Blind boy on the path to pro.

[Bill Spight]

My hypothesis is that people like Brian (or myself with body language) have learned to do something from childhood in a way that defies comprehension by adults. I suspect this applies to Sumire, too. I stress "way" because there are Australian aborigines who do not use "left" and "right" and so on but instead talk about everything in terms of north, south, east and west. It is easy to imagine how this may have given them a quasi-biological advantage in their pre-modern environment, and they are apparently losing this ability by being taught English. I gather researchers don't actually know how they could tell the cardinal directions (but tests showed they were accurate), and their best guess is that the aborigines were seeing (from childhood) some sorts of patterns in nature that most of us miss. If so, these apparently weren't as simple as Boy Scout lore such as looking at the sun or which side of trees moss grows on.

It is interesting how research gets overlooked or forgotten. I recall reading about research done on people in Europe or North America in the 50s or 60s that indicated that they were able to some extent to orient themselves without external visual cues along the cardinal directions. It was believed that migratory birds and other animals needed such orientation skills. The explanatory hypothesis, as I recall, was that the neurological structure of the human nose allowed it to function as a weak magnetic compass. (I doubt if further research was done to test that hypothesis by, for instance, putting a magnetic field near the subjects' faces to see if that confused their supposed nasal compasses. Social science researchers of that era were not very thorough.)

[John Fairbairn]

Over the years I have tried to post anything new or good about blind go, and I'm pleased to be able to add a small update about Iwasaki Haruto.

On 4 June he played Nakamura Sumire in a series of Dream Games to Bring Hearts Together. It was the first time Sumire had given a 2-stone handicap and she said it was much harder than she expected. She won by 4 points but only after pulling away in the late endgame when there were several kos and quite a lot of ko threats on the board. I'm guessing that such positions are especially hard for a blind player.

I still haven't seen the precise kind of board Iwasaki uses, though it sounds like a standard type (board with pits to hold the stones and Black stones having a tiny knob on top). But I'm curious whether thought has been given to allowing Iwasaki extra time to allow him to finger-scan the board in situations such as this game. Apart from the endgame, he didn't seem to put a foot (or finger!) wrong and it was a complex fighting game. In a series by Ichiriki Ryo on Sumire's games, Ichiriki remarks that her style is such that she shows to best advantage when both sides choose to fight hard, so that was maybe why she won.

Incidentally, the series just mentioned is a set of commentaries with various moves presented as next-move problems, and shows an excellent light touch by the multi-talented Ichiriki, revealing he picked up some tips from his time dabbling as a journalist for Daddy! Two things struck me in the series. One was that he gave fascinating insights into the styles of the young players showcased, and the other was (as I recall) the total absence of any mention of AI. Indeed, AI seems to be being mentioned less and less everywhere now, especially in commentaries, at least in Japan. More good news!

[jlt]

Apparently he is not completely blind:

https://youtu.be/MQxG4ALULLI

[Ferran]

I *THINK* I transcribed the game properly. Don't bet on it, though. There might be swapped moves here and there.



Take care.

[Ferran]

That's weird... I had a post with the link to the video of the game, and it looks like it's gone...

Let's try again... I think I said something extra, but I can't recall.

Take care.