Andrew Feenberg has made illuminating and interesting points comparing and contrasting the recent match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol, and the novelized match between Shusai and Kitani in the book The Master of Go.
There are differences in the modern feeling of go, and what go traditionally has been, and it is all about the details; the ones we focus on, and what they mean, are up for debate.
Feenberg suggests (Rational Play? The Master of Go vs. AlphaGo), as some observers in the book do, that move 121 was the central issue, a move away from the main center battle in order to take advantage of the time rules. Kawabata does spend a bit of time on it, but I’d say therein lies the issue for the Master: it’s not a central issue to the game itself.
For that reason, it may have the appearance of a modern attempt to take advantage of ‘fussy’ rules in order to win a game, at some cost to the meaning of the game. In fact, it may be much more insidious than that :), it’s a ‘modern’ way of extracting the maximum number of points whenever you can, without emotional involvement in what appears to be happening on the board at that moment as a battle between two human opponents. In this sense, the modern game is bringing a new, more nuanced sensibility to the concepts of “tempo” in games, specifically “sente” and “gote” in go.
The Master himself allows that it’s a question of timing, and his opponent may not be able to make that small forcing play later, depending on how the center battle goes. It possibly does throw him, as he later misses a crucial timing issue in that center battle (at this level, questions of who is the inferior player I think can’t be shown through one game, or one move in one game, and are beyond the scope of what can be argued through them). But this detail of what the Master actually said is lost as well, perhaps deliberately as it’s subtly suggested that the Master himself is now trying to “justify” an (ugly) move in an attempt to preserve the beauty of go, as if we have a lock on definitions of beauty, and 121 isn’t it, and the players themselves are telling us things about the game that they don’t understand.
If this were a modern game, there would be no question that White would lose a game without komi; there’s no reasonable chance that one top player can spot another Black no komi, the Master is almost certainly going to lose such a game precisely because of tradition. It’s interesting to me to note our human tendency to focus also on the score beyond winning and losing, as if the players would care if it was a 3 or 4 or 5 point loss, and play accordingly. Observers often say a resignation or a bigger loss is somehow indicative of a greater difference in skill exhibited between the players. It’s rare for someone to see that a great player, seeing he or she was behind, would make plays that were arguably better, but perhaps riskier and result in a greater loss.
Focusing on another detail, I’d hesitate to call this a ‘Western’ influence, although perhaps Kawabata appears focused on ‘outside’ influences and is feeling it from the West, and China could be considered west of Japan, or not being looked at, depending on where one is standing :). The way of thinking behind move 121 to me has clear roots in an outside, fresh perspective of analysis through objective territorial counting that Kitani’s great collaborator in the modern way of play, the player who came to Japan from China, Go Seigen, brought to the table.
A more compelling analogy to me would be between Go Seigen and AlphaGo, and the big question still to be answered is if AlphaGo will bring us a rich body of work like Go Seigen did, so much so that it’s said you can do nothing but study the games of Go Seigen 10 times and become a professional shodan, or if we’ll have 10 tantalizing clues of what AlphaGo was thinking at a point in gmaespacetime.
Much thanks to Mr. Feenberg, and the American Go E-Journal, for bringing such thought-provoking pieces right to me with my morning coffee!
American Go E-Journal » 2016 » June
The Janice Kim Files: Debating the Details
Friday June 24, 2016
Go Classified: Seeking players in Iowa City
Friday June 24, 2016
Iowa City, IA: Seeking players to form a go club in Iowa City. All strengths welcome. Contact: ximane@gmail.com
“Computer Go Afternoon” Planned for US Go Congress
Wednesday June 22, 2016
This year’s US Go Congress organizers have lined up “an exciting ‘Computer Go Afternoon'” reports Chun Sun. “We are honored to have Yuandong Tian from Facebook Research, who will present ‘DarkForest: A DCNN-based open source Go engine,’ on the afternoon of August 4.” Also lined up is John Tromp, who has calculated the exact number of legal go positions, and who will present a lecture on the subject on August 4. As previously reported, Google Deepmind is coming to the Congress this year as well. In addition to giving the opening keynote on Saturday, July 30, Google Deepmind’s Aja Huang and Hui Fan 2P will also present an “AlphaGo Insider” lecture on August 4th’s “Computer Go afternoon,” focusing on the developer community. “After these exciting presentations, DarkForest will play Andy Liu 1p at 3 handicaps,” Chun Sun adds. As the new “JustGo” live recording/broadcasting app will be demoing around the lounge and playing room.
