Go on Go: The Analyzed Games of Go Seigen - American Go

539 Pages·1999·1.45 MB·English

Go on Go:
The Analyzed Games of Go Seigen
GoSeigen
Translation and Additional Material by JimZ. Yu
ii
Contents
Preface v
1 AFan’sIntroductiontoGoSeigen 1
2 GoSeigen-KitaniMinoru 5
3 GoSeigen-Fujisawa 69
4 GoSeigen-SakataEio1 133
5 GoSeigen-HoninboShukaku(Takagawa)1 189
6 GoSeigen-HoninboShukaku(Takagawa)2 249
7 GoSeigen-Hashimoto 305
8 GoSeigen-SakataEio2 375
9 GoSeigen-Shimamura 443
A AShortBiographyofWuQingYuan(GoSeigen) 497
B Japan’sStrongestDecidingMatches 505
C HoninboShusaiRetirementMatch 507
D “GreedySakata” 513
E Sakata’sMyoshu 517
F RazorSakata 521
G Sakata-Shuko 527
H PossibleContinuationofKoRuleDispute 529
iii
iv CONTENTS
Preface
ThisbookisacollectionofstoriesandcommentedgamespublishedbyJimZ.Yuon
therec.games.gonewsgroupinlate1993. Mr.YutranslatedthegamesfromChi-
nesefromthebook“DetailedAnalysisofWu’sFamousGames.” (WuisGoSeigen’s
Chinesename.) BecauseIenjoyedtheinformationsomuch,Iwantedtoputthemina
formatthatwouldbeeasytousealongwitharealboardtoreplaythegames,andeasy
togivetofriends. TheoriginalgamesweredistributedasMGTcomputerfiles,andthe
originalstoriesastextfiles.
Virtually allof the remaninder of thetextis Wu’s or Yu’s, witha few exceptions.
With the exception of the biographical appendix, all introductory material is by M-
r.Yu. ThebiographicalappendixismainlybyWu’sbrother. Thegamecommentaries
aregenerallybyWu. However,theycontainnotesmadebytheoriginalJapaneseeditor,
Mr. KatsumotoTesshuu. Mr. Katsumotooftenintroducessomebackgroundinforma-
tionatthebeginningofagame,andsomecommentaryonthemovestowardstheend,
whenGoSeigen9dantendstocommentless. Hiscommentsduringthegamesaregiv-
eninitalics. Someadditionalnotesforthesakeofclarrificationandmade byMr.Yu
andareenclosedinsquarebrackets,“[”and“].”
I have used both Jan van der Steen’s sgf2misc utility and Daniel Bump’s s-
gf2tex to typeset the games, and I typeset the stories by hand using LATEX. The
original source for the games and stories can be found on the Internet Go Archives,
which are currently found at ftp.joyjoy.net/Go. The complete URL for the
originalsourcecodeis:
ftp://ftp.joyjoy.net/Go/games/goseigen.sh.Z
LinkstotheLATEXsourcecodeforthisbook,aswellpremadepostscriptandPDFver-
sionareavailableat:
http://www.cs.arizona.edu/people/bridges/go/gobook.html
One note regarding copyright: All of the text here included here was pulled off
ofthe InternetGo Archive, andtranslatedfromuncopyrightedChinesebooksbyJim
Z. Yu. Mr. Yu holds copyright on the translations and stories in this book, and has
granted the right to reproduce his material for personal (non-commercial) reference.
Typesetting and editing was done by me, Patrick Bridges. My changes are available
under the GNU Documentation License, v 1.0 or later, when that becomes available.
Untilthen, Iassertcopyrightovermychanges, butgrantpermissionfor reproduction
oreditingforpersonal,non-commercialuse.
v
vi PREFACE
Patrick Bridges, Fall 1999
[email protected]
bridges 8k* on NNGS
Chapter 1
A Fan’s Introduction to Go
Seigen
Heplayedlikethebirdsfly: swiftandlight. Suddenlythepositioncould
get frozen though, and then one would get a glimpse of the universe of
variationshiddenbelowtheskythatWuhadspannedintheearlierstages.“
—Afriend(JanvanderSteen)onGoSeigen’s(Wu)game
GoSeigenismyidol. Fortwosimplereasons:
1. Hewongames
2. Hewongamesinhisuniquemanner. Always.
Maybeafewotherprofessionalplayerscanqualifytheabovecriteria. “Ancients”
like Kitani Minoru and Sakata Eio, and the “super players” of the 80’s: Rin Kaiho,
Otake Hideo, Kato Masao, Takemiya Masaki, Cho Chikun, and Kobayashi Koichi.
Anddon’tforgetthebigmaninChina: NieWeiping.
Theseareallbigwinners. ButnoneofthemisasbigawinnerasGoSeigen. Go
Seigenonceruled JapaneseGoprofessionforonethird ofacentury! Andthatwasa
1/3ofcenturywhenJapanwastheonlylandwhereGowasblooming. I(JimYu)think
it’sfair tosaythata new generation ofprofessionalscomeoutabouteverytenyears.
Then,GoSeigenwouldhavetoholdoffthechallengesfromthreegenerationsofbest
GoplayersinGohistory.Andthathedid:FirsttherewasKitaniMinoru,who,perhaps,
wouldhavebeenratedasgreatasGoSeigenhadhenotfadedafterWorldWarII.Then
therewasFujisawaKuranosuke (wholaterchangedhisnametoFujisawa Hosai), the
first ever professional 9 dan (Go Seigen was the second) after the death of the last
Meijin,Shusai. Finally,inthe50’s,SakataEioandTakagawaShukakuemergedasthe
top challengersto Go Seigen. But none ofthemwas able to take awaythe No.1 seat
thatbelongedtoGoSeigen.
