On Saturday December 11, quarterfinals and semifinals of the Ricoh Cup Professional Pair-Go Tournament 2005 were held at The Garden Hall in Ebisu, which is an exiting event in the Go society by the top professional Go players of men and women. More than 100 Go fans made a line in front of the hall to wait for the game before the gate was opened, in the same way as on the tournament-opening day. There were finally as many as 1,000 Go fans assembled at the site.

People who wait for opening

Victory-or-defeat table

In the players’ common room before playing the game, there was a tense atmosphere, being slightly different from the mood at the first round or the second round that was in a happy harmony. Today, the final game pairs will be selected, who will be playing in Beijing. Some of them were talking in a small voice, “Do you want to go to Beijing?” “Yes, I do.” Differently from the lonely competition as usual, however, all of them have a reliable partner to each other. Accordingly, they opened a “strategy meeting” in a relaxed atmosphere.

The Ms. Keiko Kato, the 4-Dan & Mr. Rissei Oh, the 10-Dan pair is discussing about the fuseki (opening portion of a game), while reviewing the game in the last week. They do not use a Go board but discuss about the game using the technical Go terms, in a manner that only the professional Go players can do.

Tournament table

Mr. Hideo Ohtake, the honorary Kisei, the tournament chief examiner, heard the conversation and shouted, “Hi, Mr. Takemiya. Your opponent pair is studying here!” The Ms. Yumiko Okada, the 6-Dan & Mr. Masaki Takemiya, the 9-Dan pair came to join. Mr. Ohtake said, “They have been studying very hard until now. I have heard their strategy in detail.” The Ms. Kato & Mr. Oh pair laughed. Mr. Takemiya said, “Ms. Okada, they seemed to have been studying. It must be in vain, I hope.” Ms. Okada laughed.