American Go Yearbook Published
Wednesday June 22, 2016
The American Go Yearbook 2015 Member’s Edition Collection has just been published. One of the benefits of membership in the American Go Association is the Member’s Edition of the American Go E-Journal, the largest English language go publication in the world. The Member’s Edition includes game commentaries and other special content and the annual Yearbook collects it all into one handy online document. Once selected in the online Yearbook, game records or PDFs open up quickly and easily for review or download. We appreciate our member’s support of the AGA and hope that they will find the Yearbook a valuable and useful resource. Click here now to join the AGA and begin receving the Member’s Edition. Special thanks to the Yearbook Production Team: Myron Souris, Games Editor; Justin Hall, Assistant Online Editor.
– Chris Garlock, Managing Editor
Canadian Go Open to be Held July 1-3 in Ontario
Wednesday June 22, 2016
The 39th Canadian Go Open Tournament will be hosted in Mississauga and Oakville, Ontario this year from July 1st to July 3rd over the Canada Day weekend. Participants will have a chance to view the Canada Day fireworks and dazzling cirque shows at Mississauga’s Celebration Square (7 minutes drive away from event venue) after a day of playing Pair Go on Friday.
The six-round main tournament will be hosted on Saturday and Sunday in Oakville. Lectures for both beginners and advanced players and simultaneous game with professional players will be scheduled in between games. A casual four-round lightning Go will be hosted on Saturday night. The tournament will end with a traditional award ceremony and banquet. For detailed schedule and more information, please visit the Golden Key Go School’s website.
The price for the three-day event is $85 for adults and $60 for children. Door price will be $10 higher. Register now for three days of fun.
– Joanna Liu
The Power Report: Ichiriki wins 7th O-kage Cup; Iyama close to defending Honinbo title; Murakawa becomes Gosei challenger
Monday June 20, 2016
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Ichiriki wins 7th O-kage Cup: The final section (last four rounds) of the 7th O-kage (Gratitude) Cup, a tournament for players aged 30 and under, was held on the bank of the Isuzu River and at the Alley Ki-in in Ise City in Mie Prefecture on May 14 and 15. The sponsors are a group of tourist-trade shops (many of them recreations of Edo Period buildings) in Gratitude Alley, the street leading up to the Ise Shrine (later in the month, this area was the site of the G7 summit).
The players who made the final, Ichiriki Ryo 7P and Anzai Nobuaki 7P, are fellow disciples of So Kofuku 9P. Anzai is the older, 30 to Ichiriki’s 18, and won the 2nd and 3rd terms of this tournament, but Ichiriki has recently developed into one of the top players of the post-Iyama generation. Taking black, Iyama beat Anzai by resignation after 183 moves and won this title for the thirdtime in a row. First prize is three million yen.
The level of competition was quite high, as the 16 players in the final section included two former holders of top-seven titles, Murakawa Daisuke, who wonthe Oza title, and Ida Atsushi, the previous Judan, the second-place-getter in
the Honinbo League, Motoki Katsuya 7P, and women’s triple crown-holder Xie Yimin. As it happened, all these players were eliminated in the first round.
Iyama close to defending Honinbo title: The challenger Takao Shinji 9P made a good start in his challenge for the 71st Honinbo title, winning the opening game, but nothing has gone well for him since.
The second game was played at the Honkoji Temple in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture on May 23 and 24. Iyama turned the tables from the first game. Playing white, he attacked severely and seized the initiative, then fended off Takao
’s attempts to get back into the game. Early in the game there was a spectacular trade that gave Takao a large area but also gave Iyama a lot of ko threats. Iyama made good use of them to secure a large territory of his own. Still fighting continued, with Iyama making an unexpected but severe invasion. Takao was ahead in territory, but Iyama’s constant attacking paid off. An unusual feature of this game was that Iyama twice made a tortoise-shell capture; it’s rare for one to appear in a pro game, let alone two. It’s proverbially worth 60 points, twice as much as a ponnuki. Late in the middle game, Takao made a last-chance attack on a white group, but Iyama found a clever move to settle it and nursed his lead to the end. Takao resigned after 230 moves. Incidentally, the 24th was Iyama’s birthday (he’s now 27); he gave himself a good birthday present.
