Pair Go RICOH CUP 2009 [ Ricoh Cup The Final ]

＜ Ricoh Cup The Final ＞

A dream event in the Go world by the top male and female 32 professionals, 16 pairs, the final game of the Ricoh Cup Professional Pair Go Championship 2009 had eventually started. From the 1st game of the championship, last year, the pairs who fought through tough games to go up on the stage of this day were Keiko Kato Women's Saikyo and Naoki Hane Honinbo pair and Imin Shei Women's Honinbo and Yuta Iyama 8dan pair. The Shei and Iyama pair members are both 19 years old, the youngest pair in the championship.
Also, this fresh pair is the most popular pair. On the other hand, Kato and Hane pair is in very good condition and is the prospective winner. Certainly, it would be an interesting game as fans were expecting.
On the 31st of January, at Ebisu the Garden Place, surrounded by 1200 Go fans, I will tell you about the great game which was as expected.

In the morning, it was not only cold but also was raining. We were worried that many fans might not turn up but...
But believe it or not, in this bad weather, there was a long queue 1 hour before the door opened.

From last year, the room for the final game is separated from the commentary room. The 800 seats at the commentary room were nearly occupied before the opening ceremony started. The 200 seats in the room for the final game were taken immediately, and including the standing people, all together 1200 Go fans were waiting for the final game to start.

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4 players who gathered in the waiting room were spending their time calmly. Imin Shei Womne's Honinbo who is known as a powerful player is usually shy and quiet.

Keiko Kato Women's Saikyo was in the middle of the Women's Kisei tile match, the 3rd game of the tile match. When she was asked "You must be tired with hard schedule?", she replied shyly, "Yes, a little." And then she said with a smile," But I usually take a lot of rest when I am not busy." She said that she went to Furano, Hokkaido, for skiing this winter. Then, Imin Shei Women's Honinbo said, "Furano? I have been there, too." And they were talking about Furano for a while.

Later, both pairs did not have strategy meetings. Talking about Shei and Iyama pair, Iyama 8dan said the great speech, "We play whatever move we want to play. In that way, we will have a good result." Kato and Hane pair are in perfect synch, as if "1 person is playing." For both pairs who have a great relationship of mutual trust there seemed no need to have a strategy meeting.

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