Problems 201
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Sato Tadanobu, a Samurai of the Twelfth Century,
defending himself with a “goban,” when attacked
by his enemies Frontispiece
Playing Go 22
I
HISTORY OF THE GAME
The game of Go is probably the oldest of all known games. It was played
by the Chinese from earliest antiquity, and has been played in its
present form by the Japanese for over eleven centuries, but while the
game originated in China, the Japanese have far surpassed the Chinese
in skill at the game, and it has come to be regarded in Japan as their
national game.
In the old Chinese works three persons are named as the originators of
the game, but in Japan its invention is commonly attributed to only one
of these. This man is the Chinese emperor Shun, who reigned from 2255
to 2206 B.C. It is said that this emperor invented the game in order to
strengthen the weak mind of his son Shang Kiun. By others the invention
of the game is attributed to the predecessor of Shun, the emperor Yao,
who reigned from 2357 to 2256 B.C. If this theory is correct it would
make the game about forty-two hundred years old. The third theory is
that Wu, a vassal of the Chinese emperor Kieh Kwei (1818–1767 B.C.)
invented the game of Go. To the same man is often attributed the
invention of games of cards. It would seem that this last theory is the
most credible, because it would make the invention more recent, and
because the inventor is said to have been a vassal and not an emperor.
Whatever may be the truth in regard to the origin of the game, it is
perfectly certain that Go was already known in China in early
antiquity. In old Chinese works, of which the oldest is dated about a
thousand years before Christ, a game which can be easily recognized as
Go is mentioned casually, so that at that time it must have been well
known.
We are told also that in China somewhere about 200 B.C., poetry and Go
went hand in hand, and were in high favor, and a poet, Bayu, who lived
about the year 240 A.D., made himself famous through poems in which he
sang the praises of the game.
It is remarkable that in the old books it is stated that in the year
300 A.D. a man by the name of Osan was so skilled in Go that he could
take all the stones from the board after the game had been finished and
then play it over from memory. This is of interest also as showing that
in the course of time playing the game has had the effect of
strengthening the memory of Go players, because there are now hundreds
of players in Japan who can replace a game move for move after it has
been disarranged. It is in fact the customary thing for a teacher of
the game to play the game over in that way in order to criticise the
moves made by the student.
Anecdotes have come down to us from the old Chinese times in regard to
the game, of which we will mention only one, which shows how highly it
was esteemed.
Sha An, a man who lived in the time of the Tsin Dynasty (265–419 A.D.),
carried on a war with his nephew Sha Gen. Growing tired of taking life,
they left the victory to be decided by a game of Go, which they played
against each other.
The esteem in which players were held in the old Chinese times is also
shown by the titles with which they were honored; to wit, “Kisei” or
“Ki Shing,” from “Ki,” meaning Go, and “Sei,” a holy man, and “Shing,”
magician or sage.
In the time of the Tang Dynasty (618–906 A.D.), and again during the
Sung Dynasty (960–1126 A.D.), the first books about Go were written.
The game then flourished in China, and there were then many
distinguished players in that country.
According to the Japanese reckoning of time, Go was introduced into
Japan in the period Tem pyo, during the reign of the emperor Shomu,
which according to the Chinese records was the thirteenth year of the
period Tien Tao, and during the reign of the emperor Huan Tsung.
According to our calendar this would be about the year 735 A.D.
A man otherwise well known in the history of Japan, Kibi Daijin, was
sent as an envoy to China in that year, and it is said that he brought
the game back with him to Japan.
Go may have been known in Japan before that date, but at any rate it
must have been known about this time, for in the seventh month of the
tenth year of the period Tem pyo (A.D. 738), we are told that a
Japanese nobleman named Kumoshi was playing Go with another nobleman
named Adzumabito, and that in a quarrel resulting from the game Kumoshi
killed Adzumabito with his sword.
On its introduction into Japan a new era opened in the development of
the game, but at first it spread very slowly, and it is mentioned a
hundred years later that the number of Go players among the nobility
(and to them the knowledge of the game was entirely confined) was very
small indeed.
In the period called Kasho (848–851 A.D.), and in Nin Ju (851–854
A.D.), a Japanese prince dwelt in China, and was there taught the game
by the best player in China. The following anecdote is told in regard
to this prince: that in order to do him honor the Chinese allowed him
to meet the best players, and in order to cope with them he hit upon
the idea of placing his stones exactly in the same way as those of his
opponent; that is to say, when his opponent placed a stone at any
point, he would place his stone on a point symmetrically opposite, and
in that way he is said to have won. In regard to this anecdote it may
be said that the Chinese must have been very weak players, or they
would speedily have found means of overcoming this method of defense.
We next hear that in the year 850 a Japanese named Wakino became famous
as a great devotee of the game. He played continuously day and night,
and became so engrossed in the game that he forgot everything else
absolutely.
In the next two centuries the knowledge of the game did not extend
beyond the court at Kioto. Indeed, it appears that it was forbidden to
play Go anywhere else than at court. At all events we are told that in
the period called Otoku (1084–1087 A.D.) the Prince of Dewa, whose name
was Kiowara no Mahira, secretly introduced the game into the province
of Oshu, and played there with his vassals. From that time not only the
number of the nobility who played the game increased rapidly, but the
common people as well began to take it up.
Our frontispiece illustrates an incident which is said to have occurred
about this time in the city of Kamakura. A samurai named Sato Tadanobu,
who was a vassal of Yoshitsune, a brother of Yoritomo, the first Shogun
of Japan, was playing Go in his house when he was suddenly attacked by
his enemies, and he is depicted using the “Goban” as a weapon wherewith
to defend himself. The print is by Kuniyoshi, and is one of a series
the title of which might be translated as “Our Favorite Hero Series.”
The “Go ban,” “Go ishi,” and “Go tsubo” look precisely like those which
are at present in use, but Kuniyoshi probably represented the type in
use in his day and not in the time of Yoritomo, as it is pretty well
settled that in the early times the board was smaller.
There is also a story which comes down from the Kamakura period in
regard to Hojo Yoshitoki. He is said to have been playing Go with a
guest at the moment that news arrived of the uprising of Wada
Yoshimori. Yoshitoki is said to have first finished the game in perfect
calmness before he thought of his measures for subduing the revolution.
This was in the first year of Kempo, or 1213 A.D.
In the beginning of the thirteenth century we find that Go was widely
known in the samurai class, and was played with zeal. At that time
everybody who went to war, from the most famous general down to the
meanest soldier, played the game. The board and stones were carried
with them to the field of battle, and as soon as the battle was over,
they were brought out, and the friendly strife began. Many of the monks
and poets of that period also had a taste for Go, and several of them
are mentioned as celebrated Go players.
All three of the great Japanese generals, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and
Iyeyasu, were devotees of the game. It is related that Nobunaga came to
Kioto in the tenth year of Ten Sho, 1582 A.D., and lived in the Honnoji
Temple. One night the celebrated Go player, Sansha, of whom more
hereafter, came and played with him until midnight. Sansha had scarcely
taken his departure when the uprising of Akechi Mitsuhide broke out.
In the periods Genki (1570–1572), Ten Sho (1573–1591) until Keicho
(1596–1614), and Gen Wa (1615–1623), there were many celebrated players
among the monks, poets, farmers and tradespeople. They were called to
the courts of the daimios and to the halls of the nobles, either in
order that the nobility might play with them, or more frequently merely
to exhibit their skill at the game. This custom existed up to the time
of the fall of the Shogunate.
That the Japanese could find pleasure in merely watching a game that is
so abstract in its nature and so difficult to understand is evidence of
the fact that they were then a highly cultivated people intellectually.
We find nothing like it in this country except in the narrowest Chess
circles.
In the beginning of the seventeenth century Go attained such a high
development that there appeared a series of expert players who far
surpassed anything known before. Of these the most famous were Honinbo
Sansha Hoin, Nakamura Doseki, Hayashi Rigen, Inouye Inseki, and Yasui
Santetsu.
Sansha was the son of a merchant of Kioto. When he was nine years old
he shaved his head, named himself Nikkai, and became a Buddhist monk in
the Temple of Shokokuji, which was one of the principal temples of the
Nichi Ren sect in Kioto. From his early life Sansha was very skilful at
the game, and upon giving up his profession as a monk, he obtained
permission to institute a school of Go players, and he then took the
name of Honinbo Sansha. He was on terms of familiar intercourse with
Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu, often accompanied them on their
travels and campaigns, and was present at many of the battles of that
troublous epoch.
The school of Go which Honinbo opened, however, was merely a private
undertaking. The first State institution in which Go was taught was
founded by Hideyoshi in the period Ten Sho (1573–1591), but it seems to
have had a short existence, and the permanent institution which lasted
until the fall of the Shogunate was founded by the successor of
Hideyoshi, Iyeyasu. Iyeyasu became Shogun in the year 1603, and the
foundation of the Go Academy or “Go In,” as the Japanese call it, must
have occurred soon after he ascended the throne. Honinbo Sansha, who
was still the best Go player in Japan, was named as the head of the
institution. The other most skilful masters were installed as
professors with good salaries. To Honinbo Sansha, the director, was
given 350 tsubo of land (a tsubo is as big as two Japanese mats or
tatami, and is therefore six feet square), and an annual revenue of 200
koku of rice (a koku is a little more than five bushels). Men of the
best intelligence could now dedicate themselves to the education of
students and the further development of the game, freed from the cares
of earning a livelihood. In both respects the institute was eminently
successful. Its graduates were much more skilful than the previous
generation of Go players living in the land. They devoted themselves
entirely to the game, and either found positions as players at the
court of a daimio, or traveled through the country (like the poets and
swordsmen of that period), playing the game and giving instruction in
its mysteries as they found opportunity. If they came to a place which
pleased them, they often let their years of wandering come to an end
and remained there, making their living as teachers of the game.
At the time of the founding of the Academy, besides Honinbo, the
previously mentioned masters, Hayashi, Inouye, and Yasui, were
installed as professors. For some reason, Nakamura, who is mentioned
above as one of the contemporaries of Honinbo, did not appear at the
Academy. Each of the four masters above named founded his school or
method of play independently of the others, and the custom existed that
each teacher adopted his best pupil as a son, and thus had a successor
at his death; so the teachers in the Academy were always named Honinbo,
Inouye, Hayashi, and Yasui. (Lovers of Japanese prints are already
familiar with this continued similarity of names.)
The best players of the Academy had to appear every year before the
Shogun and play for his amusement. This ceremony was called “Go zen
Go,” which means “playing the game in the august presence,” or “O shiro
Go,” “Shiro” meaning “the honorable palace,” and the masters of the
game entered these contests with the same determination that was
displayed by the samurai on the field of battle.
An anecdote has come down to us from the reign of the third Shogun,
Tokugawa Iyemitsu, showing how highly the Go masters regarded their
art. At that time Yasui Sanchi was “Meijin,” which, as we shall see in
a moment, meant the highest rank in the Go world, while Honinbo
Sanyetsu held the rank of “Jo zu,” which was almost as high, but which,
according to the rules, would entitle him to a handicap of one stone
from his expert adversary; and these two men, being the best players,
were selected to play in the Shogun’s presence. Honinbo, feeling
conscious of his skill, disdained to accept the handicap, and met his
adversary on even terms. The game was proceeding in the presence of the
court nobles before the Shogun had appeared, and among the spectators
was Matsudaira Higo no Kami, one of the most powerful noblemen of that
epoch. Yasui Sanchi was a favorite of Matsudaira and as he watched the
play he remarked audibly that Honinbo would surely be defeated. Honinbo
Sanyetsu heard the remark, and pausing in his play, he allowed the
stone which he was about to place on the board to fall back into the
“Go tsubo” or wooden jar that holds the Go stones, gently covered the
“Go tsubo,” and drawing himself up with great dignity, said: “I am
serving the Shogun with the art of Go, and when we Go masters enter a
contest, it is in the same spirit as warriors go upon the field of
battle, staking our life, if necessary, to decide the contest. While we
are doing this we do not allow interference or comments from any one,
no matter how high may be his rank. Although I am not the greatest
master of the game, I hold the degree of ‘Jo zu,’ and, therefore, there
are few players in Japan who are able to appreciate my plans, tactics,
or strategy. Nevertheless, the Prince of Higo has unwarrantedly
prophesied my defeat. I do not understand why he has done this, but if
such a comment were allowed to become a precedent, and onlookers were
permitted to make whatever comments on the game they saw fit, it would
be better that the custom of the ‘O shiro Go’ should cease.” Having
said this, he raised himself from his seat. At this moment the court
officers announced the coming of the Shogun, and the noblemen who had
assembled to see the contest, surprised and confused by the turn
affairs had taken, earnestly persuaded Honinbo to reseat himself and
continue the game. This he obstinately refused to do, and endeavored to
leave the imperial chamber. Prince Matsudaira, taken aback, scarcely
knew what to do. However, he kotowed to Honinbo and, profusely
apologizing, besought the offended master to finish the contest.
Honinbo Sanyetsu was appeased, and resumed his seat at the board, and
both players, aroused by the incident, exerted every effort to achieve
victory. Honinbo Sanyetsu won, whereupon the Prince of Higo was greatly
humiliated. Since then the name of Sanyetsu has always been revered as
one of the greatest of the Honinbo family.
In the degenerate days toward the end of the Tokugawa Dynasty the “Go
zen Go” became a mere farce, and the games were all played through and
studied out beforehand, in order that the ceremony in court might not
last too long. The custom was, however, maintained until the fall of
the Shogunate in 1868.
Honinbo Sansha established at the time of the foundation of the Academy
a method of classifying the players by giving them degrees, which still
exists, although no longer under the authority of the State. When a man
attained to a certain measure of skill in the game he received the
title “Shodan,” or, of the first degree. The still stronger players
were arranged as “Nidan,” “Sandan,” “Yodan,” etc., or of the second,
third, and fourth degrees. The highest degree in the series was
“Kudan,” or the ninth degree. In order to attain the first degree, or
“Shodan,” the candidate must be an excellent player, so good in fact
that he could follow the game as a profession. In other games such a
graduated system of classifying players would be scarcely possible, but
among good Go players it is feasible, because the better player almost
invariably wins, even if he be but slightly superior. If the difference
in skill could not be equalized in some way the game would become
tiresome, as the weaker player would almost always be able to foresee
his defeat. The stronger player, therefore, allows his adversary to
place enough stones on the board as a handicap to make the adversaries
approximately equal.
According to the rules of the Academy, if the difference between the
skill of the players was only one degree, the weaker player would be
allowed the first move. If the difference was two degrees, the weaker
player would be allowed to place a stone on the board, and the stronger
player would have the first move, and so on; in other words, the
difference between each degree might be called half a stone. Thus, a
player of the fourth degree would allow a player of the first degree to
place two stones on the board as a handicap, but would have the first
move. A player of the seventh degree would allow a player of the first
degree three stones, and a player of the ninth degree would allow a
player of the first degree four stones. Four was the highest handicap
allowed among the players holding degrees, but, as we shall see later,
among players of less skill greater handicaps are frequently given.
