The main event of February was the veteran Sakata Eio’s defense of the Jūdan title against young challenger Takagi Shōichi 7d. It should be noted, in those pre-Kisei days, the Jūdan was the number three title, behind the Meijin and Hon’inbo (the Jūdan has since fallen to 7th). We see the two players engaged in the first game on February 14-15, which was won by Sakata. The veteran also won the second on the 21st and 22nd. Finally we see a triumphant Sakata after winning three straight on the 28th. (Game records: Game One, Game Two, Game Three)
On February 16-18, the 3rd Prague Handicap tournament welcomed 48 players. The handicap nature of the event is clearly established by the two players who shared the laurels – V Muller 10k and J. Lesak 20k.
Photos from Go Review, game records from SmartGoOne
Ceremonial game for the Uchizomeshiki at Nihon Ki’in
We begin the New Year with the Uchizomeshiki, a ceremony held at the Nihon Ki’in in Ichigaya on January 5. The event, which Go Review compared to a “purification ceremony,” is an essential kick off for the tournament year. Pictured is a ceremonial game. Your editor recognizes some of the faces of the “old guard” of Japanese go at the time.
The action began promptly on January 7 with the Nihon Ki’in Championship. The title holder, Ōhira Shūzō 9d, entered the New Year one game down after losing Game One in December. Ōhira had dominated this title since winning it from Sakata Eio in 1966, winning it every year except one. However, faced once again with an in-form Sakata, Ōhira had to summon all his fighting strength to kill shinogi expert Sakata’s huge group to even the series in Game Two. (Game record: Game Two.) We see Sakata during the third game on January 16, once again going ahead. (Game record: Game Three.) Finally, Sakata ended his eight year drought in this title on January 25-26 by a 3-1 score. (Game record: Game Four.)
As of January 10, we note that Ishida Hon’inbo was leading the Meijin League with a 2-0 record.
On January 11, Ōtake Hideo 9d began his defense of the All Japan 1st Place Tournament which he had defended five times in a row. Here we see him react to the confident play of Kajiwara Takeo. He sorted out the problem and won this first game. (Game record: Ōtake vs. Kajiwara.)
On the same day, Takagi Shōichi 7d defeated Takagawa to win the “losers bracket” and went on to defeat Rin Meijin for the right to challenge Sakata for the Jūdan title. Pictured during the match against Takagawa, Takagi was the author of Beyond Forcing Moves and attended the 1993 U.S. Go Congress. (Game records: Takagi vs. Takagawa, Takagi vs. Rin.)
Sakata was presented with the 9th Shūsai Prize as the past year’s outstanding player on January 16. With the Meijin and Hon’inbo titles divided between Rin and Ishida, Sakata’s dominance of the lesser titles made him a unanimous choice for the third time.
Those looking for evidence that in-person go events can still attract a crowd need look no further than the Toronto Go Spectacular, held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) from December 28 to 30. Organized by the North American Go Federation and sponsored by Deep Mind, the event attracted nearly 200 players and included youth, novice, Open and professional tournaments.
“It was a fantastic event and a real pleasure working with the Canadian team,” said American Go Association president Gurujeet Khalsa. “We are excited to be exploring more possibilities with them for North American cooperation.” “We’ve been talking about hosting a North American go event in Canada for many years,” added Canadian Go Association president James Sedgwick. “I was very pleased the stars finally aligned and we were able to make it happen. The event was all I could have hoped for, and we are especially grateful to all the American participants who made the effort to attend and make this a truly North American event.”
The E-Journal team arrived bright and early for the invitational youth and pro events on Wednesday, December 28. Because only a few competitors were expected, this was the calm before the storm. Sixteen youth players — eight players under sixteen years old and eight players under twelve — arrived from throughout the US and Canada to contest two age group championships. They played a marathon knockout of two out of three matches that lasted for the entire event.
Also arriving on Wednesday were the four professionals battling for the 1st North American Professional Championship, with a $6,000 first prize at stake. Drawing for the initial pairings for the one-round semifinal, Alex Qi 1P of New Jersey drew his teacher Ryan Li 3P of New York, while Andy Liu 1P, also of New York, drew Henry Yu, a Canadian student living in Hamilton, who is certified 2p in Taipei.
