50 Years aGO

The month got off to a fine start with Iwamoto Kaoru 9d and Magari Reiki 9d visiting Bristol. In our photo, we see Magari playing a simul on April 1st.

Closely following, the 21st Ladies' Hon'inbō Title began on April 2. Defending champion Honda Sachiko 4d played Kobayashi Chizu 3d. Honda won the first, lost the second, but defended her title in the third game on April 16. (Game records: Game One, Game Two, Game Three.) 

After coming so close in the Nihon Ki'in Championship, Chō Chikun 6d again made a title challenge in the Professional Best Ten. He defeated Takagawa, Shūkō and Rin on the way to the final against Katō Masao 8d. At 28, Katō was 10 years older than his junior Kitani disciple. Chō squeezed out a half point win in the first game on April 10, then won the second on April 21, thus going ahead 2-0 in this the 5 game match, as he had in the Nihon Ki'in Championship. (Game records: Pro Best Ten Game One, Pro Best Ten Game Two.)

More news from Britain with the 8th British Go Congress from April 11 to 13. 116 players took place in this insular event (all were from the British Isles). By a narrow tiebreak, the winner was Jon Diamond 5d, with M. Itō 5 dan and Stuart Dowsey tying for second.

April 13th saw the 2nd Pennsylvania Open contested, hosted by the Delaware Valley Go Association. Local favorite T. Ishikawa 6d was eliminated early, and the title match was between Takao Matsuda of New York and Shin Kang of Baltimore. A late mistake is this their second ever contest, gave the win, once again, to Mr. Matsuda. The sandan champion was AGA President John Stephenson. Steve Stringfellow was the kyu champion.

Game records courtesy of SmartGoOne, photos from the British Go Journal and American Go Journal.