The third game was played the Old Ryotei Kaneyu in Noshiro City in Akita Prefecture on June 2 and 3. (“Ryotei” is a term for a traditional Japanese inn; here “Old Ryotei” has been incorporated as part of the name. This inn is a palatial building made completely of wood; it has been registered with the government as a “tangible cultural property.”) In contrast to the second game, the players made a solid and steady start. Inevitably a fierce fight started in the middle game, with a ko attached. Iyama played strongly and forced Takao to resign after 207 moves.
The fourth game was played in the Olive Bay Hotel in Saikai City in Nagasaki Prefecture on June 13 and 14. This was the most fierce game of the series so far, with fighting starting early in the opening. Playing white, Iyama cut a large group into two and killed both parts of it. Takao resigned after move 128. The game finished at 2:44 pm on the second day, Takao had two hours 33 minutes of his time left and Iyama had one hour 48 minutes left.
The fifth game will be played on June 29 and 30.
Murakawa becomes Gosei challenger: The play-off to decide the challenger for the 41st Gosei title was held on May 18. Murakawa Daisuke 8P (W, right) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by 4.5 points, becoming the Gosei challenger for the first time. This gave Murakawa revenge for losing the play-off to decide the Kisei challenger to Yamashita three years in a row. He will be the second player to try to put a dent in Iyama’s septuple crown. The title match will start on June 25.
Candidates finalized for AGA Board election
Monday June 20, 2016
Pair Go World Cup Coming up Next Month
Sunday June 19, 2016
The 2016 Pair Go World Cup will be held on July 9 & 10 in Tokyo. Sixteen of the world’s best male-female pairs have been invited to compete for the top prize of 10M JPY. The star-studded field includes Ke Jie – Yu Zhiying (China); Iyama Yuta – Hsieh Yimin (Japan); Park Junghwan – Choi Jeong (Korea) and Chen Shih-Iuan – Hei Jiajia (Taiwan). Notable pairs from the West include Eric Lui – Sarah Yu (North America); Fernando Aguilar – Rosario Papeschi (Latin America) and Ilya Shikshin – Natalia Kovaleva (Europe). All games will be broadcast on Pendant. Click here for details.
“Tony” Tang Simul Spurs Record Turnout at Syracuse Club
Sunday June 19, 2016
The Syracuse Go Club had its largest turnout ever for a weekly meeting on Monday, June 13, when 14-year-old Zhangbokan “Tony” Tang 7d played a simul against all comers. Tang, recent winner of the Maryland Open, faced 17 opponents, giving handicaps ranging from 4 stones (for 1 dan players) to 13 (for 20 kyus) — seven other players chose to watch. Only three of his opponents emerged victorious, but a good time was had by all. Tang, who is staying with a host family in Syracuse for three more years until he finishes high school, is about to return to China to visit his family for a few weeks, but he will be returning in time for the US Go Congress, accompanied by his teacher Weijei Jiang 9P.
– report/photo by Richard Moseson
Go Classified: Demo board; go mags/books
Sunday June 19, 2016
Demo board for sale: Full size magnetic demo board made in China for sale.The board is in great condition (see photo). The magnetic stones are used, but most of them are in good condition. Price: $100 plus shipping. Email: dan_moise@yahoo.com
Go magazine & books: Go Review Jan 1972 to Spring 1977; Go World 1-78; The American Go Journal vol. 9 no. 1 (Jan 1974) to Fall/Winter 2002/2003, plus a couple of mimeographed predecessors; about 30 Ishi Press books (numbers on request); the Ranka 1976 yearbook; a small stack of Japanese and Korean publications, including two copies of Ahop Jul Baduk, a booklet about 9-line go; and some non-Ishi books like Lasker, Korscheldt, the Treasure Chest Enigma, and a couple of go proverb books. email tree.song@verizon.net