The E-Journal broadcast Board One on OGS, where Ryan Li notched a steady and solid win over Alex Qi. At least that was the assessment of In-seong Hwang, one of the two guest teachers, in a lecture that evening. So there was great surprise when AI analysis revealed that Qi had actually held the advantage for most of the game. Meanwhile, on Board Two, Henry Yu made a comeback to win a close game with Andy Liu. (Game records: Semifinal Board One, Semifinal Board Two.)
The other main event began on Thursday, December 29, with the start of the six-round open event, as well as a novice tournament for beginners. When everyone had checked in, there were 184 players participating in the many events. Nick Prince kept check-in and pairings running smoothly with his Leago pairing software, and players could easily find their places either on the huge screen in the playing hall or on their phones.
Meanwhile the kids continued to play in the invitational room, and the North American Pro Championship continued. In the championship round, semifinalists Li and Yu would play a three-game final match to determine first and second place, and Liu and Qi would play a best-of-three match for third place. In the first games, Li defeated Yu, and Qi defeated Liu. (Game records: Final Game One, Third Place Playoff Game One.)
Open players were able to have their games reviewed by guest teachers In-seong Hwang 8d and Mateusz Surma 2p, who also offered his excellent series of kyu level go problems for sale. Food was provided onsite by by the JCCC, saving the players time during the busy event.
The huge and beautiful space of the The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre was filled with the joyful noise of children, including a contingent decked out in identical blue sweatshirts from the New York Institute of Go, along with three other large groups from Canadian go schools. The largest was Gofun Studio, but We-Go Club and the students of Ms. Mu Miao were also well represented.
The final day, Friday, December 30, brought the crucial games in all the Spectacular’s events. In the morning, in the Pro Championship, Henry Yu evened the final, defeating Ryan Li by resignation, while Alex Qi defeated Andy Liu a second time to secure third place. (Game records: Final Game Two, Final Game Three, Third Place Playoff Game Two.)
Up to this point in the Pro Championship, White had won every game on Board One. “Invincible gote” seemed to be the motto, with pros choosing White every time they had a choice. For the final round on Board One, Ryan Li won the nigiri and, following the pattern, took White. In a very entertaining game, he managed to fend off Henry Yu’s relentless attacks to win a final capturing race. In-seong Hwang’s post-game review produced a riot of laughter from the crowd, particularly from the good natured Henry Yu, who laughed the loudest. Hwang’s lectures were broadcast on the AGA Twitch channel.
U12 tournament report: Waterloo youth Crane Kuo 3d came in as the favorite. Fighting hard to challenge him were Albert Tang 2d and David Fang 2d. They played a tight match with two of three games decided by less than two points, but in the end Tang earned the right to challenge Kuo. In the final match, Kuo won 2-0 with solid wins in both games. “We have played friendly games before and I won a fair percentage of them,” said Tang. “But in this match I had no chance at all. It seems Crane has taken a leap upwards in his playing level, it will be interesting to see what he can do from here.”
U16 tournament report: This event featured four strong 5d players who were expected to be fighting for the title. On one side of the bracket Shengda Tan 5d (a student from Montreal) sailed smoothly through to the final. He has been dominating play in the Canadian league the last couple of sessions, so this strong result was not a surprise. But on the other side of the bracket another Vancouver youth Ben Gong entering as 3d/4d knocked off both Derek Zhou 5d and Yuxin Fu 5d. However in the final Ben Gong could not take down Tan. They played two long and hard-fought games, but in the end the title went 2-0 to Shengda Tan.
Novice tournament report: 41 novice players from 25k-10k competed in a five-round one-day novice tournament. Although the level of play might not have attained that of the other events, the passion to compete was clearly no less, and the joy after victories on the (mostly) young faces was a pleasure to behold.
Open tournament report: The sixth round of the open was the last to finish. 124 players took part, with a very strong field of 25 competing in the championship group for the $1,000 first prize. In the end a tiebreaker was needed between Ivan Lo, Remi Campagnie, and Brady Zhang (a past North American representative in the Globis Cup who has recently started his studies at the University of Toronto), the three top players who finished 5-1; the tiebreaker went in Ivan Lo’s favor, and he took home the title. USA stars Albert Yen and Zhaonian Michael Chen both scored respectable 4-2 results, but couldn’t quite recover from early losses to put themselves in contention. (Selected game records from the Open: Round 2 Board 3, Round 4 Board 2, Round 5 Board 1, Round 6 Board 1.)
