Life In 19x19

I have said many, many times that yose does not mean endgame. It refers to boundary plays, which can happen at any time.

Here is an example where a yose-shoubu, or yose duel, starts as early as White 68. A yose duel, or boundary play duel, is the Japanese term for a strategy in which a player decides to settle the game by starting to wall off territories early.

This record follows two sources; in Takagawa's Collected Games 83 and 95 are transposed.

This is game four of Takagawa's famous first Honinbo title match. A full commentary of this game can be found in Modern Master Games Vol. 1 and Master Play: The Playing Styles of Seven Top Pros.