9-dan Showdown

    Keywords: Game commentary, Books & Publications

9 Dan Showdown
http://www.slateandshell.com/images/items/showdown%20conscon.jpg
By: John Fairbairn
Publisher: Slate and Shell, 2010
ISBN13 978-1-932001-55
335 pp.

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.


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
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
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
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
Postlude 321
Appendix 1: Complete list of surviving games between Go and Fujisawa 325
Appendix 2: Technical notes and Bibliography 327
Index 328

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 :).


This is a copy of the living page "9-dan Showdown" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2011 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About