December  Narumi OSAWA 3-dan I don’t know the best timing for resigning a game.   Watching TV games, I notice that male professionals sometimes have fans. Is there something you always take to a game or anything that you do or bring to give you luck? November  Keiko KATO Women's Meijin Something that really upsets me is that I often suffer invasions at the 3-3 point and don’t know what to do about them. Is there a good way of dealing with this invasion?   Do you feel that anything has changed in your daily life or in the way you approach your games since you became Women’s Meijin? October  Akino IZAWA 4-dan Recently I have been enjoying my games a lot and am looking forward to rapidly being promoted, but when I occasionally play with someone of the same rank or lower and take white, things are different from playing with black and I often end up playing fecklessly.   I am working hard to increase the number of professional women players. It’s more difficult with girls than with boys to get them interested in go. Please tell me if there’s some good advice I could give them as teacher. Septemnber  Kaori CHINEN 4-dan I get even results playing as 1-dan, but sometimes I get into a slump, losing five games or so in a row, and at these times I get the feeling that no matter how hard I try I can’t win.   I read previously in this column that you place importance on your family. I hear that you (with your husband, Yo Kagen 9-dan?) are teaching go to your children. If you have any interesting stories about this, I would appreciate hearing them. August  Kana MANNNAMI 4-dan Can you tell me who your rivals are? Do you feel different when you are playing one of your rivals?   I started playing go recently and I’m still a beginner. In my games, I’m always capturing and being captured. Senior players tell me that I should focus on taking territory instead, but my games just don’t turn out like that. July  Izumi KOBAYASHI 6-dan When I was playing a 2-dan, I also played on the centre point and won. Izumi Sensei, have you ever played the centre point in a professional game?   What is the knack for distinguishing between pivotal stones and junk stones? Can you give me some advice? I wish you the best of luck with your professional career. June  Ayumi SUZUKI 4-dan What I would like to ask you is how can one become fond of life-and-death problems? If there’s some knack, please tell me. Also can you tell me why solving them is a shortcut to getting stronger? What do you think is a good ratio between studying and playing? I discuss the mistakes with the opponent, but even after having done so I don’t really know where I’ve gone wrong. How can I pin down the key points in a game? May  Tomoko KATO 5-dan My opponent’s territory always looks too big to me. I invade his moyo, but things don’t go well. When I am playing opponents around the same strength I repeatedly get extreme results: I either resign or the opponent resigns. I’m worried that if this is the way I play I won’t be able to get stronger in the future. April  Kumiko YASHIRO Women's Honinbo I always get a bad position in the opening. What should I focus on when I’m playing? I’m sure you must get nervous ahead of important games. How do you pass the time the day before a match? Is there a difference in your attitude now as the defending champion from when you were the challenger? March  Mieko NAKAJIMA 1-dan What is the right way to approach playing over games if one wants to improve effectively? For the last couple of years, I’ve been stuck around 2- or 3-kyu. I always get upset in the endgame. How should I study to get stronger at the endgame? February  Akiko TSUKUDA 5-dan I do quite well when the game is a big fight, such as a capturing race between large groups in which one side is captured. In important situations, such as the life or death of a group or a cut, I impulsively play the first move I think of and lose. January  Kaori AOBA 4-dan I follow the sound of the opponent’s stones when playing. When I look at professional games, I find that they switch elsewhere even in positions when I’d be worried if I didn’t defend. Recently I joined a go club at my school, but there are many beginners, and there’s no teacher who can teach us go, so I’m the one who ends up teaching. > backnumber 2013 > backnumber 2012 > backnumber 2011 > backnumber 2010 > backnumber 2009 > backnumber 2008 > backnumber 2007 > backnumber 2006 > backnumber 2005