Life In 19x19

It was intresting. I wonder what game this is?

I don't know, but I do know that viewing the picture as it is posted is really hard

Right click -> view image should produce a scaled version in every browser I know.

The picture is a little out of focus. I went to the Museum of Natural History in New York City 24 years ago, during the fifth U. S. Go Congress, with Nakayama Noriyuki 6p and Takagi Shoichi 9p, both of whom were very knowledgeable about Go history. And we saw a go board with a game position on it. The board was interesting in that it was a beautiful kaya board with the grain running diagonally on the playing surface. I can't tell from the photograph whether this is the same board or whether the game position is the same. They couldn't identify the game but both were sure it was a Meiji era game (late 19th century), possibly one of Honinbo Shuho's games.

Dusk Eagle wrote:Right click -> view image should produce a scaled version in every browser I know.

While that is certainly true, I don't think there is anyone that benefits from the way the picture is currently posted (I have a 27" display with 2560x1440 resolution, and it is useless in viewing the picture as it is).

sharper image http://4travel.jp/overseas/area/north_a ... ct18501750

I converted the pic to sgf and ran it through moyogo updated with my older version of GoGOD database and the pattern search for didn't show up for any pro games.

Here is my test sgf if anyone wants to try pattern search on their own.

My guess is that it's a dan amateur game. Although I can see why Nakayama Noriyuki and Takagi Shoichi might think it's from the Meiji era with these two corner shapes, I don't think it's likely:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . . . .
$$ | . . . , X . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ -------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . X . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . . . .
$$ | . . 2 , . . . . .
$$ | . . 1 X . . . . .
$$ | . . 4 3 . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ -------------------[/go]

The problem is that the following corner pattern only begins to appear regularly in the middle of the 20th century:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . O . . . . . . .
$$ | . X O O . O . . .
$$ | . X X . . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . O . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ -------------------[/go]

As for the last corner, I don't quite know what it derived from (although I have some guesses). But the resulting position seems to have been created from the fighting that took place in that area, and could have occurred before any joseki fully formed.