A player of the seventh degree also received the honorary title “Jo
zu,” or the higher hand. Those of the eighth rank were called “Kan
shu,” or the half-way step, and those of the ninth degree were called
“Mei shu,” the clear, bright hand, or “Mei jin,” literally “celebrated
man.” It is related that this last appellation arose in the time of
Nobunaga, who was a spectator of a game played by Honinbo Sansha with
some contemporary, and who expressed his admiration of the skill of
Honinbo by exclaiming “Mei jin!” which thus became the title applied to
players of the highest skill.
Since the institution of this method of classifying Go players over
three hundred years ago, there have been only nine players who have
attained the ninth degree, and only fourteen players who have attained
the eighth degree. On the other hand, there have been many more of the
seventh, and many more still of each of the lower degrees. In 1880, at
the time Korschelt wrote the article previously referred to, there was
only one player in Japan holding the seventh degree, and that was the
celebrated Murase Shuho. At present there is one player who holds the
ninth degree. His name is Honinbo Shuyei, and he is the only player who
has attained the ninth degree during the period called the “Meiji,” or
since the fall of the Shogunate forty years ago.
This arrangement of the players in degrees is unknown in China and
Korea. On the other hand, it is in use in the Ryukyu or Loochoo
Islands.
The Japanese seem to have regarded the classification in degrees as an
absolute standard of measurement. Nevertheless, it must necessarily
have varied from time to time, and in the course of centuries the
standard must gradually have risen.
Players of high rank who are challenged by the improving players of the
lower grades will instinctively desire to make it more difficult for
the new players to attain the higher degree, because their own fame,
which is their highest possession, depends upon the result of the game;
and assuming that all trial games could be conducted in an impartial
and judicial spirit, nevertheless, all the players would become more
expert from the hard practice, even if their skill in relation to each
other remained the same.
Thus a seventh degree player of to-day would be better in a year
although he still remained in the seventh degree, and this constant
raising of the standard must lead us to suppose that a player of the
seventh degree now is quite equal or perhaps superior to an eighth or
ninth degree player of a hundred or two hundred years ago. As an
illustration of this increase in skill, we only have to compare the
standard set in the Ryukyu Islands. They also established the
classification in degrees soon after the foundation of the Academy in
Japan, and then the two institutions seem to have lost touch. Korschelt
relates that for the first time about the year 1880 a Go player of the
second degree from the Satsuma province visited those Islands and tried
his skill with their best players, and found that he could easily
defeat the players there classified as of the fifth degree.
The position as head of the Academy was much coveted by Go players, but
it was generally held by the Honinbo family. One of the last incidents
in relation to the Academy tells of an attempt on the part of Inouye
Inseki, the eleventh of that line, to obtain the headship of the
Academy when Honinbo Jowa, who was the twelfth Honinbo, retired. Inseki
was afraid he could not obtain the coveted position by a contest, and
therefore strove to obtain it by intrigue from the Shogun’s officer
intrusted with the business of the Academy. When Jowa retired he was
not unaware of the desires of Inseki, but it did not trouble him much,
as he felt confident that the fourteenth Honinbo, whose name was Shuwa,
could successfully defend his title. However, at last matters came to
such a point that Jowa ordered Shuwa to present a petition to the
Shogun requesting that the title be settled by contest, but the
Shogun’s officer, who was in league with Inseki, returned the petition,
whereupon all of the Honinbo house rose and insisted on their rights in
accordance with custom and precedent, and at last their petition was
granted. It was fixed that the title was to be decided by ten games,
and the first game began at the residence of the Shogun’s officer,
Inaba Tango no Kami, on the 29th of November, in the eleventh year of
Tempo (about sixty-six years ago), and it ended the same year on the
13th of December. There was an adjournment of four days, and on one
occasion the contest lasted all night. Therefore in all it took nine
days and one night to finish the game.
It is unnecessary to say that both players put forth all their efforts
in this life and death struggle, and it is said that Inseki’s
excitement was so intense as to cause blood to gush from his mouth, but
he finally lost by four stones, and the other nine games were not
played. Inseki, however, mortified by his defeat, again challenged
Shuwa. This game began on the 16th of May in the thirteenth year of
Tempo, and lasted two days. Inseki again lost by six stones. On
November 17th of the same year a third contest took place between Shuwa
and Inseki in the presence of the Shogun in his palace at Tokio. Inseki
again lost by four stones. In all these contests Inseki as the
challenger had the first move, and he finally became convinced of his
inability to win from the scion of the Honinbo family, and abandoned
his life-long desire, and it is related that thereupon the houses of
Honinbo and Inouye became more friendly than ever.
In the first half of the nineteenth century Go had a period of great
development. This occurred according to the Japanese calendar in the
periods called Bun Kwa (1804–1818), Bun Sei (1818–1829), and Tempo
(1830–1844). The collection of specimen games of that time are to-day
regarded as models, and the methods of play and of opening the game
then in use are still studied, although they have been somewhat
superseded. The best games were played by the Honinbos Dosaku and Jowa
and Yasui Sanchi.
On the fall of the Shogunate in the year 1868 the Go Academy came to an
end, and with it the regulation of the game by the State. A few years
later the daimios were dispossessed, and they did not feel an
obligation as private individuals to retain the services of the Go
players who had been in attendance at their courts. Thereupon ensued a
sad time for the masters of the game, who had theretofore for the most
part lived by the practice of their art, and to make things still
worse, the Japanese people lost their interest in Go. Upon the opening
of the country the people turned with enthusiasm to the foreigners.
Foreign things were more prized than native things, and among the
things of native origin the game of Go was neglected.
About the year 1880, however, a reaction set in; interest in the old
national game was revived, and at the present day it is fostered with
as much zeal as in the olden times.
Most of the higher officials of the government, and also the officers
in the army and navy, are skilled players. The great daily newspapers
of the capitals have a Go department, just as some of our periodicals
have a department devoted to Chess, and the game is very much played at
the hot springs and health resorts, and clubs, and teachers of the art
are found in all of the larger cities. Go has always retained something
of its early aristocratic character, and in fact, it is still regarded
as necessary for a man of refinement to possess a certain skill at the
game.
During the recent Russo-Japanese War the strategy employed by the
Japanese commanders certainly suggested the methods of play used in the
game of Go. Whether this was an accidental resemblance or not I cannot
say. At Liao Yang it seemed as if Marshal Oyama had got three of the
necessary stones advantageously placed, but the Russians escaped before
the fourth could be moved into position. At the final battle of Mukden
the enveloping strategy characteristic of the game was carried out with
still greater success.
At the present time the division into the four schools of Honinbo,
Inouye, Hayashi, and Yasui, no longer exists, and Go players are
divided into the schools of Honinbo and Hoyensha. This latter school
was established about the year 1880 by Murase Shuho, to whom reference
has already been made.
The Honinbo school is the successor of the old Academy, while the new
school has made one or two innovations, one of the most fortunate being
a rule that no game shall last longer than twenty-four hours without
interruption. The Hoyensha school also recognized the degree “Inaka
Shodan,” which means the “first degree in the country,” and is allowed
to a class of players who are regarded as entitled to the first degree
in their native town, but who are generally undeceived when they meet
the recognized “Shodan” players of the metropolis.
While in Japan Go has attained such a high development, largely through
the help of the government, as has been shown, it seems to be decadent
in its motherland of China. The Japanese players assure us that there
is no player in China equal to a Japanese player of the first degree.
In Korea also the game is played, but the skill there attained is also
immensely below the Japanese standard.
Having now given an idea of the importance of the game in the eyes of
the Japanese, and the length of time it has been played, we will
proceed to a description of the board and stones, and then take up the
details of the play.
II
DESCRIPTION OF THE BOARD AND STONES
The board, or “Go Ban” as it is called in Japanese, is a solid block of
wood, about seventeen and a half inches long, sixteen inches broad, and
generally about four or five inches thick. It has four detachable feet
or legs so that as it stands on the floor it is about eight inches
high. The board and feet are always stained yellow.
The best boards in Japan are made of a wood called “Kaya” (Torreya
Nucifera) a species of yew. They are also made of a wood called “Icho”
or Gingko (Salisburia adiantifolia) and of “Hinoki” (Thuya Obtusa) a
kind of cedar. At all events they must be of hard wood, and yet not so
hard as to be unpleasant to the touch when the stone is placed on the
board, and the wood must further have the quality of resonance, because
the Japanese enjoy hearing the sound made by the stone as it is played,
and they always place it on the board with considerable force when
space will permit. The Japanese expression for playing Go, to wit, “Go
wo utsu,” literally means to “strike” Go, referring to the impact of
the stone. In Korea this feature is carried to such an extreme that
wires are stretched beneath the board, so that as a stone is played a
distinct musical sound is produced. The best boards should, of course,
be free from knots, and the grain should run diagonally across them.
In the back of the board there is cut a square depression. The purpose
of this is probably to make the block more resonant, although the old
Japanese stories say that this depression was put there originally to
receive the blood of the vanquished in case the excitement of the game
led to a sanguinary conflict.
The legs of the board are said to be shaped to resemble the fruit of
the plant called “Kuchinashi” or Cape Jessamine (Gardenia floribunda),
the name of which plant by accident also means “without a mouth,” and
this is supposed to suggest to onlookers that they refrain from making
comments on the game (a suggestion which all Chess players will
appreciate).
On the board, parallel with each edge, are nineteen thin, lacquered
black lines. These lines are about four one-hundredths of an inch wide.
It has been seen from the dimensions given that the board is not
exactly square, and the field therefore is a “parallelogram, the sides
of which are sixteen and a half and fifteen inches long respectively,
and the lines in one direction are a little bit farther apart than in
the other. These lines, by their crossing, produce three hundred and
sixty-one points of intersection, including the corners and the points
along the edge of the field.
The stones are placed on these points of intersection, and not in the
spaces as the pieces are in Chess or Checkers. These intersections are
called “Me” or “Moku” in Japanese, which really means “an eye.”
Inasmuch as the word as used in this connection is untranslatable, I
shall hereafter refer to these points of intersection by their Japanese
name.
On the board, as shown in the diagram (Plate 1), are nine little
circles. It is on these circles that the handicap stones when given are
placed. They have no other function in the game, but they are supposed
also to have some sort of symbolical meaning. Chamberlain states that
these spots or “Seimoku” are supposed to represent the chief celestial
bodies, and that the central one is called “Taikyoku”; that is, the
primordial principle of the universe. In the work of Stewart Culin
referred to in the preface it is stated that they correspond to the
nine lights of heaven—the sun, moon and the seven stars of the
constellation “Tau” (Ursa Major). Indeed the whole arrangement of the
board is said to have some symbolical significance, the number of
crosses (exclusive of the central one) representing the three hundred
and sixty degrees of latitude, and the number of white and black stones
corresponding to the number of days of the year; but nowadays the
Japanese do not make much of a point of the astronomical significance
of the board or of the “Seimoku.”
The stones or “Ishi” with which the game is played are three hundred
and sixty-one in number, corresponding to the number of “Me” or points
of intersection on the board. One hundred and eighty of these stones
are white and the remaining one hundred and eighty-one are black. As
the weaker player has the black stones and the first move, obviously
the extra stone must be black. In practice the entire number of stones
is never used, as at the end of the game there are always vacant spaces
on the board. The Japanese generally keep these stones in gracefully
shaped, lacquered boxes or “Go tsubo.”
The white stones are made of a kind of white shell; they are highly
polished, and are exceedingly pleasant to the touch. The best come from
the provinces of Hitachi and Mikawa. The black are made of stone,
generally a kind of slate that comes from the Nachi cataract in Kishiu.
As they are used they become almost jet-black, and they are also
pleasant to the touch, but not so much so as the white. A good set is
quite dear, and cannot be purchased under several yen. The ideograph
formerly used for “Go ishi” indicates that originally they were made of
wood, and not of stone, and the old Chinese ideograph shows that in
that country they were wooden pieces painted black and white. The use
of polished shell for the white stones was first introduced in the
Ashikaga period.
In form the stones are disk-shaped, but not always exactly round, and
are convex on both surfaces, so that they tremble slightly when placed
on the board. They are about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and
about one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The white stones are
generally a trifle larger than the black ones; for some strange reason
those of both colors are a little bit wider than they should be in
order to fit the board. Korschelt carefully measured the stones which
he used, and found that the black were seventeen-sixteenths of the
distance between the vertical lines on his board, and about
eighteen-nineteenths of the distance between the horizontal lines,
while the white stones were thirteen-twelfths of the distance between
the vertical lines and thirty-six thirty-sevenths of the distance
between the horizontal lines. I found about the same relation of size
in the board and stones which I use.
The result of this is that the stones do not have quite room enough and
lap over each other, and when the board is very full, they push each
other out of place. To make matters still worse the Japanese are not
very careful to put the stones exactly on the points of intersection,
but place them carelessly, so that the board has an irregular
appearance. It is probable that the unsymmetrical shape of the board
and the irregularity of the size of the stones arise from the antipathy
that the Japanese have to exact symmetry. At any rate, it is all
calculated to break up the monotonous appearance which the board would
have if the spaces were exactly square, and the stones were exactly
round and fitted properly in their places.
In Japan the board is placed on the floor, and the players sit on the
floor also, facing each other, as shown in the illustration, and
generally the narrower side of the board is placed so as to face the
players. Since the introduction of tables in Japan Go boards are also
made thinner and without feet, but the game seems to lose some of its
charm when the customs of the old Japan are departed from.
The Japanese always take the stone between the middle and index
fingers, and not between the thumb and index finger as we are likely to
do, and they place it on the board smartly and with great skill, so
that it gives a cheerful sound, as before stated.
For use in this country the board need not be so thick, and need not,
of course, have feet, but if it is attempted to play the game on
cardboard, which has a dead sound as the stones are played, it is
surprising how much the pleasure of the game is diminished. The author
has found that Casino chips are the best substitute for the Japanese
stones.
Originally the board used for the game of Go was not so large, and the
intersecting lines in each direction were only seventeen in number. At
the time of the foundation of the Go Academy this was the size of board
in use. As the game developed the present number of lines became fixed
after trial and comparison with other possible sizes. Korschelt made
certain experiments with the next possible larger size in which the
number of lines in each direction was twenty-one, and it seemed that
the game could still be played, although it made necessary the
intellect of a past master to grasp the resulting combinations. If more
than twenty-one lines are used Korschelt states that the combinations
are beyond the reach of the human mind.
