Commented Go Seigen Games

[Jedo]

I was looking for some commented Go Seigen games since he is one of my favorite players. I've seen the collection commented by Seigen himself, but I think commenting your own games is like indexing your own book...

I also know about the Fairbarn collection, but is he really qualified to be commentating them?

So, is there anything else I should check out?

[imabuddha]

I also know about the Fairbarn collection, but is he really qualified to be commentating them?

Yes.

[hyperpape]

I like imabuddha's response, but you might also wish to know that Fairbairn didn't just do it himself, but is familiar with "sixty years of professional commentaries" on the games.

[ethanb]

Yes, indeed - he occasionally refers to times when professional opinion on moves vary among various commentaries, so you occasionally hear that Kitani said one line was good but Takagawa disagreed and Fujisawa Shuko may have had yet a third opinion. He also draws from commentaries in both Chinese and Korean (although there naturally seem to be fewer of these than commentary by later Japanese pros, which are still fewer than commentaries by Go Seigen and his contemporaries at the time the matches were played.)

[gowan]

I was looking for some commented Go Seigen games since he is one of my favorite players. I've seen the collection commented by Seigen himself, but I think commenting your own games is like indexing your own book...

I also know about the Fairbarn collection, but is he really qualified to be commentating them?

So, is there anything else I should check out?

The Fairbairn books are compilations of many commentaries by pros. You should check out the SL page on Go Seigen for some useful links. There is also a Slate and Shell book, Master Play: The Style of Go Seigen which has comments by a strong amateuer on two games of Go Seigen. Actually, there really aren't a lot of English commentaries by pros. Go Seigen was most active as a player more than 50 years ago so the English go magazines only have a few of his games. His play is very advanced so English books of commentaries are unlikely to be published because the buying public is so small. Best solution is to learn Japanese, lots of commented games in Japanese. But the Fairbairn books do a good job. Having Go's commentaries on his own games is not such a bad thing. For one thing, what people really want to know is how he thinks about the game and only he can give you that.

[nagano]

I was looking for some commented Go Seigen games since he is one of my favorite players. I've seen the collection commented by Seigen himself, but I think commenting your own games is like indexing your own book...

I also know about the Fairbarn collection, but is he really qualified to be commentating them?

So, is there anything else I should check out?

Learning Japanese might be a good idea.

[Jedo]

Learning Japanese might be a good idea.

I am actually, but am only in my second college year so it's probably not good enough yet. I doubt I know anywhere close to enough Kanji...

[palapiku]

Just one game, but an awesome game very well commented:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ReF-tPwno

[nagano]

Learning Japanese might be a good idea.

I am actually, but am only in my second college year so it's probably not good enough yet. I doubt I know anywhere close to enough Kanji...

Yeah, that's why I chose Korean, but I'm not far enough yet either.

[gowan]

If you can use a kanji dictionary and you know the grammar you can read well enough, even though it will be slow. Game commentaries usually use fairly language.

[Bill Spight]

Learning Japanese might be a good idea.

I am actually, but am only in my second college year so it's probably not good enough yet. I doubt I know anywhere close to enough Kanji...

When I started reading Japanese go books I knew only a few hundred Kanji. If you have had a year of Japanese you are in good shape. Sure, you may need to have a dictionary at hand, but it will not be as difficult as, say, reading a newspaper or novel.

[shaydwyrm]

When I started reading Japanese go books I knew only a few hundred Kanji. If you have had a year of Japanese you are in good shape. Sure, you may need to have a dictionary at hand, but it will not be as difficult as, say, reading a newspaper or novel.

Yeah, when I started reading Japanese go books I was surprised at how much easier it was than reading just about anything else. Also, don't get discouraged if you have to use a dictionary a lot in the first page or two. Any given go book uses a (relatively) small selection of terminology, and once you are familiar with the common go terms and the style of writing of the author, you will pick up speed extremely quickly.

[eyecatcher]

I know the thread is already some 6 years old now but for the sake of completeness:

here is the free book with Go Seigens own comments on about ~13 of his games:

https://www.usgo.org/files/pdf/go-seigen-book.pdf



Edit:
ah... and i forgot, it is really amazing that the guys at ASR put the content from the book

into these "ready to replay" games:

http://www.advancedstudyroom.org/study- ... y-himself/
#GoSeigen