The closing ceremonies were hosted by Canadian Go Association President James Sedgwick, with the assistance of Irene Sha, Nick Prince, Sedgwick’s daughter Alice and niece Veronika Keras. American Go Association President Gurujeet Khalsa and NAGF President Andy Okun joined Sedgwick and Prince in awarding trophies, medals and gifts to the winners.
If the Spectacular becomes an annual event, whoever takes the torch from James, Irene, and their team truly will have a tough act to follow.
NOTE: The Open report has been updated; there were no players undefeated after five rounds.
Includes reporting by James Sedgwick. Photos courtesy Keith Arnold, Yunshi Li, Edward Zhang, Cyril Maurice, Shirlie Zhu, Nick Prince, Irene Sha, and multiple parents.
The month began with the 4th Bled International Go Masters event in Yugoslavia (now Slovenia) on December 1-3. The undefeated winner was a Japanese visitor, a Mr. Takahashi. Second was Mr. Merrissert of France on five wins.
On December 20, challenger Honda Sachiko 4d defeated Kitani Reiko 6d to take a one game lead in the Ladies’ Hon’inbo title. (Game record available here.)
Sakata Eio continues his domination of the smaller titles with a victory over Hashimoto Utarō in the Ōza title on December 14, winning the 3 game series 2-1. (Game record available here.)
Ōhira Shūzō 9d (author of the Ishi Press Classic Appreciating Famous Games) defeated Yamabe Toshirō 9d for the right to challenge Sakata in the Nihon Ki’in Championship. The first game was held on December 20-21. Sakata won by resignation. (Game record available here.)
Photos courtesy of Go Review, game records from SmartGoOne.
On November 5, Takao Matsuda, once again, secured the title of U.S. Hon’inbo, winning the telephone match by a half a point over Shigeo Matsubara. Matsuda had never lost this tournament since it began in 1968.
Hashimoto Utarō challenged Sakata Eio for the Ōza title. Sakata won the first game on November 16, but Hashimoto evened the score on November 30. (Game records: Game 1, Game 2.)
The 33rd Anniversary of Shūsai Meijin’s death was memorialized with an exhibition match between Rin Kaihō Meijin and Ishida Yoshio Hon’inbo. Over 2,000 people watched the match. We also share this casual picture of the two men at the top of the Japanese go world.
We lack specific dates on some other events. First, Bruno Rüger passed away in mid November (according to Go Review; Sensei’s Library states September 24). Born in 1886, Rüger (pictured) was one of the leading proponents of go in Germany. He founded the “German Go News” in 1920, and went on to write at least 10 books on the game. He received, along with Edward Lasker, the prestigious Ōkura Prize. Sadly, he passed before he could receive his nidan diploma from the Nihon Ki’in.
Finally, a family match was resumed in New York. Robert Ryder 5d and his son Jonathan Ryder 2d played Mitsuo Horiguchi and his son Tsuneo for the 4th time in their rivalry. The Ryders prevailed to even the series at 2-2. Robert Ryder was a president of the American Go Association and one of the first Western 5 dan players. Horiguchi was the long time manager of the New York Go Club. Here is a picture from the early 1980s of Ryder playing a game at a crowded New York Go Club, with Mr. Horiguchi looking on.
Photos courtesy of Go Review and Keith Arnold, game records from SmartGoOne
October 4-5 was the sixth and final game of the Meijin title match. Rin Kaihō retained the title, defeating veteran Fujisawa Shūkō. This was his 6th Meijin title overall. (Game record: Meijin Game 6.) Go Review had an interesting take on the generation wars at the time, opining that because Rin and Ishida Yoshio used all of their time, and Shūkō and Sakata Eio did not, the young men were somehow inferior in “the techniques of go.” Somehow, Go Review seemed to blame time controls for the players who used their time defeating the players who did not.
On October 9 Nihon Ki’in held a celebration of Japan-China rapprochement. Few details are available, but the picture we present is filled with go players, including Shūkō, Sakata and Ōtake Hideo.
Speaking of the the generational divide, October 19 saw an old school matchup in the semifinal of the Ōza title, with Takagawa Kaku defeating the legendary Go Seigen. (Game record: Ōza semifinal.)
