Li League Match 4 Senko vs Igo & Shogi Channel

Match 4 — Senko vs Igo & Shogi

 

Match 4 (or Match 2 / Round 2 as the Japanese are framing it) occurs this coming Friday and here we have first sight of the final team Senko. This should be defining as we have last year’s winners versus last year’s finalists, who also won the pool stages, and the current Japanese number 1 lady versus the current Japanese number 2 lady.

Pairings are here:

Oh, so much to consider. Firstly you can see the importance Igo & Shogi put towards the game as they are retaining their line-up from their first victory in Round 1, so no use of their (young) 4th player. Senko equally are fielding their strongest ELO players.

Whereas last match Igo & Shogi put their captain on Board 3 and vice-captain on Board 1, this time they placed the captain on Board 1 where we have the matchup of the two strongest female players.

They did put their vice on Board 3 though, which is also interesting. If they had kept Xie on Board 2 in a vice-captains match we would have seen Xie (3073) versus Mukai (3031) — not a lot of gap in those ratings — but Board 3 would have had Arisa (2952) versus Hana (2815), a much bigger gap. I wonder if they thought Senko would place their vice on 3 as well. Now though, Xie has a great chance to win; you would think Mukai might do better against Arisa. Who knows though. Personally I am most looking forward to Board 2, but they will likely all be excellent games.

Board	Senko	Fukuoka	Result	Winner
Board 1	Ueno Asami	Fujisawa Rina	W+R	Ueno Asami
Board 2	Chiaki Mukai	Moro Arisa	B+R	Chiaki Mukai
Board 3	Tsuji Hana	Xie Yimin	B+2.5	Xie Yimin

YouTube game link

Board 1 — Ueno Asami (W) vs Fujisawa Rina (B)

Board Link

Opening

Phew — this entire round was fighting. Rina opened 5‑4 inside then 3‑4 opposing, and Asami chose 4‑4 and 3‑4 facing. Rina then double‑enclosed and Asami did the same on her 3‑4 before taking the top star point. Rina split the left and, when Asami approached from the top, extended three spaces, inviting the centre invasion which Asami promptly carried out. What followed was standard: Black escaped to the centre, White made territory, and Black tried to poach the corner.

As you can see, White is being very territorial whilst Black potentially has a large right side and a likely-alive left-side reduction force.

Middle Game

White then secured the bottom and Black attempted to seize most of the top. While doing so, White saved the C8 stone by creating a huge blob. Around move 93, White made around five AI best moves in a row and Black’s were less effective, and you could see this in an increasing lead.

Black tried to repeat White’s trick of getting a deep bottom invasion to live whilst both sides simultaneously juggled multiple groups that needed life, moving on to move 148 where Asami paused for what appeared to be the first time and eventually traded four stones top left to take six stones bottom left. White then made an aggressive one‑space attachment to the Black R10 stone deep in Black territory.

Black promptly showed the one‑space jump is not uncuttable when the surroundings are strong and cut through, leading to White losing the lead for the first time, though by losing the lead Black became only around 0.1 points ahead.

This was mainly due to the potential death of this attack. White fought back with a hane, allowing White to consolidate and bring the right group back to life. There was much discussion from the observers about seki / not‑seki of the groups at this point.

White obtained seki and that was all Asami needed to regain the lead and Black resigned. Great game.

Game Summary

This captain‑board clash brought together two of the most aggressive players in the women’s game, and the result was a full‑board fight from the opening moves. Ueno, playing White, aimed for early territorial stability, while Fujisawa countered with a broad, influence‑driven strategy that invited complications. The middle game exploded into a series of running battles as both players cut, counter‑cut, and raced for life across the centre. Fujisawa’s groups came under increasing strain as Ueno repeatedly found sharp forcing moves that tightened the net. Once White secured the central profit and stabilised her own weak points, the balance shifted decisively. Fujisawa fought on with her trademark tenacity, but Ueno’s reading held firm, and White sealed the win by resignation — a commanding performance built on relentless pressure and precise fighting.

Board 2 — Chiaki Mukai (B) vs Moro Arisa (W)

Board Link

Opening

Mukai opened with her favourite 4‑4, then 3‑4 facing, whilst White went for dual 4‑4s. Black enclosed one side and White played a knight’s move approach on the other (interior) side. Black used Shusaku’s diagonal to presumably grab sente, which she used to knight‑approach the other side where the common kick opening joseki was used, with Black extending high due to the supporting corner. Arisa then played a knight’s move on her remaining 4‑4, with Black approaching the two‑space extension of the Shusaku corner and, rather than running, White counter‑pincered. Though there was still the bottom and left open, a fight now started so the opening was basically over.

