Segoe in Europe queries

[John Fairbairn]

I am finishing off the draft of my Segoe book. A few extra details would be nice.

1. There was a famous incident when he visited Germany and Austria with Hashimoto. Hashimoto and Segoe both told different versions of this incident, and I have heard others from the European side. I also think Hashimoto may have conflated two separate incidents (one in Vienna one in Duesseldorf) involving cheating by European players and resolution of the problem by Hashimoto playing back simultaneous games from memory. I'd like to know what memories any Europeans may have of this.

2. In a separate case, a Peter Schnell is mentioned. I gather he declined to play in the European Championship in 1960, won by Guenther Ciessow. I'd like confirmation of the name Schnell (Snell?; a 3-dan in Darmstadt) and also of the reason why he did not take part.

3. When Segoe planned his visit, he proposed also visiting France, Italy, Netherlands, and England. Does anyone have any data on those destinations (John Tilley for England?). As regards France, I know they went to Paris but didn't realise, until they got there, that Paris empties for August (or still did then).

4. Any info on a Mr Sedlacik 2-dan, a mathematician

[jlt]

4. Any info on a Mr Sedlacik 2-dan, a mathematician

Never heard of that person but after a little research

* I found several mathematicians named Sedláček. One of them, Jiří Sedláček, has 45 publications between 1956 and 1990 in the field of combinatorics.
* This website https://knihobot.sk/g/100042 shows that a person named Jiří Sedláček has translated the novel "First kyu" by Hong Sung-Hwa.
* Someone on the EGD named Jiri Sedlacek is about 3k since 1996: https://europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Playe ... y=10262923.

I don't know if the three persons are the same, nor if they are the same as the one you are referring to. The first person mentioned above would be over 90 now, whereas the third person is 4 ranks lower than 2d and still quite active in go competitions so I have some doubts.

[gennan]

3. When Segoe planned his visit, he proposed also visiting ...Netherlands,...

Are we talking around ~1960? I don't think many Dutch players who were active players back then are still alive now, other than Max Rebattu 5d (born in 1939).
Maybe Dutch go historian Theo Van Ees can search his extensive archives for the info you seek. You may already have his contact info. If not, you may contact the Leiden go-club for it: https://www.leidsegoclub.nl/contact/

[John Fairbairn]

Are we talking around ~1960? I don't think many Dutch players who were active players back then are still alive now, other than Max Rebattu 5d (born in 1939).
Maybe Dutch go historian Theo Van Ees can search his extensive archives for the info you seek. You may already have his contact info.

Thank you. Yes, it would be 1961. Probably only Germans or Austrians could comment on the "incident" but we don't necessarily need to rely on still active players for the other queries. There may be indexes for national go journals that give details of any visits by Segoe, but I can't access these (if theu do exist) online through not being a member.

Yes, I know Theo and his works (and Franco Pratesi's). In fact, Theo provided one rather special cameo.

[John Tilley]

John - John Barrs mentioned this to me as Segoe had visited him at his flat in London and Segoe had given Barrs a gift of a gold canister. Mrs Barrs had opened it and she thought it was tea so she made a pot and took it through. Segoe threw his head back and roared with laughter, flashing his gold teeth, it was seaweed.

I bumped into Segoe at the Takanawa building in 1969 in Japan and he asked how Mr Barrs was, obviously British Go had made an impact. Segoe did occasionally visit Iwamoto's Go salon on Sundays and I played in a ren-go with him in 1970.

I saw a reference to Segoe's visit, maybe in a British Go Journal. I think the date of the visit was 1961. This was before my time and probably Jon Diamond's. I think I saw something about coverage in the media. Let me do some digging.

Looking forward to the book.

Best Wishes - John

[karlsgo]

I am finishing off the draft of my Segoe book. A few extra details would be nice.
2. In a separate case, a Peter Schnell is mentioned. I gather he declined to play in the European Championship in 1960, won by Guenther Ciessow. I'd like confirmation of the name Schnell (Snell?; a 3-dan in Darmstadt) and also of the reason why he did not take part.

Maybe Guenther Ciessow (Günter Cießow) can help here, contact me, then I can connect you both.

Peter Schnell is written Peter Schnell and still alive https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sch ... ormatiker)

I have no contact with him, but maybe his foundation can offer help https://www.sagst.de/

Greetings from Germany,

Wilhelm

https://www.badengo.org/kontakt/

[John Tilley]

https://www.britgo.org/history/earlyhist

will point you to an article in the British Go Journal 136 by Bob Hitchens which contains:

A significant “first” for British Go
occurred in 1961 when Kensaku Segoe
visited Britain. A match was arranged
at John’s flat for B.B.C. television, but
lack of space in the flat meant that the
camera had to be placed on scaffolding
outside to film through the windows!

I have no further information.

Best Wishes - John

[John Fairbairn]

Thank you, John. Both your stories were useful. They did ring a faint bell with me but they would never have resurfaced without your help.

Thank you to others, too. I did also received some correspondence privately, and I think I now have what I need.

I should perhaps clear up a remark that has confused a few people. I referred to finishing off a "final draft." That's true enough, but it appears that it means different things to different people. In more detail, the situation is as follows.

I currently have about 200 pages of pure text in the large format I now use as standard (e.g. for Kamakura). That is close to complete (two or three days?) and that is what I mean by "final draft." Something I can print out and start proof-reading and maybe do some re-juggling.

But, apart from proof-reading, I have to add photos (a lot in this case) and prepare various appendixes and an index. Once they are in, there will probably be a lot of work with final formatting. Only then will I pass it on to a friend for outside proof-reading.

For a book of this size, those tasks will also take some time. Not sure how long.

The reason the book is so big is that it is subtitled "Life & Times." There a lot on the "times" (Segoe being more than a bit-part player in many events off the go board) and the anecdote-rich coverage ranges over Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea , Hawaii and Europe. There are no games. My plan is to produce a companion volume of commented games but that is even further down the road. However, all the many games mentioned in "Eminence grise: Life and Times of Segoe Kensaku" are in the GoGoD database (including a new sunjang baduk game by Segoe in which he plays like an AI bot). These games are referenced in the book, of course, so you can relive the games as you weave through the text.

[Blankpaint]

Sorry I'm not on topic here.

Hello John,

I’m wondering if any of your go books on the history of go have accounts of daily interactions between go Masters and students in the 4 go houses in the 18-19th century.

Thanks,

Kent

[Gomoto]

@Blankpaint: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=19072&p=277255#p277255

[John Fairbairn]

I’m wondering if any of your go books on the history of go have accounts of daily interactions between go Masters and students in the 4 go houses in the 18-19th century.

While I wouldn't use the term "daily interactions", I can say that very many of my writings (including those on shogi) have anecdotes that shine a light on the daily life and more of pupils in the traditional systems, and also in modern times. The Segoe book has a lot of new ones.

I haven't collected these in one place, but I will say that there isn't really a single system. And not all top pros had teachers.

This is not fake news. And For the record, Go Monthly Review ceased in 1977.

[Elom0]

I’m wondering if any of your go books on the history of go have accounts of daily interactions between go Masters and students in the 4 go houses in the 18-19th century.

While I wouldn't use the term "daily interactions", I can say that very many of my writings (including those on shogi) have anecdotes that shine a light on the daily life and more of pupils in the traditional systems, and also in modern times. The Segoe book has a lot of new ones.

I haven't collected these in one place, but I will say that there isn't really a single system. And not all top pros had teachers.

This is not fake news. And For the record, Go Monthly Review ceased in 1977.

So when Go weekly dies this September there'd be nothing from the Nihon Kiin?