In closing the description of the board it may be interesting to point
out that the game which we call “Go Bang” or “Five in a Row,” is played
on what is really a Japanese Go board, and the word “Go Bang” is merely
another phonetic imitation of the words by which the Japanese designate
their board. I have found, however, that the “Go Bang” boards sold in
the stores in this country are an imitation of the original Japanese
“Go ban,” and have only seventeen lines, and are therefore a little too
small for the game as now played. The game which we call “Go Bang” also
originated in Japan, and is well known and still played there. They
call it “Go Moku Narabe,” which means to arrange five “Me,” the word
“Go” in this case meaning “five,” and “Moku” being the alternative way
of pronouncing the ideograph for eye. “Go Moku Narabe” is often played
by good Go players, generally for relaxation, as it is a vastly simpler
game than Go, and can be finished much more rapidly. It is not,
however, to be despised, as when played by good players there is
considerable chance for analysis, and the play often covers the entire
board.
III
RULES OF PLAY
The players play alternately, and the weaker player has the black
stones and plays first, unless a handicap has been given, in which case
the player using the white stones has the first move. (In the olden
times this was just reversed.) They place the stones on the vacant
points of intersection on the board, or “Me,” and they may place them
wherever they please, with the single exception of the case called
“Ko,” which will be hereafter explained. When the stones are once
played they are never moved again.
The object of the game of Go is to secure territory. Just as the object
of the game of Chess is not to capture pieces, but to checkmate the
adverse King, so in Go the ultimate object is not to capture the
adversary’s stones, but to so arrange matters that at the end of the
game a player’s stones will surround as much vacant space as possible.
At the end of the game, however, before the amount of vacant space is
calculated, the stones that have been taken are used to fill up the
vacant spaces claimed by the adversary; that is to say, the captured
black stones are used to fill up the spaces surrounded by the player
having the white pieces, and vice versa, and the player who has the
greatest amount of territory after the captured stones are used in this
way, is the winner of the game. However, if the players, fearing each
other, merely fence in parts of the board without regard to each
other’s play, a most uninteresting game results, and the Japanese call
this by the contemptuous epithet “Ji dori go,” or “ground taking Go.” I
have noticed that beginners in this country sometimes start to play in
this way, and it is one of the many ways by which the play of a mere
novice may be recognized. The best games arise when the players in
their efforts to secure territory attack each other’s stones or groups
of stones, and we therefore must know how a stone can be taken.
A stone is taken when it is surrounded on four opposite sides as shown
in Plate 2, Diagram I. When it is taken it is removed from the board.
It is not necessary that a stone should also be surrounded diagonally,
which would make eight stones necessary in order to take one; neither
do four stones placed on the adjacent diagonal intersections cause a
stone to be taken: they do not directly attack the stone in the center
at all. Plate 2, Diagram IV, shows this situation.
A stone which is placed on the edge of the board may be surrounded and
captured by three stones, as shown in Plate 2, Diagram II, and if a
stone is placed in the extreme corner of the board, it may be
surrounded and taken by two stones, as shown in Plate 2, Diagram III.
In actual practice it seldom or never happens that a stone or group of
stones is surrounded by the minimum number requisite under the rule,
for in that case the player whose stones were threatened could
generally manage to break through his adversary’s line. It is almost
always necessary to add helping stones to those that are strictly
necessary in completing the capture. Plate 2, Diagram V, shows four
stones which are surrounded with the minimum number of stones. Plate 2,
Diagram VI, shows the same group with a couple of helping stones added,
which would probably be found necessary in actual play.
It follows from this rule that stones which are on the same line
parallel with the edges of the board are connected, and support each
other, Plate 2, Diagram VII, while stones which are on the same
diagonal line are not connected, and do not support each other, Plate
2, Diagram VIII. In order to surround stones which are on the same
line, and therefore connected, it is necessary to surround them all in
order to take them, while stones which are arranged on a diagonal line,
and therefore unconnected, may be taken one at a time. On Plate 2,
Diagram III, if there were a stone placed at S 18, it would not be
connected with the stone in the corner, and would not help it in any
way. On the other hand, as has been said, it is not necessary to place
a white stone on that point in order to complete the capture of the
stone in the corner.
In order to capture a group or chain of stones containing vacant space,
it must be completely surrounded inside and out; for instance, the
black group shown on Plate 2, Diagram IX, while it has no hope of life
if it is White’s play is nevertheless not completely surrounded. In
order to surround it, it is necessary to play on the three vacant
intersections at M 11, N 11, and O 11. The same group of stones is
shown in Diagram X completely surrounded. (It may be said in passing
that White must play at N 11 first or the black stones can defend
themselves; we shall understand this better in a moment.)
In practice it often happens that a stone or group of stones is
regarded as dead before it is completely surrounded, because when the
situation is observed to be hopeless the losing player abandons it, and
addresses his energies to some other part of the board. It is
advantageous for the losing player to abandon such a group as soon as
possible, for, if he continues to add to the group, he loses not only
the territory but the added stones also. If the circumstances are such
that his opponent has to reply to his moves in the hopeless territory,
the loss is not so great, as the opponent is meanwhile filling up
spaces which would otherwise be vacant, and against an inferior player
there is a chance of the adversary making a slip and allowing the
threatened stones to save themselves. If, however, the situation is so
clearly hopeless that the adversary is not replying move for move, then
every stone added to such a group means a loss of two points.
At the end of the game such abandoned groups of stones are removed from
the board just as if they had been completely surrounded and killed,
and it is not necessary for the player having the advantage actually to
surround and kill such a group. It is enough if they obviously can be
killed. The theory on which this rule proceeds is that if the players
play alternately, no advantage would be gained by either side in the
process of actually surrounding such a group, and its completion would
only be a waste of time. But let us suppose that a black group at the
end of the game is found to be hopeless and also completely surrounded
with the exception of one point. The question arises, can the Black
player demand that his adversary play on the vacant space in order to
kill this group, for, if he could, it is obvious he would gain one “Me”
by so doing. The answer is, he cannot so demand, and his adversary is
not bound to play on this point, and the hopeless or abandoned stones
are removed without further play. We might call such groups “dead.”
They may be distinguished from stones that are “taken,” because these
latter are removed at once, whereas “dead” stones are removed only at
the end of the game.
As a corollary to the rule for surrounding and taking stones, it
follows that a group of stones containing two disconnected vacant
intersections or “Me” cannot be taken. This is not a separate rule. It
follows necessarily from the method by which stones are taken.
Nevertheless in practice it is the most important principle in the
game.
In order to understand the rule or principle of the two “Me,” we must
first look at the situation shown in Plate 3, Diagram I. There, if a
black stone is played at F 15, although it is played on an intersection
entirely surrounded by white stones, it nevertheless lives because the
moment it is played it has the effect of killing the entire white
group; that is to say, a stone may be played on an intersection where
it is completely surrounded if as it is played it has the effect of
completely surrounding the adversary’s stones already on the board. If,
on the other hand, we have a situation as shown in Plate 3, Diagram II,
a black stone may indeed be played on one of the vacant intersections,
but when it is so played the white group is not completely surrounded,
because there still remains one space yet to be filled, and the black
stone itself is dead as soon as it touches the board, and hence it
would be impossible to surround this group of white stones unless two
stones were played at once. The white stones, therefore, can never be
surrounded, and form an impregnable position.
This is the principle of the two “Me,” and when a player’s group of
stones is hard pressed, and his adversary is trying to surround them,
if he can so place the stones that two disconnected complete “Me” are
left, they are safe forever. It makes no difference whether the vacant
“Me” are on the edges or in the corners of the board, or how far from
each other they may be.
Plate 3, Diagram VI, shows a group of stones containing two vacant “Me”
on the edge of the board. This group is perfectly safe against attack.
A beginner might ask why the white group shown on Plate 3, Diagram V,
is not safe. The difficulty with that group is, that when Black has
played at S 9, there are no “Me” in it at all as the word is used in
this connection, not even a “Kageme” as shown in Plate 3, Diagram III,
because a “Me,” in order to be available for the purpose of defense,
must be a vacant intersection that is surrounded on four sides, just as
a captured stone must be surrounded, and therefore on the sides of the
board it can be made by three stones, and in the corner of the board by
two stones, but it is absolutely necessary, in addition to the minimum
number of surrounding stones, to have helping stones to guard the
surrounding stones against attack. This brings us to what the Japanese
call “Kageme.”
In actual play there are many groups of stones that at first glance
seem to have two vacant “Me” in them, but which on analysis, will be
found vulnerable to attack. A “Me” that looks somewhat as if it were
complete, but is, nevertheless, destructible is called “Kageme.” “Kage”
means “chipped” or “incomplete.” Plate 3, Diagram III, is an
illustration of this. A beginner might think that the white group was
safe, but Black can kill the upper six white stones by playing at E 3,
and then on the next move can kill the remainder by playing at G 2.
Therefore, E 3 is not a perfect “Me,” but is “Kageme.” G 2 is a perfect
“Me,” but one is not enough to save the group. In this group if the
stone at F 4 or D 2 were white, there would be two perfect “Me,” and
the group would be safe. In a close game beginners often find it
difficult to distinguish between a perfect “Me” and “Kageme.”
Groups of stones which contain vacant spaces, can be lost or saved
according as two disconnected “Me” can or cannot be formed in those
spaces, and the most interesting play in the game occurs along the
sides and especially in the corners of the board in attempting to form
or attempting to prevent the formation of these “Me.” The attacking
player often plays into the vacant space and sacrifices several stones
with the ultimate object of reducing the space to one “Me”; and, on the
other hand, the defending player by selecting a fortunate intersection
may make it impossible for the stones to be killed. There is
opportunity for marvelous ingenuity in the attack and defense of these
positions. A simple example of defense is shown in Plate 3, Diagram IV,
where, if it is White’s turn, and he plays in the corner of the board
at T 19, he can save his stones. If, on the other hand, he plays
anywhere else, the two “Me” can never be formed. The beginner would do
well to work out this situation for himself.
The series of diagrams commencing at Plate 3, Diagram V, show the
theoretical method of reducing vacant spaces by the sacrifice of
stones. This series is taken from Korschelt, and the position as it
arose in actual play is shown on Plate 10, depicting a complete game.
In Plate 3, Diagram V, the white group is shown externally surrounded,
and the black stone has just been played at S 9, rendering the group
hopeless. The same group is shown on the opposite side of the board at
Plate 4, Diagram I, but Black has added three more stones and could
kill the white group on the next move. Therefore, White plays at A 12,
and the situation shown in Plate 4, Diagram II, arises, where the same
group is shown on the lower edge of the board. Now, if it were White’s
move, he could save his group by playing at J 2, and the situation
which would then arise is shown on Plate 4, Diagram III, where White
has three perfect “Me,” one more than enough. However, it is not
White’s move, and Black plays on the coveted intersection, and then
adds two more stones until the situation shown in Plate 4, Diagram IV,
arises. Then White must again play at S 8 in order to save his stones
from immediate capture, and the situation shown at Plate 5, Diagram I,
comes about. Black again plays at J 18, adds one more stone, and we
have the situation shown in Plate 5, Diagram II, where it is obvious
that White must play at C 11 in order to save his group from immediate
capture, thus leaving only two vacant spaces. It is unnecessary to
continue the analysis further, but at the risk of explaining what is
apparent, it might be pointed out that Black would play on one of these
vacant spaces, and if White killed the stone (which it would not pay
White to do) Black would play again on the space thus made vacant, and
completely surround and kill the entire white group.
A group with five vacant “Me,” as shown in the preceding diagrams, is a
situation well known to the Japanese, so much so that they have a
special phrase or saying that applies to it, to wit, “Go moku naka de
wa ju san te,” which means that it takes thirteen turns to reduce a
group having five such “Me” in the center.
As we have previously seen, in actual play this white group would be
regarded as “dead” as distinguished from “taken,” and this series of
moves would not be played out. White obviously would not play in the
space, and he could not demand that Black play therein in order to
complete the actual surrounding of the stones, and the only purpose of
giving this series of diagrams is to show theoretically how the white
stones can be killed. However, the killing of these stones would be
necessary if the surrounding black line were in turn attacked
(“Semeai”), in which case it might be a race to see whether the
internal white stones could be completely surrounded and killed before
the external white group could get in complete contact with the black
line.
Stones which are sacrificed in order to kill a larger group are called
“Sute ishi” by the Japanese, from “Suteru,” meaning “to cast or throw
away,” and “Ishi,” a “stone.”
It may be noted that if a group contains four connected vacant
intersections in a line it is safe, because if the adversary attempts
to reduce it, two disconnected “Me” can be formed in the space by
simply playing a stone adjacent to the adversary’s stone, as shown in
Plate 5, Diagram III, where, if Black plays for instance at K 11, White
replies at L 11, and secures the two “Me.” Even if these four connected
vacant intersections are not in a straight line, they are nevertheless
sufficient for the purpose, provided the fourth “Me” is connected at
the end of the three, and the Japanese express this by their saying
“Magari shimoku wa me,” or four “Me” turning a corner. Neither does it
make any difference whether the four connected “Me” are in the center
of the board or along the edge. On Plate 5, Diagrams IV and V, are
examples of “Magari shimoku wa me,” and they both are safe. It is
interesting, however, to compare these situations with that shown at
Plate 4, Diagram II, where the fourth intersection is not connected at
the end of the line, and which group Black can kill if it is his move,
as we already have seen.
If, however, such a group contains only three connected vacant
intersections, and it is the adversary’s move, it can be killed,
because the adversary by playing on the middle intersection can prevent
the formation of two disconnected “Me.” We saw a group of this kind on
Plate 2, Diagram IX, which can be killed by playing at N 11. Obviously,
if it is Black’s move in this case, the group can be saved by playing
at N 11; obviously, also, if White, being a mere novice, plays
elsewhere than at N 11, Black saves the stones by playing there and
killing the white stone. Plate 5, Diagram VI, shows another group
containing only three vacant intersections. These can be killed if it
is Black’s move by playing at A 1. On the other hand, if it is White’s
move, he can save them by playing on the same point.
Of course, if a group of stones contains a large number of vacant
intersections, it is perfectly safe unless the vacant space is so large
that the adversary can have a chance of forming an entire new living
group of stones therein.
We now come to the one exception to the rule that the players may place
their stones at will on any vacant intersection on the board. This rule
is called the rule of “Ko,” and is shown on Plate 6, Diagram I.
Assuming that it is White’s turn to play, he can play at D 17 and take
the black stone at C 17 which is already surrounded on three sides, and
the position shown in Plate 6, Diagram II, would then arise. It is now
White’s turn to play, and if he plays at C 13, the white stone which
has just been put down will be likewise surrounded and could be at once
taken from the board. Black, however, is not permitted to do this
immediately, but must first play somewhere else, and this gives White
the choice of filling up this space (C 13) and defending his stone, or
of following his adversary to some other portion of the board. The
reason for this rule in regard to “Ko” is very clear. If the players
were permitted to take and retake the stones as shown in the diagram,
the series of moves would be endless, and the game could never be
finished. It is something like perpetual check in Chess, but the
Japanese, in place of calling the game a draw, compel the second player
to move elsewhere and thus allow the game to continue. In an actual
game when a player is prevented from retaking a stone by the rule of
“Ko,” he always tries to play in some other portion of the board where
he threatens a larger group of stones than is involved in the situation
where “Ko” occurs, and thus often he can compel his adversary to follow
him to this other part of the field, and then return to retake in “Ko.”
