Go Seigen
Go Seigen | |
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Segoe Kensaku (from 1928) | |
Pupil | Rin Kaiho |
Turned pro | 1929 (given 3 dan) |
Retired | 1983 |
Rank | 9 dan |
Affiliation | Nihon Ki-in |
Go Seigen | |
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Chinese name | |
BUC | Ngù Chĭng-nguòng |
Transcriptions | |
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Romanization | Go Seigen |
Wu Quan | |
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Chinese name | |
BUC | Ngù Ciòng |
Transcriptions | |
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Romanization | Go Sen/Kure Izumi |
Wu Chuan (
Biography
Born on June 12, 1914,
The next year, he was able to reach a draw in a two-game match against another Japanese professional, Inoue Kohei, 5p. In 1928, still only 14 years old, he twice defeated
Go Seigen began his rise to the top of the professional go world early. By the time he was 18 he was already a top-flight player belonging to a very small elite. In 1933, along with his great friend
Starting in 1939, Go Seigen began a spectacular series of Jubango matches against other top players of the day. It was through these matches that Go Seigen convincingly demonstrated an overwhelming dominance over his contemporaries. Go Seigen had only two formal disciples—Rin Kaiho, Honorary Tengen[5] and Rui Naiwei, who was the strongest female go player ever and won open Guksu title.
In the 1940s, Go Seigen became involved in the Jiu (璽宇)
Retirement and death
In the summer of 1961, Go Seigen was struck by a
After his retirement, Go Seigen remained active in the Go community by teaching, writing, and promoting the game around the world. He authored a number of books on go, some of which include A Way of Play for the 21st Century, Modern Joseki Application Dictionary, and Fuseki and Middle-game Attack and Defense. Go Seigen held study sessions with other professional players such as
In 1987, Go Seigen was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, for his lifetime contributions to Go.
In 1999 Mr. Teramoto, Go Seigen's manager, told go writer Pieter Mioch "He [Go Seigen] is one of three Go players who will still be notable several hundred years from now. The other two are
In the early morning of 30 November 2014, Go Seigen died of natural causes at a hospital in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, at the age of 100.[7]
According to his wishes, he was buried at his hometown Fuzhou, China.[8]
Professional record
Go Seigen is commonly considered to be among the best to have ever played go, and is frequently deemed to have been the best player of the 20th century. He dominated professional go for more than a quarter of a century. He maintained a brilliant match record and successively defeated all the leading players of the day in a series of notable
A table of Go's jubango record is below.[4]
Opponent | Record | Dates played |
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Kitani Minoru 5p
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3 - 3 (started even, abandoned after Kitani was promoted to 6p; handicap not changed) | 1933–34 |
Kitani Minoru 7p | 6 - 4 (started even, Kitani was beaten down to sen-ai-sen handicap after 6 games (5-1))
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1939–40 |
Karigane Junichi 8p | 4 - 1 (started even, abandoned to avoid possible embarrassment for Karigane, since one more loss would mean Karigane having to play with sen-ai-sen handicap) | 1941–42 |
Fujisawa Kuranosuke 6p, later renamed Fujisawa Hosai
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4 - 6 (started with Fujisawa playing with josen handicap; handicap not changed)
|
1942–44 |
Hashimoto Utaro 8p
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6 - 3 - 1 (started even, Hashimoto was beaten down to sen-ai-sen handicap after 8 games (6-2)) | 1946–48 |
Iwamoto Kaoru 8p
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7 - 2 - 1 (started even, Iwamoto was beaten down to sen-ai-sen handicap after 6 games (5-1)) | 1948–49 |
Against a team of ten players | 8 - 1 - 1 (this was a 10-game match, but not a jubango) | 1949–50 |
Hashimoto Utaro 8p | 5 - 3 - 2 (started with Hashimoto playing with sen-ai-sen handicap, handicap not changed) | 1950–51 |
Fujisawa Hosai 9p | 7 - 2 - 1 (started even, Fujisawa was beaten down to sen-ai-sen handicap after 9 games (6-2-1)) | 1951–52 |
Fujisawa Hosai 9p | 5 - 1 (abandoned after Fujisawa was beaten down from sen-ai-sen handicap to josen handicap) | 1952–53 |
Sakata Eio 8p
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6 - 2 (abandoned after Sakata was beaten down from sen-ai-sen handicap to josen handicap) | 1953–54 |
Takagawa Kaku 8p
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6 - 4 (started even, Takagawa was beaten down to sen-ai-sen handicap after 8 games (6-2)) | 1955–56 |
Style
Go Seigen was notable for his fast-paced development and playing, fighting style, positional judgment and accurate reading. He settled his groups quickly, got to the big points first, and regularly used much less time in a game than his opponents. He was exceptional at using thickness and making large exchanges. His reading was fast and accurate, and his intuition and positional judgment were often praised. It was also noted that he rarely lost a ko fight that he initiated. Like many players of his time he mastered the
Theory
In addition to being a peerless match player, Go Seigen has also made great contributions to go theory, especially in the area of
Matches against the Honinbos
