Li League - Match 7 Igo&Shogi Channel vs Nagoya

 

Match 7 — Igo&Shogi vs Nagoya

Overview

This should be an interesting match as both teams are 1 and 1 so this might help define whether the team is going places or falling back. You would have to bet on Igo, if a betting person, as the Nagoya Captain is against the 3rd string Igo player - who is playing her first game and the Igo Co-Captain is taking on the Nagoya 3rd string who is also playing her first game. You would expect both games to go with the stronger player (be a shock if it does not). Leaving the key game being board 1 where the Igo Captain and current 2nd highest Japanese Lady Rujisawa Rina is against the Nagoya Co-Captain Nyu Eiko. It will be a bit of a statement win if Nyu wins so that is the game I am looking forward to. IF she does that then Nagoya has a strong chance.

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Full You tune cast is here

Pairings

Board	Fukuoka	Senko	Result	Winner
Board 1	Fujisawa Rina	Nyu Eiko	W+R	Fujisawa Rina
Board 2	Takayama Nonoka	Kato Chie	B+R	Takayama Nonoka
Board 3	Xie Yimin	Suzukawa Natsumi	W+R	Xie Yimin

Board 1 — Fujisawa Rina (White) vs Nyu Eiko (Black)

Opening

Eiko opened with a 44, as did white with Black instantly 33ing it. Rina went for a 3 stone wall and Eiko knighted down allowing White to 34 the top left corner with Black finally taking a 34 in the bottom right. White then 33'd Blacks 44 and exactly the same Joseki played out with Black using Sente to Knight approach whites remaining corner, white Shosaku'd and Black took a wide enclosure bottom right with white, for the first time in a very fast opening, taking some time before playing a proverb safe 4 space extension from her 3 stone wall which white knight approached low.

Middle Game

A rather complex fight then drew out on the right as White attached to the 34 stones and multiple groups spread. Eiko actually drew ahead at this point due to this move by White

White seemed to cause some head scratching to the casters but it looks like it moved a 1 point or so white lead to a 1 point or so black lead but should have been white 6 up. This basically led to Black being almost alive top right and both players switched attention to firstly the bottom and then the top left. Both players seemed to be playing extremely well and their focus hopped all over the board and it looks like the score never swung more than 4 away from either player..

Endgame 

Much as with the mid game, neither player gave much away but Rina retained her 5 point or so lead until Black resigned.

Summary

In the main‑board match of the round, Eiko faced one of the league’s most formidable opponents: Fujisawa Rina, a seven‑dan veteran whose command of large‑scale fighting is well known. From the outset, Eiko approached the game with a measured, territorial rhythm, building solid bases while keeping the board calm. Fujisawa, by contrast, pressed for early initiative, leaning on Eiko’s positions and probing for weaknesses along the right side. The tension rose as the centre began to open, with White steering the game toward a broad, influence‑driven struggle that demanded precise judgment from both players.

As the middle game unfolded, Fujisawa’s experience began to show. Her attacks were not explosive but quietly suffocating, tightening the net around Black’s groups while expanding her own central potential. Eiko fought back with resilience, finding clever reductions and refusing to collapse under pressure, yet each exchange left White a little thicker and Black a little more strained. By the time the final territorial balance emerged, Fujisawa had carved out a narrow but secure lead. The endgame sharpened the margins, but not enough to overturn the flow of the fight, and White sealed a composed 5.5‑point victory — a testament to Fujisawa’s steady control and her ability to guide a complex game toward a clean, professional finish.

Board 2 — Takayama Nonoka (Black) vs Kie Chie (White)

Opening

Both players opened star points at the top with Black continuing with the same and White using a 34 facing own. Black high 2 space approached this and White calmly knighted allowing Black sente to Knight approach the top left 44 with White responding with the popular low knight away Joseki, Black did not support but knight defended their own corner. White now 33 invaded the final corner with Black defending with the new AI joseki defence and white then filled in to the more common 3 stone and hane variation. Black, unusually perhaps though AI likes so what do I know,  then hane'd at the bottom.

Black then  instant cut at S5, White atari'd allowing Black to double hane and then on whites capture to make a solid connection - white used the sente gained to make an extension around the bottom star and negate the power of the gained wall. Eventually an approach to the top right caused a kick and pincer and the Opening was over.

