Tokyo Seimitsu Cup

The annual Tokyo Seimitsu Cup play-off was held on the internet (originally on IGS-PandaNet and latterly on Cyberoro).

For the first five editions there was a play off between the top European Amateur (selected from the European Go Congress) and the top US amateur (selected from the US Go Congress).

The winner got to play an internet game against the winner of the professional Japanese strongest female (Saikyo) title, the Tokyo Seimitsu Cup.

From 2005 it alternated between Europe and USA to play against the professional. The European representative would be the strongest amateur at that year's European Championship. The match was last played in 2007.

• 1st 1999: Alexandr Dinerchtein, European Champion 1999, played Yi Hosuk, the highest placed USA citizen in the 1999 US Open. Dinerchtein holding black won by resignation on 2nd November. On 9th December he played Shinkai Hiroko (5p). Shinkai played from NKB in Tokyo and Dinerchtein played from the Netherlands. Dinerchtein holding black with two handicap stones, won by resignation.
• 2nd 2000: Alexandr Dinerchtein, European Champion 2000, played Ted Ning, the highest placed USA citizen in the 2000 US Open. Dinerchtein holding black won by resignation on 12th December. He then played and beat Kato Tomoko (4p) by half a point on 29th January 2001.
• 3rd 2002: The US Open Champion, Jung Hoon Lee, played professional Aoki Kikuyo (8p), who won by one and a half points.
• 4th 2003: Alexei Lazarev (6d EGF) lost to Joey Hung (USA) who played and lost to Okada Yumiko (6p) by resignation.
• 5th 2004: Jie Li (8d USA) beat Christian Pop (7d EGF). Jie Li beat Suzuki Ayumi (3p).
• 6th 2005: Radek Nechanicky (best amateur at European Masters) represented Europe against Shinkai Hiroko (5p), without a play-off first. He lost by 6.5 points on 17th December.
• 7th 2006: The match was USA's Lu Wang against Kobayashi Izumi (6p) on 23rd October.
• 8th 2007: The match was EGF's Ilya Shikshin against Yi-Min Hsien (3p). The young pro player won.