American Go E-Journal

Noriyuki Nakayama 6P, who died last week (EJ Special Edition 2/19) was famous for creating original ladder problems, including a series with the black stones in the shape of the oriental zodiac signs.  The attached problem is for the sign of the monkey. Note that the monkey is winking its right eye.  The problem is translated by Bob McGuigan from Nakayama’s book Shicho no Sekai (The World of Ladders) published by the Nihon Ki-in in 1998.  Nakayama noted that several go players were born in the year of the monkey, including Sakata Eio, Cho Chikun, Sugiuchi Masao, Fukui Masaaki and Nakayama himself. The problem is Black to play at A; can he capture the white stone at Q9 in a ladder? The solution is 119 moves long; watch for the solution next week.