Professionally Speaking Michael Redmond

January 15, 2004

"With the rise of young players like Yamashita and Hane, it's clear now that the reign of the Kitani school is ending," Michael Redmond told the E-Journal this morning. Redmond is in Seattle to provide game commentary on the Kisei for NHK, and discussed the current go scene in Japan and his own career in a wide-ranging interview with the E-Journal.

"The young players have finally flowered into strength," Redmond said, naming Cho U and Takao in addition to Yamashita and Hane as among the new young challengers "who are very hard for the top players to beat." Each player has his own style, said Redmond. "For instance, Yamashita has a very aggressive game, he plays best when he has a moyo and is attacking. In my game against him I tend to be over-aggressive and so I'm sort of playing against his strongest points. Which is why I have a bad record against him."

"It was interesting to see (Yamashita) play poorly against Yoda, where he did the reverse and played against his weak points." Redmond says that Yamashita has "played poorly" in his last couple of tournaments, and "is clearly in a slump. But when he plays his best he's nearly invincible. I think he's probably going through a stage." Calling Hane is "a very solid player," Redmond warns that "It looks like he's playing defensively but he has a lot of power, so his game can be deceptive."

"Cho U, the current Honinbo, is a very territory-oriented player, and it's almost like his weak groups are charmed, they don't die: it's almost impossible to kill a group of his. I actually beat him once, when he had two weak groups on the board, both of them lived but I managed to win that game. His reading is extremely deep, better than most of the top players. His specialty is creating small tsume-go problems that are very difficult for even the pros to solve, and he can make them very quickly."

"Stamina and tenacity is typical of almost all the younger players, and the difference of the top young pros is that their strong points are so prominent that they can overcome other top players. It's interesting," Redmond notes, "some of them will make it, but I think some of them, at some point, something goes wrong, maybe they lose concentration or focus and they don't make it to the very top."

Redmond himself is coming off successful years in both 2002 and 2003, although two recent "painful" losses have left him feeling as though he's "lost it" a bit. "Professionals go through good periods. I have myself, where I think I know all the answers, but of course it's an illusion. It works for a while, though."

After thirty years of playing go, Redmond says he enjoys the game more than ever. He's now in the final tournament for the Tengen and his goals this year are to continue to do well in the top leagues. He's risen to a level where he's regularly playing the top players in the world and continues to discover new areas of the game to explore. Like the rest of the top pros, Redmond's focus is now on the opening. "Most of the time, even professional players don't really understand what's going on. It can be very frustrating, but the fact that we can still learn is really what motivates me."

Redmond had this bit of advice for amateur players: "Professional players have to get rid of their weak points, but amateur players should concentrate on extending their strong points. Your strong points can cover up your weak points. It's more fun, and

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