Middle Game

The mid game started with both players carving out offensive outposts, White in the top right made space and black squeezed down the left to do the same before diving in the bottom left corner with a rather nice attack that gained a few points but left white ahead..

White was no doubt satisfied with this and promptly pushed in at the top much reducing Blacks potential space.. Black then played a gutsy play at move 93

There is support to the tight but it looks surrounded, and white was having none of it and rapidly surrounded for a 24+ point potential lead

At this point all those black stones are dead and that is also a fair chunk of territory.. Now the best play from here for white leads to a ko for life and survival - mainly due to the L shaped groups weakness but Kato missed it, move 126 was played in the following location

and due to the 4 liberties of the skull group and the 4of the bottom black and more than 4 of the trapped group and the entire game swung..

Endgame

End game was fairly even in honours but Black made no major mistakes (it looks like AI saw several bigger kills but in Blacks favour).

An impressive win from the 15 year old and poor Kato Chie can't seem to catch a break this tournament..

Summary

In her very first appearance of this tournament, 15‑year‑old Takayama found herself facing the opposing captain, a higher‑ranked player with far more experience in high‑pressure matches. Yet from the opening moves, she showed none of the hesitation one might expect from a one so young. Black’s play was calm, balanced, and quietly confident, building steady frameworks on the right while refusing to be rushed by White’s early probing.

Once the central fight resolved in Black’s favour, the momentum was irreversible. Takayama’s steady pressure, clean shape, and refusal to overextend left White without a viable comeback. Faced with a stable Black position and no remaining complications to exploit, the captain resigned. It was a remarkable debut — a poised, disciplined win from a 15‑year‑old stepping into the league for the first time and defeating the leader of the opposing team with maturity far beyond her years.

Board 3 — Xie Yimin (White) vs Suzukawa Natsumi (Black)

Opening

Black went for a 44 and 34 self facing and white a 34 and 34 facing away, Black high 1 spaced the bottom 34 and a variation of that Joseki occurred (white Knighted as opposed to 1 space extension and Black extended high), white  2 space high approached the other 34 and Black knighted up making a potential large bottom moyo whist white then took a base on the left with a large knight. Black then knight approached the remaining 34 and White took a very wide pincer perhaps trying to sketch something with her bottom left group. Black then pushed down on the top. The remaining side positions were then hardened and for once we have what looks like a Territorial game going on..

All players seemed to have mapped out target areas, all invadable of course but these are Professional players..

Middle Game

Perhaps to prove that point Yimin started the middle by invading the bottom with an attachment at M3, that invasion led to a fight that spread up the center of the board

It must be said that Natsumi, another very young player and the lowest ranked ELO player in the league was holding her own and White, though leading, was only leading by less than Komi.

Things went wrong soon after this. Black took a diagonal when surrounded by white stones leaving 2 at risk

A tiny mistake perhaps but against a Professional that allowed Yimin to squeeze those Black stones aggressively into a blob. This was not irretrievable but she then made a mistake in the corner which instakilled a group and wasted a more here

But she then double down'ed and lost almost the entire top..

Which moved White to 50 points ahead, Black resigned at this point.

Summary

In her first match of the league, Suzukawa Natsumi has often found herself carrying the weight of inexperience against far more seasoned opponent. Drawn against Xie Yimin — a seven‑dan giant of the women’s game — Suzukawa entered the board as the league’s lowest‑rated player, a newly minted professional still searching for her footing. True to her style, she opened with a traditional, steady rhythm, avoiding the sharp AI‑influenced patterns that dominate modern play. Her early moves focused on securing shape and building reliable positions, a reflection of both her cautious temperament and the scars of past close‑contact fights that have burned her before. For a time, she held her ground admirably, keeping the board calm and refusing to be provoked into the kind of chaotic skirmishes that favour her opponent.

But as the middle game thickened, Xie gradually tightened the pressure. Her attacks were not explosive, but methodical — leaning, probing, and steadily eroding the stability Suzukawa had worked so hard to build. Once the fighting shifted into closer quarters, the gap in experience became more visible. Xie’s reading and timing carved out advantages across multiple areas, and Suzukawa’s careful foundations began to buckle under the strain. Though her yose remained sharp, as it often does, the game had already tilted too far to recover. Xie secured the win by resignation.