His adversary then will play in some part of the field, if possible,
where another group can be threatened, and so on. Sometimes in a hotly
contested game the battle will rage around a place where “Ko” occurs
and the space will be taken and retaken several times.
Korschelt states that the ideograph for “Ko” means “talent” or
“skilfulness,” in which he is very likely wrong, as it is more
accurately translated by our word “threat”; but be this as it may, it
is certainly true that the rule in regard to “Ko” gives opportunity for
a great display of skill, and as the better players take advantage of
this rule with much greater ingenuity, it is a good idea for the weaker
player as far as possible to avoid situations where its application
arises.
There is a situation which sometimes arises and which might be mistaken
for “Ko.” It is where a player takes more than one stone and the
attacking stone is threatened on three sides, or where only one stone
is taken, but the adversary in replying can take not only the last
stone played, but others also. In these cases the opponent can retake
immediately, because it will at once be seen that an endless exchange
of moves (which makes necessary the rule of “Ko”) would not occur. A
situation of this kind is shown on Plate 6, Diagrams III, IV, and V,
where White by playing at C 8 (Diagram III) takes the three black
stones, producing the situation shown in Diagram IV, and Black is
permitted immediately to retake the white stone, producing the state of
affairs shown in Diagram V. The Japanese call such a situation “Ute
kaeshi,” which means “returning a blow.” It forms no exception to the
ordinary rules of the game, and only needs to be pointed out because a
beginner might think that the rule of “Ko” applied to it.
We will now take up the situation called “Seki.” “Seki” means a
“barrier” or “impasse”—it is a different word from the “Seki” in the
phrase “Jo seki.” “Seki” also is somewhat analogous to perpetual check.
It arises when a vacant space is surrounded partly by white and partly
by black stones in such a way that, if either player places a stone
therein, his adversary can thereupon capture the entire group. Under
these circumstances, of course, neither player desires to place a stone
on that portion of the board, and the rules of the game do not compel
him to do so. That portion of the board is regarded as neutral
territory, and at the end of the game the vacant “Me” are not counted
in favor of either player. Plate 6, Diagram VI, gives an illustration
of “Seki,” where it will be seen that if Black plays at either S 16 or
T 16 White can kill the black stones in the corner by playing on the
other point, and if White plays on either point Black can kill the
white stones by filling the remaining vacancy. Directly below, on
Diagram VII, is shown the same group, but the corner black stone has
been taken out. The position is now no longer “Seki,” but is called by
the Japanese “Me ari me nashi,” or literally “having ‘Me,’ not having
‘Me.’” Here the white stones are dead, because if Black plays, for
instance, at T 4 White cannot kill the black stones by playing at S 4,
for the reason that the vacant “Me” at T 1 still remains. The beginner
might confuse “Seki” with “Me ari me nashi,” and while a good player
has no trouble in recognizing the difference when the situation arises,
it takes considerable foresight sometimes so to play as to produce one
situation or the other.
Plate 6, Diagram VIII, shows another group which might be mistaken for
“Seki,” but here, if White plays at J 19, the black stones can be
killed, further proceedings being somewhat similar to those we saw in
the illustration of “Go moku naka de wa ju san te.” Plate 7 shows a
large group of stones from which inevitably “Seki” will result. It
would be well for the student to work this out for himself. “Seki” very
seldom or never occurs in games between good players, and it rarely
occurs in any game.
It is a rule of the game to give warning when a stone or group of
stones is about to be completely surrounded. For this purpose the
Japanese use the word “Atari” (from “ataru,” to touch lightly), which
corresponds quite closely to the expression “gardez” in Chess. If this
warning were omitted, the player whose stones were about to be taken
should have the right to take his last move over and save the imperiled
position if he could. This rule is not so strictly observed as
formerly; it belongs more to the etiquette of the old Japan.
The game comes to an end when the frontiers of the opposing groups are
in contact. This does not mean that the board is entirely covered, for
the obvious reason that the space inside the groups or chains of stones
is purposely left vacant, for that is the only part of the board which
counts; but so long as there is any vacant space lying between the
opposing groups that must be disposed of in some way, and when it is so
disposed of it will be found that the white and black groups are in
complete contact.
Just at the end of the game there will be found isolated vacant
intersections or “Me” on the frontier lines, and it does not make any
difference which player fills these up. They are called by the Japanese
“Dame,” which means “useless.” (The word “Dame” is likely to be
confusing when it is first heard, because the beginner jumps to the
conclusion that it is some new kind of a “Me.” This arises from a
coincidence only. Anything that is useless or profitless is called
“Dame” in Japanese, but etymologically the word really means “horse’s
eye,” as the Japanese, not being admirers of the vacant stare of that
noble animal, have used this word as a synonym for all that is useless.
Therefore the syllable “Me” does mean an eye, and is the same word that
is used to designate the intersections, but its recurrence in this
connection is merely an accident.)
It is difficult for the beginner at first to understand why the filling
of these “Dame” results in no advantage to either player, and beginners
often fill up such spaces even before the end of the game, feeling that
they are gaining ground slowly but surely; and the Japanese have a
saying, “Heta go ni dame nashi,” which means that there are no “Dame”
in beginners’ Go, as beginners do not recognize their uselessness. On
the other hand, a necessary move will sometimes look like “Dame.” The
moves that are likely to be so confused are the final connecting moves
or “Tsugu,” where a potential connection has been made early in the
game, but which need to be filled up to complete the chain. In the
Illustrative Game, Number I, the “Dame” are all given, but a little
practice is necessary before they can always be recognized.
When the “Dame” have been filled, and the dead stones have been removed
from the board, there is no reason why the players should not at once
proceed to counting up which of them has the greatest amount of vacant
space, less, of course, the number of stones they have lost, and thus
determine who is the victor. As a matter of practice, however, the
Japanese do not do this immediately, but, purely for the purpose of
facilitating the count, the player having the white pieces would fill
up his adversary’s territory with the black stones he had captured as
far as they would go, and the player having the black stones would fill
up his adversary’s territory with the white stones that he had
captured; and thereupon the entire board is reconstructed, so that the
vacant spaces come into rows of fives and tens, so that they are easier
to count. This has really nothing to do with the game, and it is merely
a device to make the counting of the spaces easier, but it seems like a
mysterious process to a novice, and adds not a little to the general
mystery with which the end of the game seems to be surrounded when an
Occidental sees it played for the first time. This process of
arrangement is called “Me wo tsukuru.” It may be added that if any part
of the board contains the situation called “Seki,” that portion is left
alone, and is not reconstructed like the rest of the board.
Plate 8 shows a completed game in which the “Dame” have all been
filled, but the dead stones have not yet been removed from the board.
Let us first see which of the stones are dead. It is easy to see that
the white stone at N 11 is hopeless, as it is cut off in every
direction. The same is true of the white stone at B 18. It is not so
easy to see that the black stones at L and M 18, N, O, P, Q and R 17, N
16, and M and N 15 are dead, but against a good player they would have
no hope of forming the necessary two “Me,” and they are therefore
conceded to be dead; but a good player could probably manage to defend
them against a novice. It is still more difficult to see why the
irregular white group of eighteen stones on the left-hand side of the
board has been abandoned, but there also White has no chance of making
the necessary two “Me.” At the risk of repetition I will again point
out that these groups of dead stones can be taken from the board
without further play.
Plate 9 shows the same game after the dead stones have been removed and
used to fill up the respective territories, and after the board has
been reconstructed in accordance with the Japanese method, and it will
be seen that in this case Black has won by one stone. This result can
be arrived at equally well by counting up the spaces on Plate 8, but
they are easier to count on Plate 9, after the “Me wo tsukuru” has been
done.
Plate 10 shows another completed game. This plate is from Korschelt,
and is interesting because it contains an instructive error. The game
is supposed to be completed, and the black stone at C 18 is said to be
dead. This is not true, because Black by playing at C 17 could not only
save his stone, but kill the four white stones at the left-hand side.
Therefore, before this game is completed, White must play at C 17 to
defend himself. This is called “Tsugu.” On the left-hand side of the
board is shown a white group which is dead, and the method of reduction
of which we have already studied in detail. On the right side of the
board are a few scattering black stones which are dead, because they
have no chance of forming a group with the necessary two “Me.” The
question may be asked whether it is necessary for White to play at C 1
or E 1 in order to complete the connection of the group in the corner,
but he is not obliged so to do unless Black chooses to play at B 1 or F
1, which, of course, Black would not do.
On Plate 11, this game also is shown as reconstructed for counting, and
it will be seen that White has won by two stones. Really this is an
error of one stone, as White should have played at C 17, as we have
previously pointed out.
Sometimes at the end of the game players of moderate skill may differ
as to whether there is anything left to be done, and when one thinks
there is no longer any advantage to be gained by either side, he says,
“Mo arimasen, aru naraba o yuki nasai,” that is to say, “I think there
is nothing more to be done; if you think you can gain anything, you may
play,” and sometimes he will allow his adversary to play two or three
times in succession, reserving the right to step in if he thinks there
is a chance of his adversary reviving a group that is apparently dead.
No part of the rules of the game has been more difficult for me to
understand than the methods employed at the end, and especially the
rule in regard to the removal of dead stones without actually
surrounding them, but I trust in the foregoing examples I have made
this rule sufficiently clear. Moreover, it is not always easy to tell
whether stones are dead or alive. There is a little poem or “Hokku” in
Japanese, which runs as follows:
“Iki shini wo
Shiranu nonki no
Go uchi kana,”
which might be translated as “Oh! what kind of a Go player is he who
does not know whether his stones are alive or dead!” But while the
Japanese author of this “Hokku” may have regarded it as a simple thing,
the Occidental student of the game would not be likely to share his
views. An instance of this is shown by the possibilities of the
supposedly dead black stone on Plate 10, and I think it would be fairer
to state that the skill of a good Go player is most clearly shown by
his ability to recognize immediately whether a group is dead or can be
saved; the study of our chapter on Problems will give further
illustrations of the difficulty and nicety of such decisions.
We now come to the question of handicaps. Handicaps are given by the
stronger player allowing the weaker player to place a certain number of
stones on the board before the game begins, and we have seen in the
chapter on the Description of the Board that these stones are placed on
the nine dotted intersections. If one stone is given, it is usual to
place it in the upper right-hand corner. If a second stone is given, it
is placed in the lower left-hand corner. If a third stone is given, it
is placed in the lower right-hand corner. The fourth is placed in the
upper left-hand corner. The fifth is placed at the center or “Ten gen.”
When six are given, the center one is removed, and the fifth and sixth
are placed at the left and right-hand edges of the board on line 10. If
seven are given, these stones remain, and the seventh stone is placed
in the center. If eight are given, the center stone is again removed,
and the seventh and eighth stones are placed on the “Seimoku” on line
K. If the ninth is given, it is again placed in the center of the
board.
Between players of reasonable skill more than nine stones are never
given, but when the disparity between the players is too great, four
other stones are sometimes given. They are placed just outside the
corner “Seimoku,” as shown on the diagram (Plate 12), and these extra
stones are called “Furin” handicaps. “Furin” means “a small bell,” as
these stones suggest to the Japanese the bells which hang from the
eaves at the corners of a Japanese temple. When the disparity between
the players is very great indeed, sometimes four more stones are given,
and when given they are placed on the diagonal halfway between the
corner “Seimoku” and the center. These four stones are called “Naka
yotsu,” or “the four middle stones,” but such a handicap could only be
given to the merest novice.
We have now completed a survey of all the actual rules of the game, and
it may be well to summarize them in order that their real simplicity
may be clearly seen; briefly, they are as follows:
1. The object of the game is to obtain vacant territory.
2. The stones are placed on the intersections and on any vacant
intersection the player chooses (except in the case of “Ko”). After
they are played they are not moved again.
3. (a) One or more stones which are compactly surrounded by the stones
of the other side are said to be taken and are at once removed from the
board.
(b) Stones which, while not actually surrounded can inevitably be
surrounded, are dead, and can be taken from the board at the end of the
game without further play.
(c) Taken or dead stones are used to fill up the adversary’s territory.
4. The game is at an end when the opposing groups of stones are in
absolute contact (the case of “Seki” being the single exception).
It is not possible to imagine a game with simpler rules, or the
elements of which are easier to acquire.
We will now turn our attention to a few considerations as to the best
methods of play, and of certain moves and formations which occur in
every game, and also to the names which in Japanese are used to
designate these things.
IV
GENERAL METHODS OF PLAY AND TERMINOLOGY OF THE GAME
As will be shown more in detail in the chapter on Openings or “Joseki,”
the game is commenced by playing in the corners of the board, and
generally on one of the squares adjacent to the handicap point. The
reason for this is that the corners of the board are natural
fortresses, and can be more readily defended against attack. It is also
easier to form territory in the corners of the board. Next to the
corners of the board the sides of the board are easiest to defend, and
territory is more easily formed along the sides than in the center, and
in an ordinary game the play generally proceeds from the corners and
edges to the center. The importance which the Japanese attach to the
corners is shown by their saying “Yo sumi torarete go wo utsu na,” or,
“if the four corners are taken, cease playing.” Against a good player
it is next to impossible to form territory in the center of the board,
unless it is based on one of the sides or corners.
There is, however, an old rule of etiquette which is not consistent
with this theory of the opening; it used to be regarded as exceedingly
impolite and insulting to play the first stone on the handicap point in
the center of the board, called “Ten gen.” It has been explained to me
that the reason for this rule is that such a move was supposed to
assure the victory to the first player, and it is related that when on
one occasion Murase Shuho had defeated a rival many times in
succession, the latter, becoming desperate, apologized for his rudeness
and placed his stone on this spot, and Murase, nevertheless, succeeded
in winning the game, which was regarded as evidence of his great skill.
It has, however, been shown by Honinbo Dosaku that this move gives the
first player no decisive advantage, and I have been also told by some
Japanese that the reason that this move is regarded as impolite is
because it is a wasted move, and implies a disrespect for the
adversary’s skill, and from what experience I have had in the game I
think the latter explanation is more plausible. At all events, such a
move is most unusual and can only be utilized by a player of the
highest skill.
When good players commence the game, from the first they have in mind
the entire board, and they generally play a stone in each of the four
corners and one or two around the edges of the board, sketching out, as
it were, the territory which they ultimately hope to obtain. They do
not at once attack each other’s stones, and it is not until the game is
well advanced that anything like a hand to hand conflict occurs.
Beginners are likely to engage at once in a close conflict. Their minds
seem to be occupied with an intense desire to surround and capture the
first stones the adversary places on the board, and often their
opposing groups of stones, starting in one corner, will spread out in a
struggling mass from that point all over the board. There is no surer
indication of the play of a novice than this. It is just as if a battle
were to commence without the guidance of a commanding officer, by
indiscriminate fisticuffs among the common soldiers. Of the other
extreme, or “Ji dori Go,” we have already spoken. Another way in which
the play of experts may be recognized is that all the stones of a good
player are likely to be connected in one or at most two groups, while
poorer players find their stones divided up into small groups each of
which has to struggle to form the necessary two “Me” in order to insure
survival.