Andwecan’tsaythesechallengerswereweak.Infact,anyofthemwasadefinition
oftheoppositeof“weak.” Kitani,alongwithGoSeigen,discoveredtherevolutionary
“NewOpenings.” Hemighthavebeenmorefamousofhismagnificentdisciples(5of
1
2 CHAPTER1. AFAN’SINTRODUCTIONTOGOSEIGEN
the6“superplayersofthe80’s”mentionedabove,exceptRin,werehispupils),butas
aplayer, accordingtoGoSeigen,hewas“firstof[GoSeigen’s]toughestopponents.”
Theytwotogetherwrotethehistoricalperiodcalled“Go-KitaniEra,”aspanofabout
adecadebeforeWWII.
Fujisawa probably spent his entire playing career in Go Seigen’s prime, and that
produced another memorable rivalry. There was only one player who was strong e-
noughandbeingstrong*long* enough toplay three10-gameserieswithGoSeigen,
andhisnamewasFujisawaKuranosuke(laterHosai). Andletusnotforget:GoSeigen
lostonlyone10-gameseriesinhislife,andthatwastoFujisawa(ithappenedduring
WWII;GoSeigenwasunbeatablein10-gameseriesthereafter).
Sakata Eio. We know his stories – the man has won more major championships
than any other Japanese players in modern Go history. I don’t remember the exact
number, butit’sclose to “70 titles when he was70 yearsold.” How could he win so
many?! Onehastowonder.
Takagawa Shukaku, whose first name originally was “Kaku”, without “Shu.” In
Japan, only Honinbo title holders would add a “Shu” in their names, and Takagawa
certainly deserved this honorable character – he once won 9 straight Honinbo titles.
And that was the time he started to challenge Go Seigen. There were total of seven
3-gameseries,or21games,betweenthetwo. Takagawalostthefirst11,andwhathe
did? Hewon7outofthenext10. Thatspelled“tough.”
So here we have the picture: Kitani, Fujisawa, Sakata, and Takagawa – any of
them was a greatplayer who was talented enough todominate his era. Yetit did not
happen. Itdidnothappenbecauseofoneman: GoSeigen. GoSeigenwasthewinner
ofwinners;GoSeigenwasthegeniusofgeniuses.
WatchingGoSeigen’sgamealwaysbringsmepleasure. It’snotthatIfullyunder-
stoodhismovesandwasthusappreciated(that,infact,isstillalongwaytogo);rather,
theshapeofhisstonesandthetempoofhismovesseemtoalwayslightenmeup.
GoSeigenseemedtohaveanextraordinaryabilitytosimplifylocal(ontheboard)
conflicts. Especially in openings. Often he would play “tenuki” moves – moves that
locallyignoreopponent’spreviousmove–althoughthatwouldleadtosomelocalloss,
globally speaking, he would gain. Because he preferred to play fewer moves at the
openingcorners, hisgameswere usuallyonafastpace. Quickly, middle-game fights
started. That’sthekindofgameIwouldenjoytowatch(andplay,ofcourse,ifI*can*).
Going to middle game, Go Seigen was again showing extraordinary power. He
settledhisweakgroupsquickly;hestartedtoattackhisopponentquickly.By“quickly”
Idon’tmeanheplayedtwiceorthriceasfastashisopponent(althoughheindeedoften
did), butI mean he could use only a few simple moves to start or end, again, a local
conflict. Gradually,sincehisopponentwasunabletocatchupwithhishighefficiency,
GoSeigenstartedtolead–aleadthathe,inhisprimetime,wouldneversurrender.
ThusGoSeigen’sendgameveryoftenbecameexceptionallysimple.Well,endgame
seemstobeaphasethatonecannotreallysimplify. Ifthereare,say,suchmanyunset-
tledboundaries,bothplayershavetofinishthemoff,unless–unlessit’slikeinmany
ofGoSeigen’sgames,thegamewasoverbeforetheendgamestarted.
That’sall Ican see from Go Seigen’sgame. I am unable to visualize hislocalor
global“feelings”, andIam unableto carryouthisdeepcalculations. AllIcansee is
a surface of his game – yet, it’s a surface that’s clear enough to reflect his manners.
3
Goisagamefullofconflicts,andifamancouldhandlealltheseconflictsinasimple
manner*and*win–Iwouldsay,heisagenius. ThisgeniuswasGoSeigen.
ThisremindsmeofabiographyofAlbertEinstein.Theauthorconvincedmethatto
describeEinstein,“simplicity”wastheword. Einsteinwasamanwhohandledthings
insimpleways. Idon’tknowifthisbookonEinsteinhadunconsciouslyhelpedmeto
understand Go Seigen, but as of today, I am convinced that, if these two geniuses of
the20thcenturyhadnothingelseincommon,theysharedoneword:“simplicity.”
Isuddenlyfeelsorryforbeingborn50yearstoolate. IwanttoplaygameswithGo
Seigen. Imightloseeverygametohim,butIwouldn’tcare. Whenonegetsachance
to play with a genius, it’s not just a honor. It could well change his life: something
deepinsidehismindcouldsuddenlylightup... Yes,that’swhyIwanttoplaywithGo
Seigen;themoreIwouldlearnfromhim,thecloserIwouldbewiththetruthofGo.
GoSeigenismyidol.
4 CHAPTER1. AFAN’SINTRODUCTIONTOGOSEIGEN