American Go E-Journal » Redmond Reviews

Tune in on the AGA’s Twitch channel this Sunday, April 10 at 7p ET for another live game commentary by Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. Redmond will be reviewing a game between Honinbo Jowa and Shinomiya Yonezo.

Honinbo Jowa (1787-1847), the 12th head of the Honinbo house, became Meijin–Godokoro in 1831. He has been noted for his extremely strong playing strength, murky origins, and infamous intrigues. Shinomiya Yonezo (1769-1835), a self-taught go hustler, played a famous jubango against Honinbo Jowa.

Tune in on the AGA’s Twitch channel this Sunday, February 27 at 7p ET for another live game commentary by Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. Redmond will be reviewing Shusaku’s 17th Castle game, played in 1861.

Shusaku is known for his undefeated streak of 19 games during the annual castle games, thirty-game match with Ota Yuzo, lead innovator of the eponymous Shusaku opening for Black, and post-death ascension to one of the Go Sages. Hayashi Yubi was the heir of the Hayashi school, slightly younger than Shusaku, and they both died early deaths in 1862.

“With Shusaku playing White (no komi), this was one of the more challenging Castle games in his perfect 19 win record,” says Redmond. “Yubi attacked strongly from the start to expand the first move advantage and establish a promising position. In the decisive fight of the game, Shusaku had two endangered groups and a moyo vulnerable to invasion. It just took a little magic, and then Shusaku was closing up the shop.”

For more Michael Redmond content, check out his YouTube channel.

Includes biographical material from Sensei’s Library.

Tune in on the AGA’s Twitch channel this Sunday, January 17 at 7p ET for another AlphaGo vs AlphaGo live commentary by Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “AlphaGo played the mini-Chinese,” in AG-AG #54, says Redmond, adding “I will talk a bit about the pressing move at the 4-5 point that AIs like so much.” For more Michael Redmond content, check out his YouTube channel.

Tune in on the AGA’s Twitch channel this Friday, December 10 at 7p ET for another AlphaGo vs AlphaGo live commentary by Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “I’ve gone through all of Redmond’s AG vs AG game reviews in the last few months and this one is one of the most wild,” said Chris Davis about the last AG-AG game (#52), “Very exciting.” Added Steve Carson, “Thanks Michael and Chris for bringing us this commentary. Otherwise it would just be a bewildering sequence of moves that made no sense.”
NOTE: Here’s an updated link for Redmond’s 2022 go calendar (autographed).

“Looking at the josekis in the upper left and lower left, you’d wonder if this is a modern AI – or at least a modern professional player – because these are very much like the professional joseki we play now,” says Michael Redmond 9P in his latest commentary, hosted by EJ editor Chris Garlock. “But they were actually innovations by Go Seigen, and they weren’t popular at the time. People said they were empty triangle shapes and they couldn’t be good for White (but) they were wrong.”
“This was the fourth game of their second jubango (10-game match),” says Redmond. “Hashimoto was Honinbo, and the Kansai Kiin was on the verge of splitting from the Nihon Kiin with Hashimoto as one of its founding members. From their previous Jubango, the handicap was Sen-Ai-Sen, no komi, which happened to match the 8P-9P rank difference. This game was a turning point that made it a very dangerous series for Hashimoto.”
Redmond also announced the release of a special calendar to celebrate passing the 10,000 subscriber mark on his YouTube channel. The 2022 calendar is hand-signed by Redmond and features go-themed paintings by Redmond’s daughter Emi.

Tune in at 7p EDT on Sunday, November 7 for Michael Redmond 9p’s commentary on another classic game, this one between Hashimoto Utaro and Go Seigen. “This was the fourth game of their second Jubango,” says Redmond. “Hashimoto was Honinbo, and the Kansai Kiin was on the verge of splitting from the Nihon Kiin with Hashimoto as one of its founding members. From their previous Jubango, the handicap was Sen-Ai-Sen, no komi, which happened to match the 8P-9P rank difference. This game was a turning point that made it a very dangerous series for Hashimoto. Go Seigen shows one of his joseki innovations that was not popular at the time, but now looks normal. They also played an AI-like 3-3 invasion joseki.” Tune in at 7p EDT (reminder that U.S. clocks turn back one hour at 2a on 11/7) on the AGA’s Twitch channel.

Tune in to the AGA’s Twitch channel at 8p ET Sunday night for Michael Redmond 9Ps latest live game commentary.
This week he’ll review a historical game between Honinbo Shuei (right) and Tamura Yasuhisa, who later was Honinbo Shusai (left), the last in the Iemoto system.
That’s 8p ET this Sunday, October 17 on the AGA’s Twitch channel.

If you’ve been following Michael Redmond’s videos on his YouTube channel, you’ll know that in his commentaries on the 3-3 invasion “there’s one variation I’ve avoided because it’s so complicated.” In today’s commentary on AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo Game 52 with EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock (which originally aired live on September 5), he explores that variation in detail, along with his usual insightful and deeply-researched insights into the rest of the game. “Always great to see a new AlphaGo review pop up in my YouTube feed, when I missed the Twitch stream,” says Rory Mitchell. Speaking of which, in case you missed it, AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo Game 51 — which aired live on August 8 — was posted August 20, and features “Tesujis, Semiaias, Forever Kos and Fuzzy Sekis,” according to Damon Skinner. “This game is even more complicated and deep than we imagined.” Mark your calendar now for the next live Redmond game commentary, set for Sunday, October 10, 7p ET on the AGA Twitch channel.

Wondering what to watch as the Olympics wrap up this weekend? We’ve got you covered: tune in to the AGA’s Twitch channel at 8p ET Sunday night for Michael Redmond 9Ps live commentary on AlphaGo vs AlphaGo game 51. Plenty of acrobatics, tricky moves, long distances and heavy lifting. That’s 8p ET this Sunday, August 8 on the AGA’s Twitch channel.