Original address: https://mainichi.jp/articles/20220326/ddm/010/040/034000c
Hara: Go Hanamaru Learning Cup 25th Junior Honinbo National Tournament Opens Today, Aim for Japan's No. 1 Masanobu Takahama × Kotaro Seki Tengen
From: Daily News
Author: Maruyama Jin
Image: Kazutoku Matsuda
Translation and Collation: Making Excuses to Be Quiet Ah Han Tong did not publish the results
The "25th Hanamaru Learning Club Cup, Junior Honinbo Battle National Convention", which competes for the first Japanese junior high school Go player, was held on March 26 and 27 at the Main News Tokyo Headquarters in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. A total of 32 players from various regions participated in the competition, and the winning chess players will be awarded the title of "Youth Ben in Fang". You can then be invited to participate in the 68th All Japan Amateur Honinbo Decision Battle National Convention. Before the tournament began, Masanobu Takahama, a representative of the Hanamaru Learning Association dedicated to the popularization of Go, and Kwan Hangtaro, who won the title in history last year, had a dialogue about the charm and role of Go.
Kwan Hang Taro: Improve computing power, improve thinking ability
Masanobu Takahama: Develop the ability to see the "auxiliary line" clearly
Masanobu Takahama: When did you decide you wanted to become a professional chess player?
Kwan Hang Taro: That was when I was in elementary school, and then I became a professional chess player in the winter of my third grade. To be honest, I also participated in the summer stage race that summer, but I missed one and could not set the stage. So if I don't make a decision in the winter exam, I think maybe it would be better to give up this path.
Masanobu Takahama: I know about last year's Tianyuan War, did you think you could take the title?
Kwan Hang Taro: Before the start of the game, I was honest and bottomless, maybe I didn't have a chance. However, I still won the first game beautifully, and I felt: "If you can be in shape, you have a chance to win", but I lost in the second set, and I felt a little dangerous at that time. However, I didn't think too much about the second inning, and after the third inning, I completely forgot about the second inning, and I was very confident after the normal heart faced it.
Masanobu Takahama: The Athletes who participated in the Olympics have said something similar to you, is there any way you can adjust your mentality?
Kwan Hang Taro: I inadvertently imagined myself winning chess, but it was all delusional (laughs). I do have some optimist looks.
Masanobu Takahama: That's quite interesting, have you been like this since you were a child?
Kwan Hang Taro: I have never been afraid of my opponents, and the opponent of the Tengen War, Ichiri Liao, is one of the best masters in Japan, and even so, I am not afraid of my hands and feet.
Masanobu Takahama: It is said that you are familiar with the chess of AI.
Kwan Hang Taro: In the past, the opinions expressed by powerful chess players are the atmosphere of correct solution, but in fact, this aspect has not been well evaluated before. But with the advent of AI, this environment has changed. AI will give you an "answer" whether you play a good or bad game. I started using AI just for fun, but after seeing his level of strength, I started using AI. Then I found that the higher the AI's winning percentage, the better the results, and I felt that this tool was useful to me. When many chess players first started using AI, their performance did have a downturn, but after repeated attempts to use AI, they once again had good results.
Masanobu Takahama: Are there many chess players in China and South Korea who use AI?
Kwan Hang Taro: Many young people who use AI are very strong, especially if China reaches the age of 30, it is difficult to have good results. If you do not study AI, there will be no obvious progress, so you must use the power of AI, but relying too much on AI will lose yourself, and sometimes there will be errors in the judgment of your own chess, so it is better to keep a certain distance.
Masanobu Takahama: This is also a problem for new-age chess players, and then are you interested in international competitions?
Kwan Hang Taro: Participating in the World Series was one of my goals after I became a professional chess player, and my teacher, Kazukazu Fujisawa, also hoped that we could become "chess players who can stand in the World Championships."
Masanobu Takahama: The World Cup is the most interesting in football, and then there are international tournaments in the World of Shogi that do not exist in the world of Shogi, hoping to make Go lively.
Kwan Hang Taro: My strength needs to be further improved so that I have the opportunity to stand in the World Series. I participated in the World Series in late March, and I hope that I will be able to participate in the World Series in the future and get the results that everyone is looking forward to.
Masanobu Takahama: What do you think Go can bring you?
Kwan Hang Taro: If you play Go, you can choose a lot of points, and then how the opponent responds, there are also many choices. And in the face of the opponent's means, he also has to consider how to face these means. Go is not just a simple calculation, but also needs to consider many possibilities. Playing Go improves judgment and broadens your horizons. I'm also a person who likes to think about it, and among them, Go is the most interesting thing, and then I also feel that my thinking ability has been improved.
Masanobu Takahama: The benefits of Go, I think, are good for cultivating graphic inspiration. If you want to play Go, you need to imagine that there is such a seed on the board without a chess piece. From an arithmetic or mathematical point of view, it depends on whether you can see this "auxiliary line". It would be nice if Go could be introduced into the school curriculum.
Kwan Hang Taro: Indeed, if Go enters the education industry, I would like to participate in it. As a professional chess player, I naturally want to achieve good results, but I also want to share the charm of Go. I want to contribute actively to the popularization of Go.