Assuming that we have advanced far enough to avoid premature encounters
or “Ji dori Go,” and are placing our stones in advantageous positions,
decently and in order, the question arises, how many spaces can be
safely skipped from stone to stone in advancing our frontiers; that is
to say, how far can stones be separated and yet be potentially
connected, and therefore safe against attack? The answer is, that two
spaces can safely be left if there are no adversary’s stones in the
immediate vicinity. To demonstrate this, let us suppose that Black has
stones at R 13 and R 16, and White tries to cut them off from each
other. White’s best line of attack would be as follows:
WHITE BLACK
R 14 S 14
R 15 S 15
Q 16 R 17
Q 13 R 12
Q 12
and Black has made good his connection, or Black at his fourth move
could play at Q 14, then
W B
Q 15 R 12
P 14 takes.
There are other continuations, but they are still worse for White. If,
however, the adversary’s stones are already posted on the line of
advance sometimes it is only safe to skip one point, and of course in
close positions the stones must be played so that they are actually
connected. The Japanese call this skipping of “Me” by the terms “Ikken
tobi,” “Nikken tobi,” “Sangen tobi,” etc., which literally means “to
fly one, two, or three spaces.” Although this is plain enough, these
relations are nevertheless shown on Plate 13, Diagrams I, II, and III.
When stones of opposite colors on the same line are separated by vacant
space in a similar way (Diagram IV), then the terms “Ikken kakari,”
“Nikken kakari,” etc., are used. “Kakari” really means “to hang” or “to
be related,” but as used in this sense it might be translated “to
attack.”
Sometimes the stones are placed in relation to each other like the
Knight’s move in Chess. The Knight in Japanese is called “Keima,” or
“the honorable horse,” and if the stones are of the same color the
relation is called “Keima” or “Kogeima,” “Ko” being the diminutive. If
the stones are of opposite colors, then the phrase “Keima” or “Kogeima
kakari” is used as in the previous case. The Japanese also designate a
relation similar to the Knight’s move, but farther apart, by special
words; thus, if the stones are one space farther apart, it is called
“Ogeima,” or “the Great Knight’s move,” and if the stone is advanced
one step still farther, it is called “Daidaigeima,” or “the Great Great
Knight’s move.” On Plate 13, Diagrams V, VI, and VII, are shown
“Kogeima,” “Ogeima,” and “Daidaigeima.”
The next question that will trouble the beginner is where to place his
stones when his adversary is advancing into his territory, and
beginners are likely to play their stones directly in contact with the
advancing forces. This merely results in their being engulfed by the
attacking line, and the stones and territory are both lost. If you wish
to stop your adversary’s advance, play your stones a space or two apart
from his, so that you have a chance to strengthen your line before his
attack is upon you.
The next thing we will speak of is what the Japanese call the “Sente.”
This word means literally “the leading hand,” but is best translated by
our words “having the offensive.” It corresponds quite closely to the
word “attack,” as it is used in Chess, but in describing a game of Go
it is better to reserve the word “attack” for a stronger demonstration
than is indicated by the word “Sente.” The “Sente” merely means that
the player having it can compel his adversary to answer his moves or
else sustain worse damage, and sometimes one player will have the
“Sente” in one portion of the board, and his adversary may disregard
the attack and by playing in some other quarter take the “Sente” there.
Sometimes the defending player by his ingenious moves may turn the
tables on his adversary and wrest the “Sente” from him. At all events,
holding the “Sente” is an advantage, and the annotations on
illustrative games abound with references to it, and conservative
authors on the game advise abandoning a stone or two for the purpose of
taking the “Sente.”
Sometimes a player has three stones surrounding a vacant space, as
shown in Plate 13, Diagram VIII, and the question arises how to attack
this group. This is done by playing on the fourth intersection. The
Japanese call this “Nozoku,” or “peeping into,” and when a stone is
played in this way it generally forces the adversary to fill up that
“Me.” It may be mentioned here also that when your adversary is trying
to form “Me” in a disputed territory, the way to circumvent him is to
play your stones on one of the four points he will obviously need to
complete his “Me,” and sometimes this is done before he has three of
the necessary stones on the board. The term “Nozoku” is also applied to
any stone which is played as a preliminary move in cutting the
connection between two of the adversary’s stones or groups of stones.
Sometimes a situation occurs as shown in Plate 13, Diagram IX. Here it
is supposed to be White’s move, and he must, of course, play at K 8,
whereupon Black would play at K 7 (“Osaeru”), and White would have to
play at L 8 (“Nobiru”), and so on until, if these moves were persisted
in, the formation would stretch in a zigzag line to the edge of the
board. This situation is called “Shicho,” which really means “a running
attack.” It results in the capture of the white stones when the edge of
the board is reached, unless they happen to find a comrade posted on
the line of retreat, for instance, at P 4, in which case they can be
saved. Of course, between good players “Shicho” is never played out to
the end, for they can at once see whether or not the stones will live,
and often a stone placed seemingly at random in a distant part of the
board is played partly with the object of supporting a retreating line
should “Shicho” occur.
Plate 13, Diagram X, shows a situation that often arises, in which the
White player, by putting his stone at M 1 on the edge of the board, can
join his two groups of stones. This is so because if Black plays at L 1
or N 1, White can immediately kill the stone. This joining on the edge
of the board is called by the special term “Watari,” which means “to
cross over,” Sometimes we find the word “Watari” used when the
connection between two groups is made in a similar way, although not at
the extreme edge of the board.
A much more frequent situation is shown at Plate 13, Diagram XI. It is
not worthy of special notice except because a special word is applied
to it. If Black plays at S 1, it is called “Haneru,” which really means
the flourish which is made in finishing an ideograph.
We will now take up a few of the other words that are used by the
Japanese as they play the game. By far the most frequent of these are
“Tsugu,” “Kiru,” “Nobiru,” and “Osaeru.” “Tsugu” means “to connect,”
and when two stones are adjacent but on the diagonal, as shown in Plate
13, Diagram XII, it is necessary to connect them if an attack is
threatened. This may be done by playing on either side; that is to say,
at Q 17 or R 16. If, on the other hand, Black should play on both these
points, the white stones would be forever separated, and this cutting
off is called “Kiru,” although, as a rule, when such a situation is
worthy of comment, one of the intersections has already been filled by
the attacking player. Plate 13, Diagram XIII, illustrates “Kiru,”
where, if a black stone is played at Q 12, the white stones are
separated. “Kiru” means “to cut,” and is recognizable as one of the
component parts of that much abused and mispronounced word “Harakiri.”
“Nobiru” means “to extend,” and when there is a line of stones it means
the adding of another one at the end, not skipping a space as in the
case of “Ikken tobi,” but extending with the stones absolutely
connected. In Plate 13, Diagram XIV, if Black plays at Q 9 it would be
called “Nobiru.” “Osaeru” means “to press down,” and this is what we do
when we desire to prevent our adversary from extending his line, as
seen in the preceding diagram. It is done by playing directly at the
end of the adversary’s line, as shown in Diagram XV, where Black is
supposed to play at Q 6. Here White must play on one side of the black
stone, but it must be pointed out that unless there is support in the
neighborhood for the stone used in “Osaeru,” the stone thus played runs
the risk of capture. In Diagram IX, explaining “Shicho,” we also had an
illustration of “Nobiru” and “Osaeru.”
If a stone is played on the intersection diagonally adjacent to another
stone, it is called “Kosumu,” but this word is not nearly so much used
as the other four. Sometimes, also, when it is necessary to connect two
groups of stones instead of placing the stone so as actually to connect
them, as in the case of “Tsugu,” the stone is played so as to
effectively guard the point of connection and thus prevent the
adversary’s stone from separating the two groups. This play is called
“Kake tsugu,” or “a hanging connection”; e.g., in Diagram XIII, if a
white stone were played at Q 11 it would be an instance of “Kake tsugu”
and would have prevented the black stone from cutting off the White
connection at Q 12, for, if the black stone were played there after a
white stone had been placed at Q 11, White could capture it on the next
move.
Passing from these words which describe the commonest moves in the
game, we will mention the expression “Te okure”—literally “a slow hand”
or “a slow move,” which means an unnecessary or wasted move. Many of
the moves of a beginner are of this character, especially when he has a
territory pretty well fenced in and cannot make up his mind whether or
not it is necessary to strengthen the group before proceeding to
another field of battle. In annotating the best games, also, it is used
to mean a move that is not the best possible move, and we frequently
hear it used by Japanese in criticising the play.
“Semeai” is another word with which we must be familiar. It means
“mutually attacking,” from “Semeru,” “to attack,” and “Au,” “to
encounter,” that is to say, if the White player attacks a group of
black stones, the Black player answers by endeavoring to surround the
surrounding stones, and so on. In our Illustrative Game, Number I, the
play in the upper right-hand corner of the board is an example of
“Semeai.” It is in positions of this kind that the condition of affairs
called “Seki” often comes about.
Plate 13, Diagram XVI, shows a position which is illustrated only
because a special name is applied to it. The Japanese call such a
relation of stones “Cho tsugai,” literally, “the hinge of a door.”
The last expression which we will give is “Naka oshi gatchi,” which is
the term applied to a victory by a large margin in the early part of
the game. These Japanese words mean “to conquer by pushing the center.”
Beginners are generally desirous of achieving a victory in this way,
and are not content to allow their adversary any portion of the board.
It is one of the first things to be remembered, that, no matter how
skilful a player may be, his adversary will always be able to acquire
some territory, and one of the maxims of the game is not to attempt to
achieve too great a victory.
Before proceeding with the technical chapters on the Illustrative
Games, Openings, etc., it may be well to say a word in regard to the
method adopted for keeping a record of the game. The Japanese do this
by simply showing a picture of the finished game, on which each stone
is numbered as it was played. If a stone is taken and another stone is
put in its place, an annotation is made over the diagram of the board
with a reference to that intersection, stating that such a stone has
been taken in “Ko.” Such a method with the necessary marginal
annotation is good enough, but it is very hard to follow, as there is
no means of telling where any stone is without searching all over the
board for it; and while the Japanese are very clever at this,
Occidental students of the game do not find it so easy. Therefore, I
have adopted the method suggested by Korschelt, which in turn is
founded on the custom of Chess annotation in use all over the world.
The lines at the bottom of the board are lettered from A to T, the
letter I being omitted, and at the sides of the board they are numbered
up from 1 to 19. Thus it is always easy to locate any given stone. In
the last few years the Japanese have commenced to adopt an analogous
method of notation.
V
ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES
I
Plate 14
White.—Iwasa Kei, fifth degree.
Black.—Madame Tsutsuki Yoneko, second degree.
Black has a handicap of two stones.
Played about October, 1906. The record is from the “Tokio Nichi Nichi.”
Played about October, 1906. The record is from the “Tokio Nichi Nichi.”
This game is selected because it is very thoroughly played out. The
notes are intended for beginners, and much is stated which is obvious
to a player of any skill; supplementing the explanations made in the
preceding chapter the Japanese names of the various moves are given.
WHITE BLACK
1. C 15. A rather unusual 2. R 4. Called “Komoku,” the
move called “Moku most usual and most
hadzushi.” As will be seen conservative method of
in the chapter on commencing the corner
“Joseki,” it is the least play.
conservative of the three
usual openings.
3. P 3. 4. Q 5. Intended to attack
No. 3, and also it
commences to make
territory on the right
side of the board.
5. D 17. This move secures 6. O 4. Continues the attack
this corner for White. on No. 3.
7. N 3. (“Ikken tobi”) M 3 8. R 10. Black tries to make
would be too far. territory on the right
side.
9. F 3. (“Kogeima.”) This is 10. C 7. (“Ogeima.”) This is
the usual move. the usual reply. See the
chapter on “Joseki.”
11. C 3. 12. D 3. Cutting off No. 11.
13. C 4. (“Nobiru.”) Giving 14. D 5.
aid to No. 11.
15. C 5. 16. C 6. (“Osaeru.”) Black
could not do this before.
17. D 2. 18. E 2.
19. C 2. (“Tsugu.”) This move 20. E 3. (“Tsugu.”) White now
is necessary. has the corner, but Black
has possibilities of
expansion.
21. F 4. Supporting No. 9. 22. E 6. Connecting and at the
“Ikken tobi” would be same time attacking White.
dangerous.
23. G 6. 24. C 11. Making territory on
the left side of the
board.
25. K 17. Aiming to make 26. L 3. Precipitate.
territory at the top of
the board. Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“Black’s twenty-sixth move
is premature, and it has
the effect of
precipitating the contest
too early in the game. The
territory around that
point is dangerous ground
for Black. N 17 would have
been better.”
27. N 4. This is necessary to 28. L 5. Leading out toward
lead out the stone at N 3. the center. (“Ikken taka
“Ikken tobi” would be tobi.”)
dangerous.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“Black should have played
at H 4. White would then
play at F 2, and Black
would reply at E 1.”
29. O 5. 30. H 3. Taking territory.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“Black should still play
at H 4.”
31. F 2. Preventing the 32. F 1. (“Haneru.”)
connection of the two
Black groups.
33. G 1. 34. E 1. (“Tsugu.”) This
series of moves is
necessary and often occurs
in the game.
35. H 2. Protecting the 36. J 3. Black must connect,
connection at G 2. otherwise the stone at H 3
is lost.
37. F 6. 38. F 8. Aiming to make
territory.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“This move does not hit
the spot. It should have
been played at L 7.”
39. G 8. This move prevents 40. G 9.
White from being shut in.
41. H 8. (“Nobiru.”) 42. F 7. Black completes his
frontier.
43. G 7. Necessary to connect. 44. F 10. This secures the
connection at F 9, and at
the same time extends.
45. K 4. White threatens to 46. L 4.
break through in two
places.
47. H 9. 48. L 7. Leading out the
stones on line L, which
are now threatened.
49. G 11. This connects 50. Q 3.
White’s groups and
prevents Black from
extending.
51. P 4. 52. Q 7. Making territory on
the right and at the same
time attacking White’s
five stones.
53. M 6. This move gives White 54. L 6. Black must connect.
the “Sente.”
55. P 7. Leading out the small 56. N 8. A dangerous move.
White group.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“This move may be called a
little dangerous. P 6
would have been
preferable, and if White
responds at O 8 or O 7,
Black could reply at L 9.”
57. P 8. 58. P 6.
59. O 6. 60. O 7. (“Kiru.”) Cutting off
connection of the white
groups.
61. M 2. Since White is cut 62. K 9. Black sees that White
off at O 7, he must form can form the necessary two
“Me” in this group. “Me,” and therefore does
not press the attack.
63. Q 8. 64. R 7. Black must extend in
this way.
65. R 8. 66. S 8. (“Osaeru.”)
67. S 9. 68. S 7. (“Tsugu.”) The usual
series of moves.
