I came across something today that seemed to relate, in one way or another, to several threads here. One is the thread on moyos, another is a thread that mentions some equipment failure (too few stones?), and of course lots of threads that mention thickness and AI. It is also connected with me re-reading my favourite play,
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Molière, and with the fact that, today, I was doing a dance called the Highland Rambler, also nicknamed the Highland Wobbler.
The context is that one of the great go journalists, Akiyama Kenji (born 1946), was talking about go stones being too thick. Honinbo III Doetsu (1636 ~ 1727; roughly contemporary with Molière, as it happens) supposedly set the first standard for go-board size - together with Itagaki Yusen, it should be said. The cynics among us may choose to believe Yusen did the work and Doetsu took the credit. Either way, they set the thickness at 3.75 sun. Sun is 1.2 inches, which my ruler tells me is about 11 cm (whatever they are).
As time passed, the thickness crept up. In middle Edo, the standard thickness reached 4.8 sun. In the Meiji era, 5 sun became the norm. At present 6 sun is a lower limit. To some extent, this may be connected with increasing average height of the players, but probably it also had a good deal to do with showing off wealth. At any rate, as boards got thicker, so stones got thicker, just as, no doubt, the waists of the Japanese equivalents of M. Jourdain got thicker. But this, apparently, did not please go professionals.
Akiyama recalled Game 1 of the 50th Tengen title-match in 1980. This story was not reported in
Go World so will be new to most of you. The game was played in a VERY posh hotel called Kagaya in Wakura Spa in Ishikawa Prefecture, in a room once occupied by Emperor Hirohito. What was considered a fitting go board and (apparently) thick was therefore procured the day before, by a very rich patron, from a local craftsman. Everyone agreed it was a masterpiece.
Kato Masao (the holder) was Black and played his first move at the upper-right star point. Challenger Yamabe Toshiro countered with White 2 at the diagonally opposite star point. At least he thought he did. The stone moved a fraction. There had been an earthquake the day before on the Noto Peninsula, and he seems to have assumed there were still minor earth tremors. So he tried again, but again the stone wobbled away. And again. And again. Eventually, the earthquake was discounted and everyone turned their scrutiny to the board and discovered that the lacquer was too proud at certain points. Because the purchase had been so recent, no-one had checked the board beforehand. Akiyama didn't say what they did about that, but from the context it seems they switched to some thinner stones.
There is something else to say about that game, but before that, I will mention another tale by Akiyama from a Meijin title-match ten years later, held in Miyazaki Prefecture, part of which was called Hyuga in Edo times. That area is famous for its kaya boards and "Hyuga White" hamaguri clam stones. Because it's a big local industry, competition among manufacturers is intense, but a new board (kaya, of course) was settled on first. Then came the questions of stones. The board-maker wanted the very best stones, the thick ones, to be sued with his magnificent board. But prudence too over and so the go officials got him to bring along three sets for the plsyers to choose from. Sure enough, the players chose the thin ones.
Now back to the Tengen game. Step though first to move 11 and then guess where Yamabe played White 12.
Yes, an early-early 3-3. Take that, AlphaGo, which takes the credit for innovation just like Doetsu (probably) overshadowing Yusen. Remarkably, katago seems to say this is the best move. More remarkably, when the AlphaGo 3-3 hit the headlines, one conclusion drawn was that pros had assumed, wrongly it was said, that they had to finish off with the hanetsugi (White 20 and 22 here) but was a mistake. Well, Yamabe played taht here and my KaTrain says that was correct!
In the post-mortem Yamabe (who got a good game initially but lost) asked whether White 12 was too early? Kato thought that perhaps it was, but did not criticise it. Yamabe did, however, reveal that he played the 3-3 mainly because he didn't know what to do in the lower right.
Now the next interesting feature of this game. Step through to move 53 and you will see the mother of all moyos - big enough to two sumo wrestlers, said Yamabe. How do you play against it. Bear in mind that moyo maestro Takemiya says the ideal way to play WITH a moyo is to invite the opponent in let him live small. But, actually, both players agreed that Black 53 was a mistake. Black should have played at J11.
To go from one extreme to the other, and thus to show how rich go is, take a look at another game from the Kagaya venue (which seems nowadays to have lost favour with go organisers - too up-market?). This is a Gosei title-match in 1986, with Cho Chikun as Black and Otake Hideo as White. It can be seen as relevant to the moyo discussion, but first step through to White 28 and what do you see?