Kansai Kiin announced a new pro as a part of that special selection for gifted players. Fujita Reo 9 years 4 months from Oosaka.
It’s said that it’s record for the youngest pro player. China had Chang Hao and Korea had Cho Hun-hyun. They were like pro at 9 years 7 months. Not sure if it’s like both of them or what but whatever. See the article: ９歳４カ月 大阪の藤田怜央君プロ入り 国内最年少、中韓の記録抜く - イザ！ One of the few that even mentioned this instead of just repeating basic info like everyone else.
Started go at 4. Teacher is Hoshikawa Takumi 5p. Favorite players are Iyama Yuta and Yo Seiki. He was Nihon Kiin insei (they have a branch in Kansai) but went through this special exam at Kansai Kiin. Sooo Kansai Kiin stole him then? Among other things he was tested by Seto Taiki 8p (I imagine this means a game, right, or games) and he’ll be pro from September, it says.
If he was Nihon Kiin’s insei we can look him up then, right? I can’t really find him in insei lists though. Weird.
That’s the one. But go4go is mistaken, it is just 怜央 Reo. Like Hatate Reo, footballer, Oomachi Reo, TV talking head, Okabe Reo, shougi player. I wonder why. To an unenlightened eye it does seems like it should be reio or even reiou. Like 怜悧, clever, reiri. And other kanji with similar shape also like 冷静 reisei, 令和 reiwa, 零 rei.
Looks like it’s one test game with a pro and two kifu submitted. And these are analyzed by top 10 players (by money). Looks like 2/3 approval is needed.
After attaining shodan the player is treated as semipro and becomes true pro upon reaching 2p.
Yeah. It’s only recently that Nakamura Sumire seems like she handles interviews well. I agree that it’s awkward and I wish the questions were more lighthearted, fewer, and shorter.
Very interesting about Fujita joining Kansai. Of course, Yo Seiki is in the Kansai Kiin. And Iyama is from Kansai area though in the Nihon Ki-in. I’m not sure if Iyama’s family has Kansai roots or not.
I like to think of Kansai as a different team. I wish I knew more about the old rivalry and how much it still exists today. Seto (of Kansai) was mentioned above and he has done well. I forget which tournament but he made it to one of the last few rounds recently. And Yo Seiki is still doing well.
Detailed that semi-pro player is actually a thing. The difference is in game payment, training fees and insurance. Or something.
His examination game is published. I manually transferred it into sgf, what a pain. I wonder if it was published already elsewhere and I wasted my time.
The game is somewhat boring. (The two additionally submitted games aren’t available.) What do the experts think?
Kansai Kiin experts: 6 said good, 1 said bad, 3 declined to vote.
Reason for good is that he’s great basically for his age despite some lacking aspects like endgame.
Reason for bad: it would be better to pass normal exam.
Reason for declining: three games aren’t enough to make judgement.
Then commission decided to count this result as 6-1 (so just throwing out not voting) thus passing required 2/3 which sounds a bit like nonsense.
Reo is entering pro status soon so the honeymoon phase starts. Where he gets to lose to play famous players. I think that’s what it is. It was similar in Nakamura Sumire’s case, right. On the second of September at 15h he’s gonna play Yo Seiki 8p in a no komi game (he’s still done though). Hopefully it’ll be relayed somewhere where I can watch it. Kansai relays their games on weird platforms so I never get to see them, I think.
That’s the game
Looks like it really was only broadcasted in weird places where it’s not very convenient to watch it.
There’s this video where reporters bully the kid a little more
As you can see the father works at (or rather runs) acupuncture and moxibustion orthopedic clinic. Somewhat suspicious.
So the kid basically just sits at his father workplace and does go.
They praise his speed a little bit but come on, kids often play without thinking much.
I don’t remember if it was mentioned before but Reo liked othello. But they didn’t find classroom for othello, found one for go though which looked similar. And that’s how he started go. Sounds similar?
They also have him play ama 6d reporter. But you know, of course they aren’t gonna show the game. Only couple of shots. The reporter is black, starter with san ren sei
If we look at the AI analysis, we see that the game went bad after move 34 which should have been at D10 instead of the hane E9. After Black’s cut (move 35), the ko became picnic for Black.