69. P 5. (“Atari.”) 70. Q 6.
71. Q 10. 72. Q 11.
73. R 9. 74. P 10. (“Sente.”)
75. O 10. White must sacrifice 76. S 10.
No. 71 in order to escape.
77. N 9. 78. M 8.
79. P 9. 80. Q 9. Takes. This is “Ko.”
81. T 10. (“Haneru.”) 82. T 11. (“Osaeru.”)
83. Q 10. Taking in “Ko.” 84. P 11. (“Tsugu.”) Black
must play here to save the
frontier.
85. T 9. Saving the stone at T 86. R 11. Black cannot neglect
10. to play here.
87. O 11. 88. L 11.
89. L 10. 90. K 10.
91. Q 3. White must break up 92. P 12.
Black’s territory in the
upper right-hand corner.
93. M 11. White retreats. 94. M 10.
95. L 12. 96. L 9. Takes. White has
escaped by means of
sacrificing one stone.
97. P 13. 98. O 12.
99. N 12. 100. O 13.
101. S 12. (“Nozoku.”) 102. K 12.
103. O 14. 104. N 13. (“Shicho.”)
105. L 13. 106. P 14. Cuts White off.
107. P 15. 108. Q 14.
109. Q 15. 110. R 14.
111. R 15. 112. S 14. All these last moves
are obviously necessary.
113. O 15. Connecting. 114. S 15.
115. R 16. 116. M 14.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“This move is a mistake;
it should have been played
at M 15.”
117. K 14. White’s stones in 118. M 16.
the upper left-hand corner
are now connected.
119. G 10. A defensive move. 120. F 9. (“Tsugu.”)
White attempts to get all
his stones in one group.
121. J 12. Protects the 122. J 11.
connection at H 10.
123. J 13. 124. N 10. Protecting the “Me”
at L 10. K 11 is “Kageme.”
125. N 11. 126. O 17.
127. L 15. 128. M 15. White’s situation in
the upper right-hand
corner looks very bad at
this point.
129. Q 17. 130. R 18. A better move than Q
16.
131. N 17. 132. N 18.
133. Q 18. 134. S 17.
135. M 17. 136. N 16. White is prevented
from connecting.
137. M 18. 138. M 13. Threatening White’s
other connection.
139. M 12. White must connect. 140. P 18. To an inexpert eye
White’s group in the upper
right-hand corner now
looks hopeless.
141. Q 19. This is to prevent 142. O 16. Black must play here
“Watari.” to protect his four
stones.
143. S 16. 144. T 16. (“Watari.”)
145. T 15. A sacrifice to 146. T 14. Black must take the
prevent Black from forming stone.
“Me.”
147. R 13. The condition in 148. S 13.
this corner of the board
is now a fine example of
“Semeai.”
149. S 18. 150. T 18.
151. S 19. The situation is now 152. R 12. White’s sacrifice at
highly interesting. T 15 is now bearing fruit.
153. R 17. 154. T 17. Neither side can
play at T 19 without loss.
155. P 16. Takes. Forming a 156. C 13. Increasing Black’s
perfect “Me,” the other territory.
being at R 18. The play in
this corner is now
complete.
157. B 5. Protecting the 158. G 13.
corner.
159. H 11. 160. L 16.
161. K 16. 162. F 15. Extending Black’s
frontiers.
163. F 17. 164. J 15.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“Black’s moves 164 and 166
are both useless. At move
164 Black should have
played at D 15.”
165. H 16. 166. G 16.
167. H 15. 168. D 15.
169. D 16. 170. D 14.
171. G 15. 172. B 15.
173. B 16. 174. C 14. Completing the
frontier.
175. P 2. 176. Q 2.
177. Q 1. 178. R 1.
179. P 1. 180. R 2. The usual series of
moves in such a situation.
181. C 16. We might say that 182. J 2.
the end game commences at
about this point.
183. L 2. 184. K 3.
185. A 7. 186. F 16.
187. G 17. 188. F 13. The stone at G 13
needs support.
189. H 13. A very good move to 190. A 8. Stopping White’s
protect White’s group. invasion.
191. B 6. 192. B 7.
193. A 6. 194. B 8. The usual moves.
195. B 14. 196. B 13.
197. A 15. Takes. 198. L 17.
199. L 18. Completing the 200. M 19.
frontier.
201. K 18. 202. J 6. All the rest of the
board is practically
finished.
203. F 11. 204. E 11.
205. E 16. 206. E 15.
207. H 14. 208. G 14.
209. E 5. 210. E 12.
211. H 5. 212. J 5.
213. H 4. 214. J 4.
215. G 3. 216. J 9.
Comment by Honinbo Shuye:
“This move is
unprofitable. Had Black
played at J 8, a very good
profit would have been
secured.”
217. J 8. 218. E 4.
219. F 5. 220. D 1.
221. C 1. 222. D 6. Black must connect.
223. O 9. 224. M 9.
225. K 13. 226. K 11.
227. J 7. 228. H 6.
229. H 10. 230. G 12.
231. H 12. 232. K 7.
233. N 7. 234. O 8.
235. S 5. By sacrificing one 236. Q 4.
stone White forces Black
to fill two spaces.
237. T 8. 238. T 7.
239. J 1. 240. K 2.
241. K 1. 242. A 13.
243. L 19. 244. N 19.
245. P 19. 246. O 18.
247. A 14. 248. L 14.
249. K 15. 250. M 5.
251. N 5. 252. K 8.
253. Q 9. (“Ko tsugu.”)
Here the game is left as finished in the published report, but the
remaining moves are not all strictly speaking “Dame.” There are quite a
number of moves to be made before we can proceed to the count. The
first question is, naturally, what stones are dead, and we find that
White has three dead stones at S 12, S 5, and K 4. Black has three dead
stones at J 15, O 4, and R 18. The white stones at P, Q, and R 13, are
not dead yet. They have aggressive possibilities, and must be actually
surrounded. As near as we can judge the game would proceed as follows:
First: Necessary although obvious moves which are not strictly “Dame.”
WHITE BLACK
254. Q 12. The three white
stones must be taken
before Black is safe.
255. R 19. White must take this 256. T 15. A necessary
before filling T 19. connection.
257. N 6. Necessary to form
connection.
Second: The following moves which are strictly “Dame.” It makes no
difference which side fills these intersections, but it would generally
be done as follows:
WHITE BLACK
258. T 19.
259. O 19. 260. P 17.
261. N 15. 262. N 14.
263. F 12. 264. J 10.
265. H 7. 266. M 7.
267. M 4. 268. M 3.
The frontiers are now absolutely in contact, and the count can be made,
and it will be seen that after filling up the vacant territory with the
captured stones as far as they will go, Black has won by three points.
The Japanese would rearrange the board in order to make the counting of
the spaces more easy (“Me wo tsukuru”), but for the first game or two
the beginner might find it less confusing to omit this process.
Honinbo Shuye comments on this game as follows:
“In spite of so many errors, Black wins showing how great is the
advantage resulting from a handicap.”
II
Plate 15
White.—Murase Shuho, seventh degree.
Black.—Uchigaki Sutekichi, fifth degree.
This game is taken from Korschelt, and the notes are his. In some of
these notes will be found mere repetitions of matter that I have
inserted in the preceding chapters, or which will be hereafter found in
the chapter on “Joseki.” These notes are, however, very full and
valuable, and a little repetition may have the effect of aiding the
memory of the student, and will do no harm. Contrary to the custom,
this game was played without handicaps.
BLACK WHITE
1. R 16. In the beginning of 2. D 17.
the game the corners and
margins are first
occupied, because it is
there that positions can
most easily be taken which
cannot be killed, and
which also contain
territory. From the edges
and corners the player
makes toward the center.
This process is repeated
in every game.
3. Q 3. In taking a corner 4. P 17. The attack could
that is still vacant there also be commenced at P 16.
is a choice among seven
points; e.g., in the
corner designated as D 4,
these points are D 3, D 4,
D 5, C 4, C 5, E 3, and E
4. On the other hand, C 3
and E 5 are bad, because
the territory which is
obtained by C 3 is too
small, and the adversary
would reply to E 5 with D
4, by means of which E 5
would be cut off from the
margin. Of moves that are
good D 3-C 4 are the
surest, and most
frequently used. E 4-D 5
formerly were the favorite
moves, but the preceding
moves are now preferred to
them. E 3-C 5 are seldom
used. All of this, of
course, applies to the
corresponding points in
the other three corners.
5. C 4. 6. Q 6. Corresponding to No.
4, this move should have
been played at R 5 or Q 5,
but White plays on Q 6,
because if he played on Q
5, Black would have
replied at R 10 or R 9,
and later White P 5 and
Black O 4 would have
followed, with the result
that White has nothing,
while Black has obtained
two positions, one on O-Q
and the other on R.
7. O 4. Beginners would have 8. D 15. The position D 15–D
replied to Q 6 with Q 5 or 17 is very strong, and
R 5. They attack their players like to take it.
opponent at close quarters This applies, of course,
from the beginning, to the corresponding
because they cannot take positions in other parts
in the whole field at a of the board, of which
glance. Their entire there are seven; i.e., C
effort is to absorb the 16–E 16, Q 3–Q 5, etc. As
last stone that their soon as one player gets a
opponent has played. When position of the kind his
two beginners play opponent often takes a
together the battle moves similar position on the
slowly from a corner out next move in order to
over the board, and one balance the advantage
side of the board is gained by his adversary;
entirely filled with this is something like
stones, while the other is castling in Chess.
completely empty. This is
a sure sign of bad play.
In the beginning the good
players spread their
stones over the board as
much as possible, and
avoid close conflicts.
9. E 4. 10. C 10. If White did not
occupy this point, we
might have the following
continuation:
B. C 10 W. C 7
B. C 13 W. E 7
and Black has the
advantage, because White’s
stones at C 7-E 7 can only
get one “Me” on the edge
of the board, and later on
must seek a connection
with some other group. By
constantly harassing such
endangered groups
territory is often
obtained.
11. R 13. In place of taking 12. C 5. White sees that Black
this secure position on plays too carefully, and
line R, Black should have therefore challenges him
attacked the white stone with a bold but premature
on P 17 with L 17, and in attack that gives the
this way Black would have whole game its character.
obtained positions on both
line 17 and on line R.
13. D 5. 14. C 6.
15. B 4. 16. D 6.
17. E 6. 18. E 7.
19. F 6. 20. H 3. As soon as Black
answers this move, White
will take territory on the
right or left of H 3.
21. G 2. Is played very 22. M 3. Two stones which
carefully. K 3 would mutually support each
probably have been better. other on the margin of the
In that case White would board and form a position
either have played H 5 in cannot be separated by
order to save H 3, more than two spaces; for
whereupon instance, R 13–R 16. In
that case the adversary
B. F 7 W. E 8 cannot cut one off from
B. K 5 the other. (Korschelt here
inserts continuations
would have followed, or similar to what we have
White would have answered shown in a preceding
at K 4. chapter.) Therefore,
White’s twentieth and
twenty-second moves are
merely intended to fill
territory that would
otherwise fall to Black,
and are not intended to
form a new group.
23. H 2. The only correct 24. M 5. White seeks to form a
answer would have been K connection with No. 6,
3, which would have which Black frustrates by
separated White’s his twenty-fifth move. It
twentieth and is of the greatest
twenty-second stones. importance to prevent the
union of groups which the
adversary has formed on
the margin, in order that
they may remain weak, and
require continuous
defense.
The player who has the
“Sente” most of the time
will generally be the
victor.
25. O 6. 26. Q 9. Is very necessary in
order not to surrender the
entire right side to
Black.
27. K 17. All good players 28. H 17. This move has the
agree that 27 should not effect of abandoning stone
have been played at K 17, No. 4 at P 17. After
but at L 17. This is Black’s twenty-ninth move
difficult to understand at N 17, No. 4 could still
because K 17 can be escape by means of P 15,
supported from both sides but giving it up brings
at G 17 and N 17, but L 17 more territory elsewhere
is better because Black than is there lost. It is
should be occupied not a favorite device of
merely with taking a strong players to
position, but more apparently abandon a
particularly with killing position to their
White’s fourth stone. In adversary after first
the sequel K 17 is preparing it so that
actually taken by White. eventually it may live, or
so that it may afterward
aid in surrounding one of
the adversary’s groups.
The abandoned position
often reawakens to life if
the weaker adversary
allows his surrounding
group to be itself
surrounded and taken
before the capture of the
abandoned position has
been completed.
29. N 17. 30. F 7.
31. G 7. 32. K 3. It might have been
better to have played at G
8. Then if Black replied
at H 7, White could play
at C 10, and the white
territory in the
neighborhood of line D
would be very large.
Certainly in that case H 3
would have been abandoned,
but not M 3-M 5. Since 32
K 3 is purely defensive,
Black gets the attack, and
appreciably reduces the
white territory in the
neighborhood of line D.
33. D 8. 34. D 7.
35. D 11. 36. C 11.
37. D 12. 38. C 12.
39. D 13. 40. C 13.
41. G 9. 42. G 6. If this move had not
divided the black groups,
Black would have become
too powerful.
43. H 7. 44. E 9. This connects the two
parts of the White
position, which connection
was threatened by Black’s
thirty-third stone.
Moreover, the “Sente”
remains with White,
because Black cannot allow
his position to be broken
into through F 10.
45. G 12. 46. Q 14.
47. R 14. 48. R 17.
49. S 17. 50. Q 16.
51. R 15. 52. R 11. The beginner will
wonder that 52 Q 15 did
not follow 51 R 15. This
is because 53 R 10–54 R 9
would result, and White
would be at a
disadvantage. The moves
46–52 are part of a deeply
thought-out plan on the
part of White. Black could
afford to ignore No. 4 as
long as it stood alone.
Thereupon White increases
it by Nos. 48 and 50, and
Black must accept the
sacrifice, because
otherwise Nos. 27–29 are
threatened. By this
sacrifice White gets the
territory around No. 27,
and also has an
opportunity of increasing
his position on line Q by
his fifty-second move.
53. O 16. 54. M 16. On the fifty-third
move Black proceeds with
the capture of Nos. 4, 48,
and 50, while White on his
fifty-fourth move hems in
No. 27.
55. H 16. This move is ignored 56. M 17.
by White because Black
must reply to his
fifty-sixth and
fifty-eighth moves in
order to save Nos. 29 and
53.
57. N 18. 58. M 18.
59. Q 15. 60. J 17.
61. J 16. 62. K 18.
63. E 16. 64. D 16.
65. G 17. 66. K 16.
67. P 16. This is necessary to 68. K 15.
avoid the following
continuation:
W. P 16, O 15, N 16, O 14
B. P 15, N 15, O 17, P 18
and White has the
advantage.
