Original address: https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASQ6D5SBXQ6DUCVL002.html
Hara: Cho Ji-hyun jokes about his state of mind Yuta Iyama wins 10 consecutive Honjinbo titles
Excerpt from: Asahi Shimbun
Author: Daisuke Koji
Translation and Collation: Making Excuses to Be Quiet After returning to work, I was very busy
In the 4th round of Honinbo, Ikuyama Yuta achieved the eleventh consecutive hegemony of Honinfang, and as a member of the Standing Committee, the previous record of consecutive hegemony held the twenty-fifth Honinfang of Cho Ji-hoon to witness this historical moment. And commented on "unprecedented". 24 years ago, he created a record of ten consecutive hegemons in the Battle of Benyinfang, and now that his record has been broken, Cho Ji-hoon expresses his state of mind with his own humorous eloquence, and at the same time looks forward to the future world of Japanese Go.
"When I was like Yuta Iyama, I was still in a very happy mood. To be honest I hope he loses this time so I can keep the record of ten consecutive leagues like him. Eleven consecutive bullies, it felt like a tumor under me. That being the case, I hope he will go far beyond the record, and I hope that he will impact the twenty-year-old."
After Yuta Iyama reached eleven consecutive hegemons, the above is a message from Zhao Zhixun published by the Japanese Chess Academy. Last year, After Yuta Iyama equaled his record of ten consecutive hegemons, he said: "My ten consecutive hegemons have become the terminal station, but Inoyama Yuta, for you, ten consecutive hegemons is just a small station, is your next stop twenty consecutive masters?" ”
The reporter said that he wanted to listen to Zhao Zhixun's evaluation in person, and Zhao Zhixun replied to me:
"In the future, if Yuta Iyama sets another record, no one will come to interview me again, and this should be the last time." To be honest, it's still a bit lonely, but I'm also relieved."
"I was punched and kicked", "A piece of paper gradually thickened...". Zhao Zhixun not only commented on the great record achieved by Yuta Iyama, but also looked forward to the future of the Go world.
"To be honest, I don't like to give interviews like this, after all, every time I will ask me 'Yuta Iyama is very powerful, what do you think', how can I be happy to ask such a question? I said with my lips, 'It is only natural that Yuta Iyama was able to achieve such an achievement, 'It is my honor to be surpassed by Yuta Iyama', and I always said what I did not want to say in my heart. It's like being punched and kicked, but after today there will be no such problems, and you can live a quiet and stable life in the future."
How hard is it to achieve a streak? When I asked Cho if he could look back at the 1989-1998 ten consecutive years of reaching the cost of the invincibility, Cho replied, "I forgot." Then added: "I don't know what happened, I forgot everything about winning chess, and everyone who lost chess remembers it." He also said: "Like Yuta Iyama, Yuta Iyama has also come to this day after going through a series of difficult matches, and she is by no means a hanging opponent. However, in Iyama's words, this piece of paper gradually thickened and then became tough like a block of iron. It was also very difficult for me to win, but I just folded 10 pieces of paper and didn't become a piece of iron."
Yuta Iyama has exhausted the path of her predecessors and is now beginning to step into the wilderness that no one has stepped into, and Cho Ji-hoon's method is to praise and inspire Iyama Yuta. On the other hand, this time, the challenger of the Benyinfang Battle was a liaoqi saint, and Zhao Zhixun said: "That time can be said to be on an equal footing with Iyama Yutaitai." This time, Yili Liao was 0-4 sealed by Yuta Iyama, what is Zhao Zhixun's evaluation of this?
"Leaving aside the 4th inning, the content of the first three innings can be said to have suppressed Yuta Iyama. It would have been quite possible to win three consecutive victories. This is the first time that Ichiri-ryo suppressed Yuta Iyama's series on the content of the chess game."
Since last year, the three major chess battles in the Go world, the chess holy war, and this time the Ben in-fang battle have all become challengers, and then the title holders of the challenge are Yuta Iyama. Whether the three major chess games in a row are the same or the first time, it can be said that it is a peak showdown in name. Celebrity Wars and Chess Holy Wars, these two series of seven chess pieces have reached a decider, but even if they win the series of chess saints, the content of the chess game is also suppressed by Yuta Iyama.
"Up to the battle of Ben infang, the strength of Ichiri Liao was still somewhat different from that of Izuyama Yuta. Although Yili Liao got the chess saint, it was basically a reversal victory. Although the content is not very good, it wins with the advantage of youth. This time it was better than Yuta Iyama but lost the game. If there is a good outcome, to some extent, Japanese Go has also ushered in an era of power change, but Yuta Iyama has survived."
"I think the battle between them is already evenly matched. From the law of nature, in the future, the force of the fierce pursuit is likely to win all the competitions in one fell swoop. But Yuta Iyama had something I couldn't have imagined. So there are still many unknowns about the future direction."
In 2009, after the 20-year-old Yuta Iyama won the title of celebrity, he became a man of the world after the death-defying battle of the four kings of Heisei, and recently Yuta Iyama needed to face the forces of his descendants such as Ichirio.
"The perfect world of people, at the beginning, is to bite the senior chess players, and then resist the pressure of the younger chess players." If you can defeat and block them, you can become a worldly person. For Yuta Iyama now, the momentum of the Ichigo has now been blocked, and if there are chess players who can rush out in the future, Iyama Yuta can continue to block them. I think Yuta Iyama has entered the realm of god."
The battle between Iyama Yuta and Ichiritsu is not over yet, and the Two of them will fight again in the Jihad Goban Chess tournament that begins on June 24.