Li League Final 2026

 

The final is almost here and it is the same two finalists as last year in the same order (Senko 1st place, Igo&Shogi 2nd) - last year Igo&Shogi won even with the 2nd placed dis-advantage. It could easily happen again. Igo&Shogi have a more balanced team? if possible.

Pairings 

Let's run through the pairings 1 by 1

First up the Senko 3rd String versus the Igo Co-Captain.  They have already played twice and Xie won both times. Hana had white and Xie black and she won by 2.5 in the end.. 2nd game was wider with Hana with Black again but resigning when 42 points or so behind. At the half way point Xie had an ELO of 3042 and Hana 2803.

Next we have the Senko 4th String versus the Igo 3rd String - Izawa Akino 2751 versus the irrepressible Moro Arisa 2936.  Akino has not played against Igo yet.

Then on Board 3 we have possibly the key match of Ueno Asami, Senko Captain, 3307 versus Fujisawa Rina, Igo Captain, 3213. Honours are even so far with Asami winning one and Rina doing the same last week. If Asami can win then she just needs 1 win from the other games. If she loses then if Chiaki can win then one of the less advantages players on the 1st two boards needs a win - so a much harder ask..

FInally on Board 4 we have Senko Co Captain Mukai Chiaki 3055 versus the Igo 4th String Takayama Nonoka 2754.  These met last week with  Chiaki winning by 62 ish points in the end

Board	Senko	Igo Shogi	Result	Winner
Board 1	Tsuji Hana	Xie Yimin	B +6.5	Xie Yimin
Board 2	Izawa Akino	Moro Arisa	W+R	Moro Arisa
Board 3	Ueno Asami	Fujisawa Rina	W+2.5	Ueno Asami
Board 4	Mukai Chiaki	Takayama Nonoka	B+6.5	Mukai Chiaki

Full cast is here 

Board One Tsuji Hana versus Xie Yimin

Opening

Hana chan must be cursing getting Yimin in every single game against Igo.. Yimin had Black and opened dual 34 facing self, Hana though went for a 33 into 34 face self - which was unexpected. Black enclosed with White low approaching the other corner, Black knighted forward and White then took a very large knight almost to the center. Black then 2 space approached the White 33 with white large knighting allowing Black to do the same and get a semi moyo on the left.  White then large knighted the bottom right before Black pressed whites high top stone down. Black then armpit hit white's stones and this point! was when white first moved behind (and never caught up)

White pushed once, black crept as well before White took a low stone but this gave Black sente to place a nice extension from an enclosure right side.

Middle

This was a fighty game as Hana now had to throw herself in to fights to try and counter Blacks strength. White only briefly re-gained the lead at move 100 here

The reason is not that white is 'out' in the center or alive when dead but that this forced Black to defend at F9 which gave white Sente and AI at least was very keen for white to play M16 which keeps the N 17 3 stones alive and kills the 2 Black stones - White did not play this though and elected to keep the Q15 group alive instead which led to Black killing the previous and never losing the lead again.

Igo&Shogi up 1

Board Two Izawa Akino versus Moro Arisa

Opening

Both board 1 and 2 games were played simultaneously. This had a more standard opening. Akino with Black went 44 and 34 facing and White dual 44s. Black did not enclose but instead insta-33d and the standard modern knight variation occurred giving White Sente to 2 space approach the 34, Black knighted forward and White then knight approached the other corner with the usual Joseki ensuing (White going high on the extension), Black then extended center right to sqeeze White's somewhat lonely stone - White ignored to hane the 33 invasion group - this is very interesting to me as how to lock the invader in is a skill I really want to have and I am not entirely sure it is possible. Anyway in this case White locked at the top and left the skirt open at the bottom

An alternate variation favoured by Saki Yangagihara is as follows

So Black does get shut in at the cost of Sente - White has a nice position though since it doesn't have Sente Black will likely try to remove any advantage the position has.

This is a common variation at DDK 

Black ignores to push out to the top so white gets a larger wall and sente.

Anyway back to the game... Black knight approached the remaining White 44 but from the low left side and White ignored to play a sente move to tie Black entirely to the lower corner with E2 before kicking the approacher and going high, Black didn't want to extend into Whites dominant bottom left group above and took a small 2 space high extension obviously wanting to move to the center. White then knight approached the bottom Right corner causing a another defensive stone armpit hitting Q6, White seems to regard it as an aji stone anyway so reinforced the bottom left.

Middle

Black now invaded the top- successfully but slightly mishandled the invasion.

What she did do was the following

So lived but gave White huge outside strength in the process.

AI seems to recommend

So faster life with more aji, anyway this invasion gave White so much strength white was 6 up and never let up the lead and though Akino's end game bought back 12 or so points White was still well ahead...

Igo 2 up! all the pressure on the captain and co-captain as both need to win to get the tie break win from being 1st in the standings.