69. D 14. 70. C 14.
71. R 5. 72. R 6.
73. E 15. It is of the utmost 74. Q 5. Murase Shuho thought
importance to Black to that 74 was a bad move and
occupy this point, for that S 5 would have been
otherwise White would better. The game would
press far into his then have continued as
territory through this follows:
opening. He goes first,
however, on his B. 73. E 15, R 4
seventy-first move to R 5, W. S 5, S 4
because White must follow,
and then to 73, because on He also thought that
this move he loses the White’s moves from 76–82
“Sente.” Black could also were bad, because nothing
have occupied S 5, to in particular was
which White would have accomplished by separating
replied with S 6, because O 4 from O 6, since it was
otherwise the following impossible to kill them.
continuation would have
occurred:
B. S 5, S 6, S 8, R 8, Q 8
W. E 15, S 7, T 7, R 7
and the White position is
broken up. It is because
Black played at E 15 too
hastily and without first
occupying S 5 that White
can break up the Black
position by the series of
moves Nos. 74–82.
75. S 5. 76. Q 4.
77. R 3. 78. P 3.
79. P 2. 80. O 3.
81. O 2. 82. P 4.
83. N 8. 84. L 8.
85. O 10. 86. F 3.
87. G 3. 88. F 4.
89. E 3. 90. G 5.
91. E 5. Black has played on 92. J 6.
this point because
otherwise E 6–F 6 will
die; thus,
W. E 5, B. F 5 takes
W. E 5 retakes
93. G 4. This is intended to 94. H 14. From this point on,
secure H 2, G 2 and G 3. the territory in the
The simplest way of doing center is filled up. Black
this would be to play at F and White seem to get it
2, but G 4 gains six more in about equal parts.
“Me” because F 3–F 4 may
be regarded as taken.
95. L 10. 96. J 11.
97. H 11. 98. F 14.
99. E 14. 100. H 10.
101. G 10. 102. H 12.
103. G 11. 104. O 8.
105. Q 10. 106. R 10.
107. P 8. 108. P 9.
109. O 9. 110. O 7.
111. P 10. 112. R 8.
113. N 7. 114. P 7.
115. L 9. 116. K 8.
117. J 9. 118. K 12.
119. J 10. 120. N 6.
121. A 7. This move is worthy 122. B 7.
of study.
123. N 2. 124. J 5.
125. E 18. 126. D 18.
127. G 18. 128. G 13.
129. M 12. 130. F 12.
131. F 11. 132. E 10.
133. E 11. 134. S 12.
135. S 13. 136. N 14.
137. L 12. 138. L 13.
139. M 13. 140. L 14.
141. K 11. 142. J 12.
143. A 6. 144. A 8.
145. B 5. 146. B 6.
147. A 5. 148. B 8.
149. S 6. 150. S 7.
151. M 8. 152. M 6. Not at M 7, because
that would lead to the
loss of K 8–L 8.
153. D 19. 154. C 19.
155. E 19. 156. C 18.
157. N 3. 158. N 4.
159. L 2. 160. L 3.
161. K 2. 162. F 5.
163. F 2. 164. E 17.
165. F 17. 166. H 19.
167. H 18. 168. J 18.
169. G 19. 170. P 14.
171. P 15. 172. N 19.
173. O 19. 174. M 19.
175. O 17. 176. R 4.
177. S 4. 178. T 6.
179. R 12. 180. S 11.
181. O 13. 182. O 14.
183. P 13.
This is as far as the game is recorded in the Go magazine, published by
Murase Shuho. A good player can now foresee the result at the cost of a
little trouble. Black has won by five points.
According to Korschelt’s view, the play would have proceeded as
follows:
BLACK WHITE
184. T 5.
185. T 4. 186. T 7.
187. S 3. 188. G 15.
189. G 16. 190. J 8.
191. H 8. 192. N 13.
193. N 12. 194. M 14.
195. J 7. 196. K 7.
197. F 8. 198. E 8.
199. D 10. 200. D 9.
201. J 15. 202. J 14.
203. J 19. Takes. 204. K 19.
205. Q 11. 206. F 15.
207. F 16. 208. J 2.
209. J 1. 210. J 3.
211. M 7. 212. L 7.
213. H 4. 214. J 4.
215. N 15. 216. K 9.
217. K 10. 218. M 2.
219. M 1. 220. Q 13.
221. M 15. 222. L 15.
223. F 9. 224. Q 12.
225. P 12. 226. T 13.
227. T 14. 228. T 12.
229. H 19.
The stones that are still to be played are “Dame.” By playing these no
“Me” can be either won or lost, and for the most part it makes no
difference whether they are filled up by Black or White. These are as
follows:
O 15, N 16, H 5, H 6, F 13, E 13, H 5, H 15, F 10, E 13 E 12, H 15, F
10.
Black has sixty-four “Me” and White fifty-seven “Me.”
III
Black.—Ito Kotaro, fifth degree.
White.—Karigane Junichi, sixth degree.
This game was played in Tokio about January, 1907, and is a fine
illustration of the rule of “Ko.” No handicaps were given.
BLACK WHITE
1. C 4. (“Komoku.”) Black 2. Q 3.
being the weaker player,
adopts a conservative
opening.
3. D 17. 4. C 15.
5. E 3. The opening is 6. C 9. This is an unusual
conventional so far. move.
7. F 16. 8. C 17.
9. C 18. 10. D 16.
11. E 17. 12. Q 17.
13. R 15. 14. R 6.
15. R 11. 16. K 3.
17. N 17. 18. D 12. Not the best move. P
16 would have been better.
This part of the game is
generally devoted to the
general distribution of
stones.
19. P 16. White’s stone at Q 20. P 17.
17 is now shut in. If the
black stone at N 17 were
at M 17, White could have
escaped.
21. O 17. 22. S 16.
23. R 16. 24. R 17.
25. S 15. 26. S 17.
27. P 18. 28. Q 18.
29. O 19. Probably not the 30. S 19. The corner is a
best. O 15 would have had typical Go problem. White
greater possibilities. had to place this stone
very carefully in order to
provide for the necessary
two “Me.”
31. J 16. Not the best. O 15 32. Q 16.
would have been better.
33. Q 15. 34. P 15. Cutting Black’s
connection. The necessity
for a black stone at O 15
is now apparent.
35. O 16. 36. P 14.
37. R 13. 38. Q 12.
39. Q 11. 40. P 12.
41. P 11. 42. M 13.
43. R 8. Not the best move. N 44. K 16. White now commences
11 would have been more a series of moves to break
aggressive. up Black’s territory at
the top of the board.
45. K 17. 46. L 17.
47. L 16. 48. K 15.
49. L 15. 50. J 17.
51. K 18. 52. H 17.
53. L 18. 54. J 15.
55. H 16. 56. G 16.
57. H 15. 58. G 15.
59. H 14. 60. G 17.
61. J 13. 62. O 11.
63. O 10. 64. N 11.
65. N 10. 66. M 11.
67. K 12. An ineffective move; 68. B 17.
B 17 would have been
better.
69. B 18. 70. F 15.
71. F 18. Black must defend 72. A 18.
his corner, which is
already much reduced in
size.
73. G 19. 74. L 14.
75. K 14. The three white 76. M 15.
stones, J 15, K 15, and K
16 are dead. They were
sacrificed in order to
break up Black’s territory
at the top of the board.
77. M 16. 78. Q 8.
79. Q 7. 80. R 7.
81. P 8. 82. S 8.
83. Q 9. Takes. 84. R 9.
85. O 13. An effort to deprive 86. O 14.
the white group of the
necessary “Me” and to
envelop them.
87. N 13. 88. N 14.
89. L 10. 90. L 11.
91. K 10. K 11 would not do; 92. R 12.
White could break through
in that case.
93. S 12. 94. Q 13.
95. S 10. 96. R 14.
97. S 14. 98. S 13. Takes.
99. T 13. “Watari.” 100. L 12.
101. N 12. 102. M 10.
103. M 9. 104. K 11.
105. J 11. White is now shut 106. O 12. White saves his
in. group in this way because
he can get the position
called “Magari shimoku wa
me” no matter what Black
does.
107. R 4. 108. Q 4.
109. R 3. 110. R 2.
111. S 2. 112. Q 2.
113. S 5. 114. Q 6.
115. S 1. Black’s corner is 116. Q 8. Takes. “Ko.”
small, but it will surely
live.
117. P 7. 118. P 9.
119. R 8. “Ko.” 120. T 3. An effort to destroy
the corner.
121. S 3. 122. Q 8. “Ko.”
123. P 10. 124. N 4. White eventually wins
the game by means of the
territory he now maps out.
125. E 16. 126. E 15.
127. D 14. “Nozoku.” 128. D 15.
129. C 7. 130. J 10.
131. L 8. 132. H 11.
133. J 12. 134. J 9.
135. G 11. Not very good. Black 136. N 8.
should have played at K 8.
137. N 9. 138. K 8.
139. L 9. Black must play here 140. B 4.
to protect his two stones.
141. B 3. 142. D 4.
143. C 3. 144. C 5.
145. C 6. An unusual way of 146. N 6.
playing the corner.
147. L 6. 148. K 5.
149. K 6. 150. J 5.
151. J 6. 152. H 6.
153. H 7. 154. G 10.
155. F 11. 156. G 7.
157. G 6. 158. H 5.
159. G 8. 160. F 7.
161. F 8. 162. H 8.
163. J 7. Note how the center 164. F 10.
fills up without either
side getting territory
there.
165. E 8. 166. E 7.
167. E 11. 168. E 10.
169. D 11. 170. D 8.
171. D 7. 172. F 5.
173. E 5. 174. F 6.
175. C 14. 176. M 7.
177. R 8. “Ko.” A weak move. 178. B 14. White’s group is now
White’s position is safe.
already better, and Black
should play at B 14, where
he might have a chance to
kill White’s group, in the
upper left-hand corner.
179. B 13. 180. A 14.
181. C 12. 182. B 16. This is an
interesting problem. If
White plays at B 15, Black
could kill the group.
183. L 7. 184. D 5.
185. C 8. 186. D 9.
187. B 5. 188. B 6.
189. A 4. Takes. 190. D 6.
191. B 7. 192. B 8.
193. A 6. Takes. 194. F 2. Defending his large
territory on the lower
edge of the board.
195. E 4. 196. Q 8. “Ko.” Attacking
Black’s group which has
still to form the
necessary two “Me.”
197. J 8. 198. H 9. White cannot afford
to fill the “Ko” at R 8.
199. R 8. “Ko.” 200. G 18.
201. H 19. 202. Q 8. “Ko.” Returning to
the attack.
203. O 9. Takes. 204. E 6. A necessary
connection.
205. G 4. Invading White’s 206. G 5. Takes. White must do
territory. this or lose ten stones.
207. E 2. 208. G 3.
209. P 6. 210. P 5.
211. M 5. 212. N 5.
213. M 4. 214. M 3. This ends Black’s
invasion.
215. F 4. 216. Q 14.
217. R 13. “Ko.” 218. B 19. “Sente.”
219. D 18. Black must connect. 220. S 13. “Ko.”
221. R 5. 222. Q 5.
223. R 13. “Ko.” Black must win 224. J 18.
this “Ko” or lose five
stones.
225. J 19. 226. S 13. “Ko.”
227. L 4. “Sente.” 228. L 3.
229. R 13. “Ko.” Black’s group 230. H 12.
is now safe.
231. S 13. “Ko tsugu.” 232. E 13.
233. B 10. 234. B 9.
235. F 13. 236. E 14.
237. G 14. 238. H 3.
239. S 6. 240. D 3.
241. D 2. 242. C 10.
243. C 11. 244. B 11.
245. R 8. “Ko.” 246. M 6.
247. L 5. 248. Q 8. “Ko.”
249. R 1. 250. Q 1.
251. R 8. “Ko.” 252. S 7.
253. S 9. 254. Q 8. “Ko.”
255. E 12. 256. D 13.
257. R 8. “Ko.” 258. G 12. “Sente.”
259. F 12. 260. Q 8. “Ko.”
261. F 3. 262. G 2.
263. R 8. “Ko.” 264. T 4.
265. T 2. Black must defend his 266. Q 8. “Ko.”
group.
267. T 16. 268. T 17.
269. R 8. “Ko.” 270. T 6.
271. T 5. Black must stop the 272. Q 8. “Ko.”
White advance.
273. Q 19. 274. R 19.
275. R 8. “Ko.” 276. P 19. “Ko.”
277. O 18. 278. Q 8. “Ko.”
279. S 18. If Black can also 280. T 18.
play at T 19, White’s
corner is dead.
281. R 8. “Ko.” 282. N 15.
283. L 13. Purposely starting 284. K 13. “Ko.”
another “Ko.”
285. B 12. 286. L 13. “Ko tsugu.”
287. A 11. Takes. 288. Q 8. “Ko.”
289. C 13. 290. R 8. “Ko tsugu.”
291. K 9. Black must form 292. O 6.
another “Me” for this
group at once.
293. J 4. 294. H 4.
295. K 4. 296. C 2.
297. B 2. 298. E 1.
299. C 1. Takes. 300. J 3.
301. T 9. The game is 302. N 16.
practically over at this
point.
303. J 14. Taking three stones. 304. O 8.
305. T 19. Takes. 306. O 7.
307. P 9. Connecting. 308. T 15. Takes.
309. T 8. 310. C 19.
311. F 17. 312. A 13.
313. A 12. 314. A 17.
315. D 19. 316. A 19.
317. R 10. 318. A 9.
319. A 10. 320. Q 19. “Ko tsugu.”
321. A 7.
The game as published ends at this point, but there still remain moves
to be made that are not strictly “Dame.” White must kill the three
black stones at E 8, F 8, and G 8, as that portion of the board is not
quite disposed of, and “Seki” might easily occur if White plays badly.
The game might continue as follows:
BLACK WHITE
322. F 1.
323. G 13. 324. E 9.
325. H 13. 326. H 10. White must connect.
327. A 8. 328. F 9.
329. D 10. 330. G 9. White must take the
three stones.
331. D 1. Stopping White’s 332. T 16. “Tsugu.”
advance.
The following moves are strictly “Dame”: F 14, H 18, M 8, O 15, T 14.
Either side can fill these “Me.”
The following stones are dead and can now be removed:
White.—K 8, L 17, T 3, T 4. Black.—N 12, N 13, O 13, S 18.
White wins by four stones. After the dead stones are used to fill up
the vacant spaces, and the board is rearranged, it will be found that
White has fourteen “Me” and Black ten “Me.”
More than the usual number of moves were made in this game.
IV
Plate 16
White.—Hirose Heijiro, fifth degree.
Black.—Nagano Keijiro, fourth degree.
Black has a handicap of two stones. (D 4 and Q 16.)
Played March, 1907, in Tokio. Both players were of the Hoyensha School.
When this game was published, it was annotated by Mr. Iwasaki Kenzo,
and I have translated his annotations; these are indicated by the
initials “I. K.”
WHITE BLACK
1. R 4. 2. C 16.
3. E 17. 4. D 15.
5. C 11. To prevent Black 6. C 7. P 3 would have been
forming territory on the better. (Iwasaki Kenzo.)
left side.
