Takao wins by the smallest possible margin, half a point.
Download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.
Game 7
Game 7 was played on November 8th and 9th, 2007.
Cho U won this final game, and the title, after sacrificing a large group in a ko fight.
Download the SGF file or replay it in the applet below.