Keigo Yamashita

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Keigo Yamashita

Full name	Keigo Yamashita
Kanji	山下敬吾
Date of birth	September 6, 1978 (1978-09-06) (age 29)
Place of birth	Asahikawa City, Japan
Residence	Tokyo, Japan
Teacher	Yasuro Kikuchi
Turned pro	1993
Rank	9 dan
Affiliation	Nihon Ki-in

Keigo Yamashita Kisei (山下敬吾, Yamashita Keigo^?, born September 6, 1978) is a professional Go player.

1 Biography
2 Rivalry with Shinji Takao
3 Titles & runners-up
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Yamashita was born in Asahikawa City, Japan. He is a Go player who is on the rise with his inspiring play. A former disciple of the Ryokusei Igo Gakuen Go Academy, he became a professional in 1993. Looking at his records, you can see he is the most successful student from the legendary school. Ten years after becoming a pro he reached 9 dan. He was still only 7 dan when he won the 38th Shusai Prize. It was a great prize given to him because of him winning the Gosei title at just 21, and his style of Go that was reminiscent of Sakata Eio. He then went on to win the Journalist's Club prize and Kido Prize in the same year. Recently he has been winning many titles, but has failed to consistently defend many of them. Except the Shinjin-O title, which he held for four years straight between 1998 to 2001.

[edit] Rivalry with Shinji Takao

Yamashita's rivalry with Takao began in August of 1986 during a televised match. The match was the final of the All-Japan Elementary School Championship, where an 8 year-old Keigo defeated a 9 year-old Shinji to capture the title. Their rivalry would continue on, striking again in 1996 when Shinji got his revenge. Shinji beat Yamashita in the Shinjin-O semi-final, going on to defeat Nakamura Shinya in the final. In 1998, this time in the final of the Shinjin-O, Yamashita beat Takao 2-1 to capture the title. Their title matches would continue to go back and forth, with Takao getting the latest strike by beating Yamashita in the challenger's final for the Judan in 2003.