Ryo Ichiriki Becomes 1st Japan-Based Go Player to Win Major International Tournament in 19 Years

By Takeshi Eguchi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

15:59 JST, September 9, 2024

SHANGHAI — Ryo Ichiriki won a major international Go tournament in Shanghai on Sunday, becoming the first Japan-based player to achieve the feat in 19 years.

Ichiriki, 27, defeated Chinese opponent Xie Ke, 24, in the third match of the best-of-five final of the Ing Cup world professional Go championship. Ichiriki won three straight matches in the final.

This is the first time for a Go player representing Japan to have clinched a title in a major international competition since Taiwan-born Chang Hsu, 44, won in the LG Cup in South Korea in 2005.

Established in 1988, the Ing Cup is the longest-running major international Go tournament currently held. The competition generally takes place once every four years. With Ichiriki’s victory, a Japan-based Go player has won this prominent championship for the first time.

A total of 58 players, of whom 11 are based in Japan, participated in this 10th Ing Cup championship.

Xie, a ninth-dan player, was a formidable opponent who had defeated Ichiriki in the semi-finals of the previous Ing Cup tournament and eventually placed second. Aiming to get revenge against Xie, Ichiriki won the first two consecutive matches of the final held last month in China’s Chongqing. In the third match in Shanghai, where the title was at stake, Ichiriki struggled at times, but reversed the situation at the end and collected his third straight victory to secure his first title in an international Go tournament.

Born in Sendai, Ichiriki went professional in 2010 at the age of 13. In 2022, he claimed the Kisei title, the highest Go rank in Japan, by beating Yuta Iyama, who had made history by simultaneously holding all seven major Go titles in Japan twice. Ichiriki has since defended the Kisei title twice, and he currently holds three of the seven titles: Kisei, Tengen and Honinbo.

In 2020, as a reporter, Ichiriki joined Kahoku Shimpo, a Sendai-based newspaper publisher in which his father serves as president. In March this year, he became a director of the company.

“I felt that becoming No. 1 in the world is the long-cherished wish for all of the [Go players in] Japan, so I’m happy to have achieved it,” Ichiriki said. “I think it’s significant that I was able to demonstrate that even Japanese players have the ability to win the title if they have the support and other systems in place. I hope this victory will become a catalyst to increase the number of Go fans.”