Masaki Takemiya 9dan went up on the stage saying, `I never guessed the winners’. He said, ` This year, the members are perfect, always perfect every year but I wonder which pair will win. It is difficult to guess.’ and looked at the board and recommended 3 pairs. `By looking at the board, I guess the prospective winner would be the pair of Yashiro and Yoda. Chinen and Imamura are also good. Also, Kobayashi and Yamashita pair seems strong. Aoki and Mimura pair won the last year so this year, they should… Oh, Ms. Aoki, I didn’t know you are here (laugh).’ Here is some of the Takemiya 9dan’s comment of each pair. Yoko Inori 5dan and Koichi Kobayashi 9dan `This pair is a teacher and a student. If Yoko plays as usual and because two of them know their technique, maybe they will do quite well.’ Terumi Koyama Women’s Meijin and O Rissei 9dan `Rissei’s Go is difficult. So maybe, they are not good (laugh).’ Kana Mannami 3dan and Satoru Kobayashi 9dan `Satoru is tired with the Meijin Title Match but a good looking guy and a cute girl, Kana will be the most popular pair.’ Izumi Kobayashi 6dan and Keigo Yamashita Tengen `Pay attention to them. They had an experience of being a winner. Pregnant women are strong.’ Kazuko Konishi 8dan and Satoshi Yuuki 9dan `Both of them are from Kansai Ki-in. Ms. Konishi, you prefer another partner, don’t you? You must be sick of looking at him, aren’t you (laugh)? But as a pair, it seems strong.’ Ayumi Suzuki 3dan and Cho U Meijin Oza `Fresh combination. The youngest pair. They seemed to be spirited, so I guess they will do well.’ Yumiko Okada 6dan and Rin Kaiho Meiyo Tengen Mr. Rin is easygoing. He won’t try hard enough. So, it will be difficult.‘ Followed by Takemiya 9dan, Tukuda 4dan was asked who would win and she said, `there are 2 pairs which I’d like to nominate.’ The first pair is Okada 6dan and Rin Meiyo Tengen to whom Takemiya 9dan said ` difficult ‘. Tsukuda 4dan said, `Earlier, I heard that Rin sensei wouldn’t try hard enough but I think that he is quite spirited (laughter in the hall). It is because…I paired with him before but when I met him about a month before the tournament, he said ` I investigated why we lost and I found out that my move was wrong.’ And he replaced stones and showed me. I remember that I was touched by him just replacing stones. I am sure he is spirited this time.’ And another pair is Ogawa 6dan and Ishida 9dan. Tukuda 4dan said, `They usually get along well, so please be so, on the Go board as well. I’m looking forward to it.’ Every year, guessing the winners gets more and more exciting. But it is hard to guess correctly, and that is one attraction of the Pair Go. At this championship, what drama is waiting for them… The pairing of the 1st round is shown below. [A] Akino IZAWA 3-dan / Naoki HANE Kisei pair vs Kazuko KONISHI 8-dan / Satoshi YUKI 9-dan pair [B] Izumi KOBAYASHI 6-dan / Keigo YAMASHITA Tengen pair vs Kaori CHINEN Woman's Kisei / Toshiya IMAMURA 9-dan pair [C] Kumiko YASHIRO Woman's Honinbo / Norimoto YODA Gosei pair vs Terumi KOYAMA Woman's meijin / Rissei O 9-dan pair [D] Fumiko SAKAKIBARA 6-dan / Shinji TAKAO Honinbo pair vs Tomoko OGAWA 6-dan / Yoshio ISHIDA 9-dan pair [E] Yukari UMEZAWA 5-dan / Chikun CHO judan pair vs Tomoko KATO 5-dan / Kimio YAMADA 8-dan pair [F] Yoko INORI 5-dan / Koichi KOBAYASHI 9-dan pair vs Kana MANNAMI 3-dan / Satoru KOBAYASHI 9-dan pair [G] Kikuyo AOKI 8-dan / Tomoyasu MIMURA 9-dan pair vs Yumiko OKADA 6-dan / Kaiho RIN Meiyo Tengen pair [H] Ayumi SUZUKI 3-dan / U CHO Meijin / Oza pair vs Narumi OSAWA 3-dan / Meien O 9-dan pair The professionals were poring over the board of the pairing of the 1st round. Now, the microphone was turned to Kikuyo Aoki 8dan who was the winner of last year. Aoki 8dan who has been told indirectly to ` try to be modest, this year’ said, `Mr. Mimura is very easy to play with and I love to win again.’ There was laughter and clapping in the hall. Aoki 8dan said, `I learn a lot from male professionals’ each move in Pair Go. I appreciate that I am given a good opportunity.’ Ms. Takanishi said, `Including last year, you experienced being a winner for 3 times but what is the secret of being a winner?’ Aoki 8dan said, `The secret to be a winner is … I think it depends on the male professionals (laughter in the hall). I think that even though I make some bad moves, Mimura Sensei who is very patient is never discouraged and that creates strength in Pair Go. Kuniyasu Honda Sensei is also very patient and we won the championship twice. We were only placing the stones.’ By the wise remarks of Aoki 8dan, the place was filled with applause. At last, Ishida 9dan guessed the winners of the 1st round. `I am confident of guessing 6 winners out of 8 pairs.’ He said and below is the 8 pairs who will win.  Konishi and Yuuki pair  Chinen and Imamura pair (after worrying for a while, `It will be a good game’)  Yashiro and Yoda pair  Ogawa and Ishida pair (He said, `definitely, they will win.’)  Kato and Yamada pair (this game, too, he decided after worrying for a while)  Inori and Kobayashi(Koichi) pair  Aoki and Mimura pair  Suzuki and Cho pair What will the result be? The 1st and the 2nd rounds will be held on Saturday, 3rd of December, at Ebisu, the Garden Hall, starting from 11am. [ ← back ] [ top of this page ]