9-dan Showdown
John F. The book covers the three ten-game no-komi matches and the four-game match between Go Seigen and Fujisawa Kuranosuke. The latter match was actually the first showdown between the first two 9-dans in go. Two of the ten-game matches were also played under the banner of being between the only two 9-dans. All the games have detailed commentaries, and there is also much biographical and historical detail. In other words, the format is similar to Kamakura and Final Summit.
The book is scheduled to appear before the 2010 American Congress. It is not yet clear whether it will also be available at the 2010 European Congress. It will be large - both in format and in pagination.
The publisher is Slate & Shell.
The next book planned in the series is the match with Iwamoto.
- KoKs: New In Go
http://www.gogod.co.uk/NewInGo/MirrorGo_1.htm has the one of a miror go game of Fujisawa analysing. Though it appears to not to be included in the book. Sorry John, ;).
John F. I'm not at all sure what the above reference to New In Go means, and in any case there are now two commentaries on two Fujisawa mirror games there, but they are only indirectly related to 9-dan Showdown.
I can now reveal the book's contents. There are 341 large-format pages and Word tells me it has over 122,000 words (no wonder I've got sore fingers). The book is set. It just awaits a cover (which is nothing to do with me). I can't give any info on date of issue, except obviously very soon all being well (this note is dated 30 April 2010), or price, except that I gather it will be surprisingly cheap for a book of this size. Of course I'm biased but I think it's much more interesting than Kamakura.
Table of Contents
- Preface v
- The Players 1
- Go Seigen 1
- Fujisawa Kuranosuke 3
- Mirror go 7
- First ten-game match, Game 1: The one with the takamokus 12
- First ten-game match, Game 2: The one with the clash of horns 20
- First ten-game match, Game 3: The one with the unfinished josekis 25
- First ten-game match, Game 4: The one that defied common sense 30
- First ten-game match, Game 5: The one with the unusual ponnukis 35
- First ten-game match, Game 6: The one with the Shusaku watershed 42
- First ten-game match, Game 7: The one with Go Kiburi 46
- First ten-game match, Game 8: The one with the puttees 54
- First ten-game match, Game 9: The one with Hayashi Genbi’s move 57
- First ten-game match, Game 10: The one with integrated go 61
- First ten-game match, Game 2: The one with the clash of horns 20
- Prelude to the 9-dan matches 72
- Four-game match, Game 1: The one that made history 79
- Four-game match, Game 2: The one with the heirlooms 95
- Four-game match, Game 3: The one with the bent four in the corner 110
- Four-game match, Game 4: The one that was mirror go at last 120
- Four-game match, Game 2: The one with the heirlooms 95
- Interlude 1 126
- Second ten-game match, Game 1: The one with the double blunder 127
- Second ten-game match, Game 2: The one with the nylons 140
- Second ten-game match, Game 3: The one with the real quality 153
- Second ten-game match, Game 4: The one that was grumpy Fujisawa’s masterpiece 73
- Second ten-game match, Game 5: The one with the mystery voice and magic sword 91
- Second ten-game match, Game 6: The one with the excessive patience 207
- Second ten-game match, Game 7: The one with the three brilliancies 217
- Second ten-game match, Game 8: The one with the damsel in distress 234
- Second ten-game match, Game 9: The one with the fateful lapse 240
- Second ten-game match, Game 10: The one with the squabble 253
- Second ten-game match, Game 2: The one with the nylons 140
- Interlude 2 261
- Third ten-game match, Game 1: The one with the thick and thin 263
- Third ten-game match, Game 2: The one that got them to a nunnery 273
- Third ten-game match, Game 3: The one with White 8 is bad 280
- Third ten-game match, Game 4: The one with the guffaws 289
- Third ten-game match, Game 5: The one at the historic inn 296
- Third ten-game match, Game 6: The one with the away-day 308
- Third ten-game match, Game 2: The one that got them to a nunnery 273
- Postlude 321
- Appendix 1: Complete list of surviving games between Go and Fujisawa 325
- Appendix 2: Technical notes and Bibliography 327
- Index 328
- The Players 1
NB I tried reformatting but the page doesn't seem to accept my line breaks.
KoKs: I just point out a resource where people can take a quick sneak peek at a game in the book. I just edit your text a bit in order to be easier to read if you dont mind :).
John F. Koks, thank you for the reformatting trick, and I'm also grateful for the intention behind the New In Go sneak preview reference. But it is still misleading. The games there are NOT in the book, and also the treatment is quite different.
KoKs: My pleasure. And oops, im sorry. I edited it. I didnt know the content of your book ealier :).