The top-right corner was interesting as the knight’s approach could lead to White stealing the corner, so Black blocked and White ran, but this left the R10 stone with a tiny one‑space extension. White then extended to the bottom and Black secured the other corner. White then launched what seemed a clever attack on the top right, using a sacrifice to generate strength to attack the F16–K16 group between two White groups.

The game was a complete knife edge at this point and the discussion by the commentators focused on how unstable that top Black group was. Black used probing moves elsewhere to get sente before eventually playing H18 for life but was now slightly behind with a centre group that looked under considerable pressure. Likely intentionally, Black launched a deep approach / invasion that was deliberately sacrificed to get sente to connect to that same centre group. White was taking a bigger lead (up to 15 points by AI evaluation).

Now at first glance that centre group looks in trouble, but it can gain one eye easily enough next to A and it has a second by either blocking at K11 or atari at J7 — White can’t get that stone out. Somewhat unaccountably, White played M13, perhaps as a quick time move — forcing sente and gaining 10 seconds on the clock. The time was needed as the next move was a killer. Instead of coming inside at E10, White double‑hane’d at E8. According to AI this allows the following sequence, leading to White’s top group living and territory to be gained at the bottom:

Whereas what actually happened was Black could double atari, eat into the bottom and eventually kill all the top stones.

It was essentially over at this point and, to make things worse, Black then used this to eat into the bottom left so White resigned with Black around 21 points ahead. Another great game.

Game Summary

This game had a very different flavour: calmer on the surface, but full of subtle tactical traps. Mukai steered the opening into a large‑scale territorial framework, inviting Moro to invade. Moro accepted the challenge, launching a series of deep reductions that forced both players into intricate reading battles. The turning point came when Mukai out‑read Moro in a complex fight on the right side, capturing a critical cutting group and seizing the initiative. From there, Black dictated the pace, converting thickness into profit while keeping Moro’s groups under pressure. The final resignation reflected Mukai’s steady, disciplined control — a solid win for Black built on precision rather than fireworks.

Board 3 — Tsuji Hana (W) vs Xie Yimin (B)

Board Link

Opening

This started with the only opposing corners start of the round. Black took a 3‑4 and White went same‑side 3‑3. Black then accepted the opposing corners and played 3‑4 in the other corner, with White taking the other 3‑4 facing. Black then played a large knight enclosure, which seems a useful move off the 3‑4 as the 3‑3 invasion that can occur when this is done off the 4‑4 does not seem liveable. White approached the other corner and Black defended with a knight’s move; White then ignored and Hana large‑knighted her own bottom-right corner. Black finally two‑space approached the 3‑3 and Hana’s response was a large knight coming out (interesting, possibly only because I do not see the 3‑3 start very much). Dual pincers bottom and top then occurred before a slight top fight and Black’s left‑side approach of the underside of the 3‑3’s large knight.

Middle Game

White was very, very slightly ahead through the start of the middle game and she was also considerably ahead on time. This lasted until around move 116+ when White’s time dived and the central complication became extreme. It was noticeable on stream that Hana had little time and took what appeared to be a safety move at N17 here that AI considers a “good move” and 1.1‑point loss that suddenly gave Black the lead.

A long ko fight then ensued where White actually regained the lead, but both players were now under considerable time pressure, making moves (usually) with only 10–12 seconds available, and Yimin’s experience seemed to come through. Around move 184, Hana played another safety move to keep the Black right group dead, but this allowed Black to eat up the bottom and gain the win.

The AI suggestion seemed to be to support the corner and let the three stones above live small to gain more points. What actually happened was that that group was able to connect up to the mid‑bottom group and dominate the bottom. A solid win from Xie Yimin, but I was very impressed with Tsuji Hana.

Game Summary

This was the most dramatic of the three: a sprawling, chaotic fight that stretched from corner to corner. Xie Yimin embraced a combative opening, and Tsuji Hana responded in kind, producing a game full of repeated ko fights, unsettled groups, and daring invasions. Tsuji’s middle‑game resistance was impressive — she repeatedly found ways to complicate positions that looked nearly settled. But Xie’s experience showed in the fine details: she consistently squeezed out small gains in local fights, and her endgame accuracy proved decisive. The final margin, Black by 2.5 points, reflects how tight the game remained, but Xie’s calm handling of the late‑stage yose ensured she stayed just ahead.