Board Three Ueno Asami vs Fujisawa Rina

Opening

This was a battle, Rina with Black opened 34 facing and facing away with Asami with White 44 and 34 facing self. Black then took a two space wide enclosure on the 34 and White went for the Chinese opening. Black in response took a 2nd 2 space wide enclosure and then White knight approached the underbelly of the top with a knight. Black ignored and knight approached Whites bottom left 44. White responded with a 1 space extension which Black promptly poked, white blocked and Black slid further into the corner. White then made an interesting move with a 2nd line invasion just by this group at H2. Black strengthened and White promptly attached to the sliding stone allowing Black to capture with a Ponnuki but due to that single white invader Black had to reinforce their approaching group allowing White to seal it in the corner alive but small. Note also that the invader is not quite dead either..

Black then 1 space high approached the white top left 34 of the Chinese and White stated the usual Joseki with Black unable to do the standard taking a Sabaki like jump outwards which allowed White to strengthen as well merrily pushing into the center - Opening over at least

Middle

White instant cut after Blacks last hane and started to squeeze Blacks top right group  whilst Black tried to live and to firm up the bottom moyo, this caused Asami to jump in giving Rina a chance to squeeze back again.. Even though this caused Black to take a slight lead the fact the only territory was on the right side but Blacks left group was between three strong white would become a problem.

The confusing fighting continued until a small Black mistake at 121

I would guess Black was trying to start to soak up space to the left but it looks like potentially

Would have kept things close. Basically Black threatens to kill Whites 5 stones so Sente she should likely block allowing Black to connect at C and have access to left and central right. As it stood Asami next played J10 and  Blacks central group was now disconnected and around move 195ish killed. Rina is known for her excellent end game and pulled it back to less than Komi but Asami won a close one, great game by both..

2 wins for Igo and 1 for Senko, all on the last game...

Board Four Mukai Chiaki versus Takayama Nonoka

Opening

Chiaki had Black and opened 44 to 34 facing self and White went dual 44s. Black then enclosed the 44 and white instant shoulder hitted it, Black then could 1 space enclose her other corner and again Takayama attached instantly and Black essentially traded the corner for a wall. White then dived into Blacks side with Black protecting the corner before knight enclosing one of the White corners.

Black then played a splitting move likely judging White's two stones near the top right corner would make a more risky approach? White took the base 1 side and Black extended 3 spaces! to the other allowing white to kick and Black to iron pillar - White was happy with the normal joseki extension.

Black then  strengthened the top left a couple of moves making white reinforce its merry invader  for a few moves before Black tried to sneak into Whites top territory. White was most unconcerned with this and promptly invaded the Black left group, Black capped and White 33'd the top right corner. When Black defended White used Sente to jump out it's right invading group and Black somewhat unusually took a knight at the top to gain more space. This seemed a little small too AI.

Middle

Fighting now broke out in the left hand invasion with White dropping to the second line and threatening to join up to the top group. Black let her and just took a strengthening move before jumping to the center. White was no doubt pleased with this as there was one big move on the board at the bottom center star point which she immediately took. Black now pushed further into the top and White let her instead blocking before jumping into Blacks central group. A fight now occurred with White trying to surround that group and Black attempting to get larger and live. Black did both get larger and live but with bugger all points and White gained several walls which neutralised Blacks bottom left group (nice play by White). White was actually up 6.4 points or so by move 127 with a 99% chance of winning so it was not looking good for Senko as the entire competition hinged on this game (Takayama actually was the reason Igo won the 1st league round with a win against stronger opposition).

Chiaki is no slouch though and as end game ran through she had dropped whites lead to about 4 points. This is important because a lead of 12 points in end game is difficult to overcome for Professionals - but 4 points can be turned by a small mistake and that is exactly what happened on move 224

The key here was that Black could not block due to a shortage of liberties and if it did white would retain advantage. But move 223 Black took a ko stone at K12 which gave an extra liberty and this meant she now had the capture race count and White did not notice.

Now that simple 1-2-3

led to

and an immediate swing. Pushing Black from 6.8 behind to 1.2 ahead.

Chiaki had better end game (including a great suicide invasion solely to provide Ko threats, love it) and Black won by 6.5 and Senko won on the tie break of being the top seed in an evens (2 wins each) match.

Wow. I felt sorry for Takayama as she had played magnificently and Igo came within an inch of repeating as Champions.

Senko receive the larger prize fund, it's not huge 3 million yen? for the 2nd placed team and 6 million for the winners (about £27,000 or $37,500).

Asami seemed quite emotional in her winner's speech whilst Igo unsurprisingly looked less happy.


Asami receiving the cup for the team.

Rest of the team look drained bar Akino who looks delighted..

So year 2 is done! Next we have the teams re-forming in Autumn sometime, perhaps some membership changes as well.

Here is the entire group

For some reason I find the shoe choices fascinating...Thanks for reading for those that got this far..