Invincible!, the "must see" games?

[charles2000]

I have John Powers', _Invincible!_ through inter-library loan for a few weeks.

I hope to read all of the text but with my schedule I will probably have time to race through only a dozen games using Drago and GoGoD, and really study a handful more slowly on a board.

Given these constraints what are your "must see" games? I am probably 14-12 kyu.

Here are some answers I can already anticipate:
- All of them (insufficient time)
- The Ear Reddening game (done so)
- Any game in which Shusaku plays black (which???)

Thanks for your suggestions

Charles

[gowan]

It is hard to say which are the most important dozen games or so. You can hardly go far wrong whatever you choose. One possibility is the games in Chapter 7, the 23 games that were played in the sanjubango (30 game match) with Ota Yuzo. Another possibility is Chapter 8, which focusses on the castle games. Both of these chapters have a unity to them which a random selection of games wouldn't have.

You probably know this, but Invincible will repay a lifetime of study, no matter how strong you become. If you can afford it, buy the book.

[gogameguru]

Hi Charles,

I agree with gowan that Invincible is really worth buying if you enjoy replaying pro games and can afford it. However...

I've got my own list of games from this book, which I enjoy replaying occasionally (years ago I played through all the games several times). Most of them are on the list because they are particularly good flowing fighting games, they contain some brilliant tactical sequences or they're games where a particular concept is exemplified.

Since you've given your approximate rank, I've culled it down to twelve games where I remember having some sort of go epiphany, or which are just really brilliant. I've only included commented games for you, because they'll be easier to learn from. Part two of the book is very worthwhile as well, but has limited commentary.

Personal taste probably comes into this too, but here's my take:

Jowa vs Akaboshi - pg 11
Yasui Sanchi - pg 57
Kishimoto - pg 73
Ito Showa - pg 85
Gennan Inseki - pg 99
Yasui Sanchi - pg 138
Ito Showa - pg 164
Shuwa - pg 190
Ota Yuzo - pg 244
Ota Yuzo - pg 276
Inoue Matsumoto Inseki - pg 312
Ito Showa - pg 322

You can probably play through the games above in order to get a feeling for Shusaku's evolution, and because some of the openings in the later games make more sense after seeing the commentary in the earlier games. It's not that important though. If you don't have much time, just dip in randomly and spend more time on the games that interest you.

At your level, I'd recommend you pay some attention to the shapes they're making and try to get a feeling for the flow of the stones in these games.

If for some reason you have some extra time, here are a few more to check out:

Ito Showa vs Inoue Matsumoto Inseki - pg 203
Hattori Seitetsu - pg 351
Takegawa - pg 125
Hayashi Yubi - pg 357
Shuho - pg 369

Have fun and let us know how it goes!

P.S. I wrote an article based on the Kishimoto game here: http://gogameguru.com/go-technique-induction/ - even though it's not the 'best' game in the book, I think it's one of the most instructional. I've added a lot of my own commentary.

David

[karaklis]

Since you've given your approximate rank, I've culled it down to twelve games where I remember having some sort of go epiphany, or which are just really brilliant.

I hope this is not asked too much... but which other games of your list would you recommend to 5k players?

[gogameguru]

Well, if you have the time they're all worth replaying .

Try the games in that list first, because in my opinion they're the best to learn from. Everyone is different though, maybe you won't like them as much as I do.

In addition you could try playing through any of the games commented by Miyamoto. John has noted which ones those are in the table of contents. Miyamoto's commentaries are very thorough and you can learn a lot about strategy and good technique from him.

If you want to play through part two, some of Shusaku's early games with Kishimoto and Kadano helped me a lot. Maybe it's because he was younger, I remember those games as being easier to follow. Those sort of natural fighting games (by any pro) always seem to help.

However, if you want to understand games with no comments, play through the commented ones first to understand the strategy and solve life and death problems too. The stronger you get at reading the less confusing pro games will become.

[xed_over]

A couple of my favorites from this book are:

game 11 (p85) vs Ito Showa (already mentioned in David's list above)
Shusaku is using his now famous fuseki which proved nearly invincible for him throughout his career. It seems Ito underestimated the 15 year old, resigning after 81 moves. They play another (game 12) right after and Ito lost again. The book says he must have been a bit embarrassed, since these games were played in Ito's hometown.

game 33 (p196) vs Ito Showa (taking black)
This time Ito plays Shusaku's own fuseki against the now 22 year old.

[charles2000]

Thanks very much everyone,

This was an even more busy time than I expected. I read _The Master of Go_ (also interlibrary loan, really liked it!) and a lot of _Invincible!_, and then got the brainwave to copy the games I wanted to play out later. I managed to catch most of the ones suggested above, and hope to get my own copy of the book someday. Hopefully there will be another printing.

Charles

[xed_over]

The Master of Go is a great book! And its the first game I ever tried to memorize -- which really made the book that much more enjoyable to read the 2nd time through.