7. O 3. 8. R 10. This move is called
“Moku Shita.” It is one of
Murase Shuho’s inventions.
9. R 14. White breaks into 10. R 6.
Black’s territory at once.
11. O 17. 12. O 16. These moves will be
found in the chapter on
“Joseki.”
13. N 16. 14. O 15.
15. P 17. 16. Q 17.
17. Q 13. White must look out 18. R 15. This move secures
for the stone at R 14. the corner, and at the
same time protects the
connection of Black’s
stones on lines O and Q.
“Ikkyo ryo toku.”
19. O 13. 20. N 14.
21. L 17. Replies to Black’s 22. Q 14.
last move.
23. S 14. 24. F 16.
25. G 17. 26. S 15. Secures the corner.
27. P 10. 28. Q 8. P 6 would have been
better. (I. K.)
29. C 14. 30. D 14.
31. C 13. 32. D 12. Not the best move. M
3 would have been better.
(I. K.)
33. D 11. 34. E 12.
35. E 11. 36. F 11.
37. F 12. White cuts off. This 38. F 13. G 14 would have been
is an aggressive move. better. (I. K.)
39. G 12. 40. F 10.
41. G 13. 42. F 14.
43. D 8. White provides an 44. H 15. H 14 was better, as
escape for stones on line White dare not cut off at
11. G 14. (I. K.)
45. H 10. 46. F 8.
47. D 7. 48. C 6.
49. D 6. 50. D 5.
51. F 6. 52. H 9. Black must provide an
exit for his stones on
line E.
53. J 10. White cannot risk 54. H 8.
jumping farther.
55. H 17. Not good. K 8 would 56. K 8. Black promptly
have been better. (I. K.) escapes.
57. C 8. Good, but not the 58. L 10. Black commences an
best. M 12 would have attack on White’s five
helped the white stones stones.
near the center.
59. J 14. White retreats. 60. J 15.
61. L 14. 62. L 15.
63. L 12. 64. J 12. This is a “Sute
ishi,” but it greatly aids
Black’s attack.
65. K 12. Not a good move. By 66. K 15.
reason of this Black’s
sixty-eighth move is made
possible. (I. K.)
67. J 13. Another move which 68. K 17. Attacks White’s
arrests the development of stones at the top of the
the game. (I. K.) board.
69. K 18. 70. L 18.
71. J 17. 72. M 17.
73. K 16. Takes. 74. L 16. Black’s attack on
the upper right-hand
corner is now well
developed.
75. P 8. White abandons the 76. P 7.
field and plays elsewhere.
77. O 8. 78. H 5.
79. F 4. 80. H 3.
81. F 2. 82. D 2.
83. F 7. White perfects his 84. M 3.
connection.
85. Q 9. 86. R 9.
87. Q 7. 88. R 8.
89. P 6. 90. M 5. Black enlarges his
territory at the bottom of
the board.
91. O 7. Takes. 92. S 5. Forming “Me” for the
side group.
93. C 18. Stronger than C 17. 94. K 17. Takes in “Ko.”
95. S 4. 96. R 12.
97. P 14. 98. Q 15.
99. R 13. 100. T 4.
101. L 17. Takes in “Ko.” 102. M 18.
103. K 3. Invading Black’s 104. L 4.
territory. White can
connect on either side.
105. H 2. 106. G 3.
107. J 3. 108. J 4.
109. G 2. 110. M 7.
111. E 2. 112. C 3. If Black plays at D
3, White could reply at D
1 with the “Sente.”
113. L 8. Threatening Black’s 114. K 9.
territory. If Black
defends, White can connect
somewhere.
115. J 6. 116. H 6.
117. L 6. White’s attack on 118. L 7.
this territory is very
fine.
119. K 4. 120. K 5.
121. J 5. 122. K 6.
123. H 4. Takes. 124. S 3.
125. R 3. 126. S 2.
127. J 7. 128. M 9. Black cannot neglect
this—the whole center of
the board might be lost.
129. R 2. 130. H 7.
131. T 15. 132. S 17. Better than T 16, as
it provides for “Me” in
the corner.
133. S 12. 134. S 11.
135. L 19. 136. K 17. Takes in “Ko.”
137. N 9. 138. N 8.
139. L 17. Takes in “Ko.” 140. M 16.
141. N 7. 142. M 8.
143. B 17. 144. B 16.
145. B 8. 146. M 12. Threatening to
surround the ten white
stones in the center.
147. E 9. 148. F 9.
149. K 14. Forming “Me” for 150. G 11.
group in center.
151. H 11. 152. H 14.
153. M 11. 154. H 13.
155. H 12. 156. M 13.
157. L 11. 158. S 1. This move is worth
five or six points.
159. B 6. B 5 might have been 160. B 5.
more aggressive.
161. B 7. 162. C 5.
163. N 5. 164. N 6.
165. N 4. 166. L 2.
167. N 2. 168. M 2. Otherwise White would
play at L 3.
169. G 5. 170. A 13. This stone is
connected with stone at B
16. This move often
occurs.
171. B 12. 172. D 17.
173. E 18. 174. Q 12.
175. P 12. 176. T 16.
177. E 16. 178. E 15.
179. R 5. 180. S 7.
181. R 1. 182. Q 6.
183. Q 5. This part of the 184. M 19.
board is now completed.
185. A 5. 186. A 4.
187. A 6. 188. B 4.
189. M 4. 190. L 3.
191. K 2. 192. K 19. Takes.
193. J 19. 194. K 17. Takes in “Ko.”
195. L 19. Takes in “Ko.” 196. F 17.
197. F 18. 198. D 18.
199. C 17. 200. D 16.
201. D 19. “Watari.” 202. E 10.
203. D 10. 204. E 8.
205. M 10. 206. Q 10.
207. K 10. 208. L 9. Takes.
209. P 9. 210. L 13.
211. K 13. 212. N 12.
213. M 14. 214. N 13.
215. N 11. 216. O 12.
217. O 11. 218. O 14.
219. P 13. 220. D 9. Takes.
221. C 9. 222. Q 11.
223. P 11. 224. J 16. Takes.
225. G 16. 226. F 15.
227. N 3. 228. M 6.
229. T 14. 230. T 12.
231. T 13. 232. S 13. Takes.
233. P 15. 234. P 16.
235. S 12. Takes in “Ko.” 236. T 11.
237. E 3. 238. O 6.
239. O 5. 240. A 17.
241. A 18. 242. A 16.
243. A 12. 244. B 14.
245. B 13. 246. A 14.
247. D 3. 248. C 2.
249. M 15. 250. N 15.
Black wins, the report says, by “Ichi ban,” which means anything up to
ten “Me.” According to my continuation, Black won by seven “Me.”
V
Plate 17
This is a game between a Japanese player and a beginner. It is inserted
solely to show the character of the mistakes which beginners are likely
to make. Such errors never occur in games between good players, and
therefore this game may be more useful to a novice than the games
contested between players of greater skill.
Played May 7, 1907.
Black has a handicap of five stones.
WHITE BLACK
1. C 14. 2. E 3. Bad; too close to the
handicap stone. Besides it
is better to respond to
White’s attack in the same
part of the board.
3. O 3. 4. C 15. This would be too
conservative if the
players were anything like
equal.
5. R 14. 6. D 6. Much better to play
in one of the right-hand
corners. C 6 would be
better also.
7. F 17. 8. P 3. O 4 is much better.
9. R 6. 10. Q 14.
11. S 16. This would not be 12. O 4. Black should reply to
played against a good White’s last move.
player.
13. N 3. 14. D 8. Unnecessary; much
better to play in one of
the threatened corners.
15. C 3. 16. C 4. B 4 would be better.
17. B 3. 18. D 2.
19. D 3. 20. E 2.
21. B 5. 22. B 4.
23. A 4. 24. C 2.
25. B 8. 26. D 5. Over cautious.
27. C 7. 28. D 7. Unnecessary; Black
could gain a decisive
advantage at B 6.
29. B 6. 30. C 8. Too near the White
line, a common mistake of
beginners.
31. B 9. 32. B 2.
33. A 3. 34. C 9. Too near; Black can
jump one or two spaces
with much better effect.
35. C 10. 36. D 10.
37. C 11. 38. D 14.
39. C 13. 40. D 12. At this point
Black’s position is good
enough, as his line on D
is very strong.
41. C 17. 42. B 14.
43. B 13. 44. C 12. Black gains very
little by this.
45. B 12. 46. B 15.
47. D 17. 48. B 16. Very bad; Black has
the whole board to gain
ground in elsewhere.
49. E 16. 50. D 15. If Black feels he
must play here, D 13 is
better.
51. D 13. 52. E 13.
53. E 12. 54. D 11.
55. F 13. 56. E 14.
57. G 12. 58. E 11.
59. F 12. 60. F 11. If Black hopes to
save his group in the
upper left-hand corner, he
must escape toward the
center at this point.
61. F 14. Black’s group is now 62. A 14. Black cannot
hopeless. possibly form “Me”; this
move is merely wasted.
63. J 3. 64. E 9. Too cautious.
65. G 3. 66. H 11.
67. G 11. 68. F 10. Black forms “Me” in
this group long before it
is threatened, while he
might gain ground
elsewhere.
69. G 10. 70. A 16. Another lost move.
71. F 4. 72. E 4.
73. G 8. 74. G 9.
75. H 9. 76. F 9.
77. H 10. 78. F 8.
79. G 7. 80. F 6.
81. G 6. 82. G 5. Should have been
played at F 5.
83. F 5. 84. J 10. Black should play
nearer the edge of the
board. J 10 is radically
wrong.
85. K 8. 86. H 13. Black tries to form
a living group in the
center without support;
this can seldom be done.
87. H 12. 88. J 11.
89. J 13. 90. H 8.
91. J 8. 92. H 7. These stones are
hopeless from the start.
Black should play in the
right-hand corners.
93. H 6. 94. J 7.
95. L 7. 96. J 6.
97. H 5. 98. J 5.
99. G 4. Takes. 100. J 9.
101. M 6. 102. N 5. M 5 would be much
better.
103. M 5. 104. K 4. Black adds more
stones to his already
hopeless group. This is
one of the commonest
mistakes.
105. M 4. 106. J 12. Black should jump to
the right, say at M 11.
107. K 13. 108. G 14. F 15 might have
helped Black.
109. F 15. 110. H 4.
111. J 4. 112. F 7.
113. H 3. Takes. 114. E 6. Unnecessary. Black
should play somewhere in
the unoccupied portion of
the board.
115. M 12. 116. A 13. Wholly wasted unless
Black were an expert.
117. B 11. 118. B 17.
119. B 18. 120. C 18.
121. D 18. 122. A 18.
123. C 19. Takes. 124. C 6.
125. B 7. 126. K 12. Like all beginners,
Black keeps his stones too
close together. M 10 would
be better.
127. L 13. 128. L 12.
129. M 10. 130. M 11.
131. N 11. 132. L 11.
133. N 13. 134. L 10. Black again adds
stones to a dead group.
135. M 9. 136. L 8.
137. M 8. 138. L 9.
139. K 7. 140. O 6.
141. P 5. 142. O 2. S 4 would have been
much better.
143. N 2. 144. N 1. Black overlooks that
he must connect at P 2.
This is a common error of
novices.
145. P 2. 146. J 14.
147. K 16. 148. J 16.
149. K 17. 150. K 15. Black tries to form
another living group. His
only chance was near Q
14–Q 16.
151. L 15. 152. L 14.
153. M 14. 154. K 14.
155. M 13. 156. M 15.
157. L 16. 158. G 16. Black again adds to
a hopeless position.
159. G 17. 160. H 17.
161. G 15. 162. H 15. Black thinks he has
the necessary “Me.” Two of
them, however, are
“Kageme.”
163. H 18. 164. J 18.
165. J 17. 166. G 18.
167. H 16. Takes, “Ko.” 168. A 2. Black plays this
correctly.
169. A 5. 170. H 17. Takes, “Ko.”
171. H 19. 172. K 18.
173. H 16. Takes, “Ko.” 174. L 18.
175. H 17. “Ko tsugu.” 176. M 17. Black has a chance
to make some territory in
this part of the board.
177. O 17. 178. N 16.
179. Q 17. 180. O 15.
181. P 16. 182. Q 15.
183. P 15. 184. R 17.
185. R 16. 186. Q 18.
187. P 17. 188. R 15.
189. S 17. 190. R 13.
191. S 14. 192. P 14.
193. S 15. 194. O 13. Black should live,
although he has gained
little space.
195. N 14. 196. P 12. Black should have
occupied O 14.
197. O 14. Black’s groups are 198. N 18.
now separated.
199. O 18. 200. P 18.
201. R 18. Takes. 202. O 12.
203. N 12. 204. E 15. This is pure waste.
205. M 19. If Black had played 206. E 17.
here his group would have
lived.
207. E 18. Takes. 208. A 12.
209. A 11. 210. O 16. Too late; this group
is hopeless now.
211. Q 11. 212. Q 12.
213. R 11. 214. O 11.
215. O 10. 216. Q 2.
217. O 1. Takes. 218. M 1. This is nonsense;
Black might still save the
corner by correct play.
219. P 4. 220. Q 3.
221. Q 5. 222. M 2. If Black played at S
5 he would still have a
chance.
223. R 4. 224. O 5.
225. P 10. 226. R 12.
227. F 2. 228. F 1.
229. G 1. 230. E 1.
231. F 3. 232. C 1. Black wastes one of
his few vacant spaces.
233. R 3. 234. N 19.
White permits Black to 235. L 17.
play again.
White permits Black to 236. J 19.
play again.
237. L 19. 238. M 18.
White permits Black to 239. P 19.
play again.
White permits Black to 240. N 17.
play again.
White permits Black to 241. R 19.
play again.
242. S 19. 243. O 19.
244. R 17.
“Dame”—E 5 and C 5. White wins by one hundred and ninety-seven spaces
and eighty-eight stones.
VI
Plate 18
White.—Inouye Inseki.
Black.—Yasui Shintetsu.
Played December, 1835. No handicaps were given. This game is from a
Japanese work called “Kachi Sei Kioku.” The notes are taken from
Korschelt, and as in the previous instance involve the repetition of
some things that have been touched on in the preceding chapters.
BLACK WHITE
1. R 16. 2. D 17.
3. Q 3. 4. P 17.
5. C 4. 6. C 14. Just as good as D
15, which we already know.
7. Q 5. This may be the best 8. Q 14.
play under the
circumstances. The secure
position Q 3-Q 5 supports
the advance posts at C 4
and R 16 in equal measure.
9. P 16. 10. Q 16.
11. Q 15. 12. Q 17.
13. P 15. 14. R 15.
15. R 14. 16. S 15.
17. Q 13. 18. N 17. The eighth stone
played at Q 14 cannot be
saved. If White attempts
to save it, the following
would be the continuation:
B. W.
P 14
O 14 P 13
P 12 O 13
N 13 O 12.
O 11 etc.