We now take a glance at the future looking at the statistics for the go year as of October 20. Leading all pros with an 89.5% winning percentage was Cho Chikun 5d, closely followed by Kobayashi Kōichi 6d at 85.7%.
Takao Matsuda once again became New York Champion on October 22.
Finally we complete Stuart Dowsey’s survey of American go with the pro tour’s “West Coast Swing” in early October. The large go scene in Los Angeles, was noted as being completely dominated by Japanese players, with 5 different clubs, led by the Rafu-Ki’in. Purportedly, the only non-Japanese member of these clubs was a young man named Richard Dolen (pictured). The scene in San Francisco was less insular, under the leadership of Bill Yamato, Wayne Dote and Mark Okada. Visits were also made at the two clubs in Seattle, the Seattle Ki’in and the Last Exit Go Club.
Photos courtesy of Go Review, game records from SmartGoOne
The month began with the 3rd International Tournament taking place in New York on September 2. Unfortunately, we cannot recover any further details on this fun team event.
Also this month the Argentine Championship was won by a Mr. Hara, over 100 players participated.
Beginning on September 5-6 the Meijin Title continued. Rin Meijin won Game 3, and Game 4 on September 14-15 putting challenger Fujisawa Shūkō‘s back to the wall. But in Game 5, Shūkō extended the match on September 26-27. (Game records: Game 3, Game 4, Game 5).
On September 9th, Katō Masao defeated defending champion Sakata Eio in the first round of the 20th NHK Championship. (Game record available here.)
Finally, Stuart Dowsey reported extensively on the Japanese Tour of America (the term used advisedly because it included visits to Canada). The month started in New York on September 1 and then went to Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Northfield, Edmonton and Seattle (the West Coast swing will be covered in our next column). The tour group consisted of Dowsey, Okubō Ichigen 9d and Nagahara Yoshiaki 6d (who wrote several the early Ishi Press books and attended one U.S. Go Congress). The New York Go Club was located on West 10th St. in the basement of the Marshall Chess Club. Mitsuo Horiguchi was the long standing President of the club which was open daily. Dowsey praises Vice President John Stephenson for various initiatives regarding membership and teaching. More evidence of Stephenson’s efforts are contained in the “Go Digest” pictured, which covered the visit by the two professionals. Brief mentions were made of Robert Ryder’s Bell Lab Go Club, Bill Mann’s Massachusetts Go Association, Walter Reitman‘s work at in Ann Arbor on computers and go, with James Kerwin on his team and Craig Hutchinson teaching go to cadets at West Point. Of particular interest to your correspondent was the visit to Baltimore, where Bob Gross knew of only two other players in town and a few others in Annapolis. But when over 300 people turned out for the two day visit, the pros left behind a thriving Gilbert W. Rosenthal Memorial Go Club, which, at least started out with 70 people turning out to sessions at Johns Hopkins. It seems current President and your author needs to work on increasing membership…
Dowsey reports that activity in Canada was centered on Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton but activity was increasing, from one club 5 years ago to at least 13, and the recent formation of the Canadian Go Association led by first President John Williams. Dowsey estimated the Japanese tour addressed 600 players in Canada.
Overall, the group visited 19 clubs and 17 universities and reached 4,500 people, over half of whom were taught how to play. We would love to hear from anyone who learned the game from this very successful effort.
Photos from GoReview, game records from SmartGoOne
August 4th found Iwamoto Kaoru in London on his European tour. He gave a lecture and scored 9-1 in a simultaneous exhibition.
The European Go Congress carried into the first two weeks of August, in Ensechede, Holland. Iwamoto made an appearance there as well, along with 120 participants from all over Europe, including visitors from the U.S. and Mexico. Jürgen Mattern of Germany was undefeated, and secured his fifth Championship. Germany won the team championship, followed by the host nation.
On August 14, James Davies played T. Miyoshi, a mystery author known as the “Literary Hon’inbo,” in a special televised match. Davies opened on tengen and secured a convincing victory.
The Meijin Title, between Rin Kaihō Meijin and Fujisawa Shūkō 9d began on August 16. Go Seigen is pictured in our photo of the match, which was won convincingly by Shūkō. In the second game, on August 26-27, our photo captures the moment, after a long game and long ko fight, that Shūkō realizes he has lost by one point. As the month closes, the match is tied. (Game records: Game One, Game Two.)
