The Games of Honinbo Shuei, Volume 1

[John Fairbairn]

GoGoD is happy to announce publication of the first e-volume of commentaries on Shuei's games for the Kindle. The Amazon page is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008A0DGBC.

Part 1 (The Life) of a trilogy "The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei" was published in May 2012. Part 2 will offer commentaries on around 80 of Shuei's games. It focuses in particular in the emergence of Shuei's style, and tries to explain how he became so strong and dominant in his forties.

Because of file size, Part 2 is being spread over several volumes, in chronological order. This first volume covers the years 1870-1886, after which Shuei took a five-year break from go. In the 21 games covered so far, we see how Shuei was still capable of being trounced, but at the same time we see already his mastery of momentum (choshi) and probes. We see that he hadn't quite grasped the dangers of mochikomi, still lacked mastery of miai, and his famed appreciation of the centre was absent. He was also still trapped in the mindset of the Edo player, though at the same time - amid the boyish mistakes - we see how he began perfecting his solid, thick style.

On the other hand, these imperfections are outweighed by the superior skills of his opponents, who are often deliberately playing testing moves against the youngster.

We see especially the fuseki of "Mr Fuseki himself", the great Honinbo Shuho, marked above all by his mastery of kairos. Trace for yourself how Shuei learned to add this skill to his own arsenal.

Apart from Shuho, the opponents in Volume 1 are Ito Showa, Nakagawa Kamesaburo, Kobayashi Tetsujiro and Kuroda Shunsetsu (who gave Shuei an especially torrid time). But 11 of the games are against Shuho and culiminate in his only game as Honinbo, the famous Reconciliation Game, the finale of a ten-game match presented in full here.

To mark Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee and to show that not all Brits endorse the scandalous prices charged at the Olympic Games, a special low price of $7.99 will apply during the rest of June (and only $9.99 thereafter).

Volume 2 is planned for July, and will feature mainly Tamura Yasuhisa (Honinbo Shusai) - not to mention the next stage in Shuei's development.

[SoDesuNe]

That was fast, thank you!

I just browsed through a bit and I must say, it really looks good! I especially like it that you presented a very limited amount of moves per diagramme and that the diagrammes are half the page (I can only speak for the first douzen, though), that way I can even read it comfortably (kind of) on my Android phone (don't have a Kindle device).

So, might be time to mature late (in Go) myself then =)

[Loons]

I also like the short diagrams, which make it easy to follow what's happening step by step. As always, John's style is also very pleasant.

[LokBuddha]

what is kairos?

[jts]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=kairos

[SoDesuNe]

I'm at game 8 right now and I must say, the commentary is great! Very good to follow since you stick to the essential part of the game and don't always show a bunch diagrammes with possible variations (the use of letters is far more nicer!). I always found too much diagrammes for variations a bit tiring to read.
Of course, it would be convenient to have an extra diagramme here and there, especially when you mention a Ko-Aji. On the other side, now I'm sitting down and explore the variations myself (and with help) ^^ It also comes in handy that those pointers for Ko-Aji and such are well timed and not excessively used. That way, it's still something special to me to check if I can find the right moves myself.

To sum it up, it is a very good read, entertaining and educational.