Sugiuchi Watch

[oren]

I do hope that I misunderstood this article wrong, but I think it says that Mr. Sugiuchi passed away... If it's true, I'm really sad, it was always great to follow their activities here.. Please do correct me if I'm wrong!

It's true...

[bugcat]

R.I.P. Sugiuchi Masao (杉内 雅男), oldest Go professional ever, a man who spent his life playing Go and never gave up.

1954, 1958: Challenged twice for the Honinbo title
1959: Reached 9-dan, won the Hayago Meijin
1962: Won Tokyo Shinbun Cup
1972: Challenged for the Tengen

Thanks for the games, Masao.

[John Fairbairn]

At his death (from pneumonia) Sugiuchi's lifetime record was a very impressive 883-677-12-2.

When he became the 22nd player to notch up 800 wins at age 84, his win-loss record then was 800-561, so that in his last decade and a bit he was still able to score 83-116. His record this year (2017) was 2-6.

Last year he played 16-year-old Onishi Ryuhei in a game where the age gap was an astonishing 80 years.

His pro career also spanned 80 years. At present I am transcribing his very first Oteai games from 1937. The perspicacious commentators were even then predicting a bright future for the new 1-dan (he won the Oteai B section the following year). He didn't go in for the New Fuseki flummery. His own teacher Inoue Ichiro was a purist, and when Inoue died Sugiuchi counted the equally sober-minded Segoe Kensaku as his teacher. In fact his nickname of the God Of Go was due to his earnest and single-minded attitude to the game. He was also one of the great insei instructors.

Obviously the war played havoc with what he might have expected to be the prime part of his career. His biggest title win was the Tokyo Shinbun Cup, beating Rin Kaiho in 1962. This was quite prestigious at the time because of its association with the Royal Family.

[Revilo]

May he rest in peace. What a life this man must have lived.

And incredible that he was still active. Above Yuri Averbakh was mentioned. At age 95 he currently is indeed the oldest living chess grandmaster, but he's been inactive for a very long time now. His played his last rated game in 1992 already. Mark Taimanov also lived to 90 but stopped playing 10 years earlier already. Playing Go in Nihon Kiin events must be less straining for the older masters, compared to chess tournaments - the go events have more time between the games and the games as such are mostly played without audience, aren't they?

[oren]

https://twitter.com/igomimu/status/933318923692290048

Just last week, Sugiuchi Masao was still walking up the steps to the sixth floor to play his games. Even passing 90 years old, he didn't take the elevator.

[dfan]

When I think of old (formerly) top-level chess players, I think of Viktor Korchnoi, who played multiple matches for the world championship back in the 1980s and continued to play competitively regularly into his 80s.

[Uberdude]

I'm sad to hear of Mr Sugiuchi's death, but glad he could keep playing professionally right until the very end, what a career! Will be hard on Mrs Sugiuchi...

And speaking of remarkable female Go players, Rui Naiwei just won the Jianqiao Cup, the richest Chinese female tournament at the ripe old age of 53 (in still being a top Go player terms, apologies to older forum members!) against 15 year old Yin Qu.

[macelee]

Truly sad to learn this news. I have spent 2 hours this morning to compile more Sugiuchi games.

https://www.go4go.net/go/games/byplayer/594

Although very far from complete, the collection should contain most of his available games after 1975.

Mrs Sugiuchi appears to be quite strong too. I found that she was in the main NHK tournaments twice back in 1980's together with her husband.

[bugcat]

Rui Naiwei just won the Jianqiao Cup ... at the ripe old age of 53

Hey now, Uberdude, don't mention a woman's age like that.

Seriously, though, that's an impressive achievement - goes to show that Rui Naiwei is one of the strongest female professionals ever. I don't know when was the last time a 50-or-over player in the men's game won a big title - in Japan, it looks like it was in 2002, with Kato Masao winning the 57th Honinbo aged ~55 and Kobayashi Koichi aged ~50 winning the 27th Gosei.

[Elom]

I was at first shaken and then saddened to read of Sugiuchi's death.

I guess that it is probable that maybe many of us here are not aware, Sugiuchi sensei travelled to China on multiple occasions in the sixties and seventies. The Chinese go association wrote a memorial expressing their appreciation for the 'God of Go', saying that the Chinese go world is in deep sorrow, and sending condolences Sugiuchi Kazuko 8p and the Nihon Kiin. Always taking the (often multiple flights of) stairs to every game, which renders most of us as essentially immobile by his standards, he also seemed to still be interested in the teaching and proliferation of Go overseas from the account Osawa Narumi, in their pre-match discussion after climbing no less than six flights of steps. A tenacious player up until 'old' age, he seemed to have a seriousness to go even recognised by other professionals, a poignant reminder for myself, being someone who spends half their time with their head in the clouds.

I guess that by his example, even without producing more game records, he teaches us the meaning of being a go player...

[macelee]

Mrs Sugiuchi played in the 3rd Senko Cup and actually beat his opponent Aoba Kaori!

[bugcat]

It's nice that she hasn't given up playing after being widowed. Congrats to her on the win as well.

[macelee]

Mrs Sugiuchi played one more game yesterday. She is still active!

I have compiled more of her games: https://www.go4go.net/go/games/byplayer/928

[John Fairbairn]

Having met (and been entranced by) Mrs Sugiuchi, I have been one of those closely following Sugiuchi Watch, but it occurred to me this morning that I don't know her career at all well, especially how she did against male players. So I did a bit of checking.

I only have 175 games to go on, but it seems her career can be split in two, before and after marriage (the old story!). Before, she did really well against men. For example, in the first game I have she beat Fujisawa Hideyuki as an 11-year-old insei when he was 13. She also beat Go Seigen on 2 stones. She also played Shusai on 6 stones and Kitani on 5, but these games are not in the collected games so I don't know the results. But the very fact she was invited to play was significant, especially in Shusai's case as she was invited to his villa.

But she took a break for about ten years shortly after marriage to rear children and when she came back she seems to have lost an edge, not surprisingly. There are no famous "scalps" of male opponents, though that doesn't mean she wasn't beating some men. The fact that she was earning promotions (to 8-dan) through the Oteai implies some good such results, but I have relatively few of the modern Oteai games, so it is hard to judge. She won her Oteai section 4 times, but 3 before marriage. Still, her best result ever - better than 10 women's titles? - may be winning the 1983 Oteai A, which gave her 8-dan.

I have only one game against hubby Masao. She won, but again that was pre-marriage.

Kazuko appears to defy the usual belief that it is the youngest sibling that succeeds most in a family that produces several go-playing children (ditto chess?). But her sisters Sachiko (87, retired) and Teruko (78, still active) are only a shade behind her. All have been prominent in promoting go overseas and so deserved recognition for that also.

[aeb]

I have compiled more of her games

I only have 175 games to go on, ...

Let me compare. Go4go lists 85. Among these 4 that I do not have.
GoGoD Winter 2015 has 117. Today JF reports 175. Today aeb has 289.
Comparing the 117 with the 289, there are 85 common, 32 in GoGoD only, 204 in aeb only.

So, for collectors: some more games freely available under https://homepages.cwi.nl/~aeb/go/games/games/index.html.