During the 1950s, apart from playing the jubango, Go Seigen participated in many three-game special matches against the Honinbo title holders and other notable players. His opponents in these matches included many illustrious names, such as Hashimoto Utaro, Sakata Eio, Takagawa Shukaku, and the ex-Honinbo Iwamoto Kaoru. Go Seigen was also matched against
Notable game against Honinbo Shusai
In 1933, Go Seigen won a special
The game itself began on October 16, 1933, with Go Seigen taking black and lasted for a period of almost three months. During the opening of the game, Go Seigen caused quite a sensation by playing his first three moves at 3-3 (
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Go Seigen (black) v. Honinbo Shusai, shinfuseki opening
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The match ended with Honinbo Shusai winning by two points. However, his victory was surrounded by controversies. At the time of the match, the tradition dictated that the player holding white had the right to adjourn the game at any time, and there was no sealing of moves before adjournment. This meant that Shusai, being the nominally stronger player and thus holding white, could adjourn the match whenever it was his turn to move and continue deliberating at home before the match resumed. Shusai shamelessly abused this privilege by adjourning the game more than a dozen times, all at his turn to play. For instance, on the eighth day of the match, Shusai played first, and Go Seigen replied within two minutes, Shusai then thought for three and a half hours, only to adjourn the game. It was no secret that Shusai, during adjournments, discussed and studied the game with his students to come up with the best moves. Go Seigen was therefore put into an especially adverse position for having to take on the entire Honinbo establishment.[5]
Shusai had been trailing all throughout the match when, on the 13th day of the game, he made a brilliant move (W160) that in a single stroke brought him back into the game and guaranteed his victory. However, it was widely rumored that it was not Shusai but one of his students—
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Go Seigen (black) v. Honinbo Shusai , W160=, B161=
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Five years later in 1938, Go Seigen's great friend
In popular culture
In 2006, Chinese director
In another film, An Unfinished Game, a 1982 Sino-Japanese co-production, the life of one of the characters has similarities with the life of Go Seigen. The film marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Japan and the People's Republic of China. This film is informally known as The Go Masters in the United States, and also is award-winning.
Rank promotion record
Rank | Year | Notes |
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1 dan | (Was given 3 dan when turning professional.) | |
2 dan | (Was given 3 dan when turning professional.) | |
3 dan | 1929 | Ranking conferred after a series of evaluation games. |
4 dan | 1930 | |
5 dan | 1932 | |
6 dan | 1934 | |
7 dan | 1939 | |
8 dan | 1942 | |
9 dan | 1950 | Via special recommendation by the Nihon Ki-in. |
Tournament victories and runners-up
Go was often not allowed or invited to participate in the Japanese tournaments of the day due to political reasons involving his racial background. Additionally, half of Go's career was before the rise of title matches. As such, there are very few title or tournament victories by him. Nonetheless, his strength was most aptly demonstrated in his famed one-on-one matches with the peers of his day.[4]
Title | Won | Runner-up |
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6-dan Winners' Oteai | 1936 | |
All-Japan Go Championship | 1935 | |
Japan Championship (Yomiuri Shimbun event) | 1933 | |
NHK Cup | 1976 | |
Old Meijin
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1962 | |
Oteai | 1930 (Autumn), 1931 (Autumn), 1932 (Spring), 1933 (Autumn), 1935 (Spring), 1942 (Spring), | 1932 (Autumn), 1933 (Spring), 1934 (Spring) |
Saikyo | 1958, 1961 (tied with Sakata Eio )
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Awards
Award | Years won |
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Honorary Member of the Nihon Ki-in | 1983?
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Okura Prize | 1967
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Notes
- ^ Fuzhou.
- ^ His courtesy name was created based on his real name (Chuan means "spring, fountain" and Ching-yuan means "clear and pure source of water").
- ^ After days and nights, the shape of his left index finger changed, bending backwards. At that time, probably no other Chinese player was studying Japanese game records as deeply as he.
References
- ^ "吴清源父母喜结连理:红娘是民国大总统徐世昌". Fuzhou Evening News. 22 November 2017.
- ^ Go Seigen Archived 2014-06-26 at the Wayback Machine (Go Game Guru)
- ^ "WORLD GO NEWS ROUND-UP June 6–13: Go Seigen's Birthday, Kong Jie Wins Asian TV Cup, LG Cup Begins", American E-Journal, American Go Association, retrieved June 13, 2013
- ^ a b c d e f "Go Seigen". Retrieved 1 December 2014.[unreliable source?]
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Analysed Games of Go Seigen" (PDF). Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ^ The Pieter Mioch interviews Go Seigen (part 1) (GoBase.org)
- ^ "Go master Seigen Go dies", Japan News, 1 December 2014, retrieved 1 December 2014
- ^ ""棋圣"吴清源归葬福州故里,海内外亲人团圆在鼓楼", Sohu News, 17 November 2017, retrieved 17 November 2017
- ^ The Pieter Mioch interviews Go Seigen (part 3) (GoBase.org)
- ^ "Legendary Go grandmaster Wu Qingyuan dies at 100". South China Morning Post. 1 December 2014.