The Games of Honinbo Shuei, Volume 2

[John Fairbairn]

GoGoD is happy to announce publication of the second e-volume of commentaries on Shuei's games for the Kindle. The Amazon page is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008I0HFV6.

Part 1 (The Life) of a trilogy "The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei" was published in May 2012. The first volume of Part 2, devoted to commentaries on his games, was published in June 2012. This is the second volume (of probably four) in Part 2. Like the first, it contains 21 commented games.

This volume covers the period between 1892 and 1897, coming after Shuei took a five-year break from go.

The games here are still from a relatively early stage (7-dan) in Shuei's career. His most famous games come from late in his career because that is when - very unusually, in his forties - he became truly strong. Nevertheless, the commentaries in Volume 2 include the game with his most famous move, the "Extraordinary White 92". Also, several major aspects of his style now begin to emerge clearly. We see here the "ethos of miai" (probably not what you think!), pre-sabaki and the centre L-shapes, as well as more tactical characteristics such as probes and "grubbing". In the process, we reveal even more of the Honinbo family "secrets".

Volume 3 is planned for August, and will feature mainly Tamura Yasuhisa (Honinbo Shusai) and his rival Karigane Junichi jousting with Shuei for supremacy as his top pupil.

The price for Volume 2 is US$9.99.

[Loons]

Would it be possible to allow this volume in Asia & The Pacific, like the previous volumes?

[logan]

Thank-you very much John : )

[Theo van Ees]

Would it be possible to allow this volume in Asia & The Pacific, like the previous volumes?

i have the same question for Europe.

[John Fairbairn]

Would it be possible to allow this volume in Asia & The Pacific, like the previous volumes?

i have the same question for Europe.

I'm sorry but I don't understand the questions.

You seem to be saying you are having difficulty purchasing in Asia and in Europe. The way Amazon works is that it has specific outlets for the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, but none for Asia. However, I think that what that means is only that you get a site in your own language and the chance to pay in your own currency. You can, apparently, buy from sites elsewhere.

As far as I am aware, I have done nothing different with this book from what I did with the others, and Amazon has reported to me already (a writer's account is updated instantly when a sale is made) that sales for Games Volume 2 have happened on the sites for USA, UK, Germany and France. (For other books sales have also happened in Spain, but nothing in Italy so far.) I have also just checked and the distribution is set as "Worldwide" and the accounts seem to bear that out. I also know that for previous volumes readers in Asia have been able to buy from the USA, at least.

I know from personal experience that if you register with one Amazon site you can't buy from another without registering separately (apparently - I never wanted to go that far). Maybe that's the problem?

Or maybe I've just misunderstood?

[RobertJasiek]

I know from personal experience that if you register with one Amazon site you can't buy from another without registering separately

(It might be different for UK customers of Amazon. Besides, Amazon does not sell everything to customers in all countries, e.g., MP3 downloads.)

Usually, the problem is only to mention a payment method for the other Amazon site, which that site does accept. For all Amazon sites, I had to register only once, but all foreign Amazons asked for a payment method.

[ez4u]

Amazon Japan does not sell kindle ebooks in general, nor does Amazon China apparently. This has nothing to do with JF's books specifically. Sometimes books are restricted by region, but these are not. I bought mine at the U.S. site despite living in the Asia/Pacific region.

[gowan]

I signed up for Amazon in the USA and have been able to buy things from the UK, France, Canada, and Japan without further registration. I do have a credit card on file at Amazon, maybe that's what makes it work.

[Theo van Ees]

I got a message saying something like : this book is not available in Europe. Minits before I had bought vol. 1. So I was amazed. I just tried again and now everything worked als it should. Thanks. I cannot wait to start reading, well I first have to finish the Gateway

[Loons]

Oh, it arbitrarily started working for me too.

[tchan001]

His most famous games come from late in his career because that is when - very unusually, in his forties - he became truly strong.

In the book "The Best of Kido: The Art of Positional Analysis", Otake Hideo wrote (translated by Robert Terry) that "go players seem to reach their peak in their thirties... it's unavoidable that in one's forties and fifties one must bring one's wits and shrewdness to the fore."
In light of the Otake Hideo's theory on age and go strength, it's remarkable that Shuei became truly strong when in his forties.

[judicata]

In light of the Otake Hideo's theory on age and go strength, it's remarkable that Shuei became truly strong when in his forties.

Interesting. My understanding was that, nowadays, pros typically peak in their late teens or twenties--is that not correct? This makes me wonder if the typical "peak" age for pros has changed over time. And if so, why? I could only speculate about the reasons.

Note that I referred to the "typical" peak. I'm sure some posters could identify any number of pros peaking at various ages. And as Shuei's career demonstrates, no one should accept that such limitations apply to them--to do so would be self-defeating.

[jts]

In light of the Otake Hideo's theory on age and go strength, it's remarkable that Shuei became truly strong when in his forties.

Interesting. My understanding was that, nowadays, pros typically peak in their late teens or twenties--is that not correct? This makes me wonder if the typical "peak" age for pros has changed over time. And if so, why? I could only speculate about the reasons.

Note that I referred to the "typical" peak. I'm sure some posters could identify any number of pros peaking at various ages. And as Shuei's career demonstrates, no one should accept that such limitations apply to them--to do so would be self-defeating.

My understanding from Invincible was that during the classical era, pros peaked in their twenties and retired in their late forties/early fifties. Nowadays, aren't many dominant players trying to stretch their careers across five decades? So in some ways the classical pros were even more youthful than contemporary pros. (Also remember how many pros dropped dead while still comparatively young - less common these days.)

Perhaps the phenomenon of players bursting onto the scene at 16 or 18 and then never achieving good results again is unique to the last few decades, but isn't that mainly a Chinese/Korean thing? Even when Japan has youthful prodigies like Rin, Cho Chikun, or Iyama, they seem to blossom and achieve a dominate position in their 20s. Maybe this has something to do with game time limits? But maybe I'm not clear on who is peaking in their late teens.

[judicata]

But maybe I'm not clear on who is peaking in their late teens.

That's fair. On a related note, the term "peak" is also a bit squishy and may not easily be applied. And my perception of when pros peak is entirely anecdotal, so I could just be wrong. Still interesting to ponder.


Also, while this discussion isn't completely off-topic, I apologize if I derailed the thread a bit.