Finally on August 19-20, the Brazil Ki’in celebrated its 25th anniversary, with an incredible 218 players participating.
Photos from Go Review, game records from SmartGo One
Phil Straus, for many years the E-Journal’s official photographer, though mostly retired from those duties, still takes the U.S. Go Congress and EJ staff photos as well as his own snapshots and portraits; here’s a selection from this year’s Congress.
On July 7-8 the seventh game of the Hon’inbo title match happened between Rin Kaihō Meijin and Ishida Yoshio Hon’inbo. We see a smiling Ishida in close up, and again in the game photo surveying his 2.5 point win. (Game record: Hon’inbo Game 7.)
The NHK television network sponsored an afternoon of go for foreigners at the Nihon Ki’in on July 16. Forty beginners participated in the lessons, led by Stuart Dowsey, ably assisted by Mark Hall. Honorary Hon’inbo Takagawa Shukaku (pictured with Dowsey) welcomed the group to a very successful event.
At the same time, on July 16-17 Fujisawa Shūkō continued his rear guard action against the attack of the younger generation, in the Meijin League. His victory (pictured) over Ishida Hon’inbo gave him the right to challenge Rin Meijin. (Game record: Meijin League Fujisawa vs. Ishida.) For our younger readers, the strange item in the corner of the playing room is a television set.
On July 23, the world patron of go, Iwamoto Kaoru left Japan for a tour of Europe. On the left, he is pictured with Kodama Sachiko 2d (later Honda Sachiko) in the center. Look for details of the trip in coming months.
In what could only in hindsight be called foreshadowing, the final of the 4th New Faces Tournament was televised on July 24. In a match up that will truly become monotonous in these reports if I live long enough, Kobayashi Kōichi 6d defeated Cho Chikun 5d. (Game record: New Faces Final Game.)
We close this month sadly, and looking back instead of forward. On July 26 1972, Segoe Kensaku, Honorary 9d, passed at age 83. He was simply a giant of go in the early part of the 20th Century. Central to the founding of the Nihon Ki’in, he became for decades its elder statesman. In the West, one of the founding books of English go literature was his essential Go Proverbs Illustrated and we can see him smiling at us from the back of its slipcover. Unlike Kitani Minoru, he had few formal disciples, but they were unmatched in terms of quality. His first was Hashimoto Utarō 9d, who won many titles, and founded the Kansai Ki’in. He was central to bringing his second, Go Seigen, to Japan, and little need be said about his accomplishments. Cho Hunhyun who dominated the Korean Go World for decades was the third.
Segoe’s most dramatic episode centered on his efforts to keep go alive during wartime Japan. By 1945, the Nihon Ki’in building had been destroyed, and Segoe had left Tokyo for the safety of his home in Itsukaichi, nestled in the hills ten kilometers from the center of the city of Hiroshima. There he managed to get the contestants in the Hon’inbo Title match together, and the first game was won by Iwamoto, over his pupil Hashimoto. The match was forced out of the city for safety reasons and the second game was played near his home in Itsukaichi. After two days, Hashimoto had managed a small lead, and on the morning of the third day, August 6, they had just finished wiping off the board, when they paused for an air raid warning. It ceased, and the moves from the previous days play were repeated, while the group noticed a lone plane circling the city in the distance. Soon there was a flash, and then a blast which rocked the room. It took an hour to clean up the room and play resumed. As the game ended, a few hours later, dying refugees from Hiroshima began to wander into the hills. Among them were Segoe’s son and his nephew, both of whom would shortly die.
Much of what we know of this event comes from the victor of the game, Hashimoto Utarō. In 1989 I was honored to attend the opening ceremony of the Kisei title in New York City, a match between Takemiya Masaki and Kobayashi Kōichi. But for me, the highlight were the brief remarks of the victor of the Atom Bomb Game, Hashimoto. I cannot specifically recall his translated words, but I will never forget the gentle grace, faith in humanity and love of go, he expressed – sharing his feelings of being in the United States, while filled with the memories of the past. For me, that is the legacy of the man, who made that game, and that grace, possible.
Photos from Go Review and by Keith Arnold, special thanks to John Fairbairn and T. Mark Hall for their “Go in Wartime Japan” chapter from The Go Companion
