Honinbo Shusaku
I'm reading and playing through 'Invincible: The Games of Honinbo Shusaku' right now, and it's probably the most enjoyable Go book I've ever laid hands on. Of course, that's a personal opinion. For me it's so because it's a mixture of Go history and amazing game records.
Going through Invincible (I'm about 35 games in, now), I've had some thoughts on the man (, the legend) that I've wanted to share. Feel free to disagree and bring additional information into the mix.
Need to know, in case you didn't: in Shusaku's time there was no komi. Difference in ranking determined the handicap. Weaker players took black. There's more to it, if you're interested, look it up on Sensei. It's an elegant handicap system.
After 35 games, I've a few thoughts:
- Part of his legacy, his fame, of being 'invincible' probably stems from his slow promotion. While it was definitely fast for the time, you still feel his promotion to 7-dan should've been quicker and he spend a while on the wrong handicap, taking black against inferior opponents.
Take his first two Castle Games as an example. He really coasted through these with black. I think he could've won both with white, but he was still a 6-dan, so he was to take black.
Of course Shusaku was amazingly strong, but at the time he was probably (one of) the strongest players alive, his rank didn't reflect that.
- Shusaku feels very modern at times. He was already amazing at 12-13 years old and arguably at the top of his game in his early 20s. This resembles modern players and was not very common in the old days, where Go players of stature were often way older.
- As playing goes, he also feels modern, some times. Of course he plays Go from that time. But at times, he has a modern feel to it, sometimes even an AlphaGo feel. But perhaps I'm not strong enough to comment on that.
I am strong enough to recognize a 3-4 high enclosure with a low extension just below the star point and that was hardly ever seen in those days, has a very modern feel to it of fast development.
- Sekiyama Sendayu should've been a professional player and played a very aggressive and interesting style. He was dubbed as the strongest amateur, but seeing him play a nijubango against Shusaku, he feels stronger than many other professionals.
- Shusaku mastered the concept of non-attachment in Go. His positional judgement is so sharp, especially seen in long ko's, that he sacrifices stones so easily when he's calculated he doesn't gain by saving them. For an amateur player such as myself, it is often surprising to see him so eager to give up stones he feels will be a burden and cost him points. Controlled sacrifice is seen in many of his games.
He often plays tenuki when you think: what? are you kidding me?
Funny thing is: often his opponent will not take the stones (immediately) probably because it's gote and not worth enough, and sometimes the stones do end up living. Lots to learn from that kind of playing.
I'll do an update if I have any future ideas on the master
