John Fairbairn

English Go translator and knowledgeable historian. Co-producer (with the late T. Mark Hall) and vendor of the "Games of Go on Disk" database collection (GoGoD). He has been playing Go since 1965 and holds the rank of amateur 3 dan in the British Go Association. Apart from Go, he is a retired political journalist and technical translator.

Table of contents BOOKS BY JOHN FAIRBAIRN Books available as print-on-demand via Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon: Books available in e-form via Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon: Books available originally published by Slate & Shell. As Slate & Shell have ceased paper publications, these are harder to track down. But several have been converted to digital form by them for SmartGo, and work on conversion or re-printing is continuing. Available (as of April 2019) for SmartGo (gobooks.com) interactive books on PCs, Apple and Android devices: Book available in German: Translated by John Fairbairn Links

BOOKS BY JOHN FAIRBAIRN

Books available as print-on-demand via Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon:

• ''UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

Shortly after completing his ten-game "Kamakura" match against Kitani Minoru, Go Seigen began a similar match against  veteran Karigane Junichi. It spanned 1941 and 1942, but ended halfway through. Go was so dominant that the match was halted after Game 5 to save the old man further embarrassment. The games that were played are given with full pro-based commentaries. But Karigane was no patzer. A further, fully commented game of his against Takabe Dohei is given to prove that. The other three games Karigane played against Go are also given - in one of them he scored a jigo draw. Apart from his skill on the go board - he was touted as a likely successor to Honinbo Shuei rather than the eventual Honinbo Shusai - Karigane was one of the more fascinating figures in the go world. This book gives a full account of his career, and so includes much of the history of the Hiseikai and the Keiinsha. His style is a remarkably close fit with that of Yasui Chitoku and so readers of "Genjo-Chitoku" will find another layer of insight here. The book is in colour, with a full index which incorporates Go Wisdom references. An e-version has appeared before. This is the first paper version.

• ''FINAL SUMMIT

This book was originally published by Slate & Shell as a follow-on from their version of my "Kamakura". Slate & Shell retired from paper publishing and so both books (and others) went out of print. I have since re-published "Kamakura", using the on-demand printing service offered by Amazon/Kindle, and now it is the turn of Final Summit.

    However, in both cases I have made significant changes, and so both on-demand versions can be regarded as more than second editions. The main changes are to do with formatting (diagrams being a huge component for any go book, that can be a colossal change; there is also the addition of functional colour) and the addition of a Go Wisdom component. For reasons of space, I do no repeat the entire Go Wisdom appendix that now appears in most of my book, but I do include an index to the various concepts. The idea that is a diligent student can thus find many examples of a host of concepts such as thickness, momentum or Mochikomi and see them in a wide range of contexts over several eras, usually with some commentary attached.

"Kamakura" had described the ten-game match between Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru from September 1939 to June 1941. Go then played a series of ten-game matches with a slew of the top players. The final one, covering 1955 and 1956, was with Takagawa Kaku who was then the long-reigning Honinbo. Go was not eligible for that event. In effect, therefore, his games with Takagawa were a kind of world championship. To milk this special situation, a series of seven three-game matches, from 1952 to 1961, between this pair were also held. All those game are also given here, all commented (but some lightly).

    Ten-game matches often suffer slightly from having early climaxes, and so some games at the end often attract little attention. This was certainly true in the case of this match. In any case, some games are just naturally shorter or less interesting than others, and so treatment from game to game is inevitably somewhat uneven.
    Nevertheless, the commentaries here are, as with "Kamakura", based on a raft of professional commentaries I have collected, together with insightful background information and more than a dash of modern database research. This research uses the always growing GoGoD database of, as I write (2025), over 130,000 games very many compiled by my late GoGoD colleague T Mark Hall (late in life he changed his name by deed poll from T. Mark Hall), who had also contributed in many other important ways to this book.
Before the game commentaries there is a separate section on the players’ biographies and background. Takagawa is an exceptionally fascinating personality. In the case of Go, however, I have here included only the barest summary of his early life and would refer the reader to "Kamakura" and other books on his ten-game matches for more detail.
   Likewise for technical matters such as details of the uchikomi system and also the choice of terminology, discussed in an appendix there. The bibliography in "Kamakura" will also apply for this book and so only a few extra items are shown. Avoiding the repetition of this material will make this book more compact and so more affordable. Go for amateurs is meant to be fun, but it’s hard to think of it that way if your pocket feels singed.
   This series of books may not be the cheapest series in the go world, although several reviewers of "Kamakura" kindly remarked how inexpensive it was given its size, but I can assure you that you are getting the fruits of an awful lot of time spent by myself and T Mark, and by the original publisher (Bill Cobb), too.
    Best of all, you are getting the essence of games by possibly the best player of the 20th century, Go Seigen, and a rival, Takagawa Kaku, then close to the peak of his powers as Honinbo, whose style is well known and loved in the west.

• ''GO CONSULTANTS

In 1934, at the height of the New Fuseki craze, the Hochi Shinbun newspaper devised a match which pitted the two leading proponents of New Fuseki, Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen, against two traditionalists - their teachers, Suzuki Tamejiro and Segoe Kensaku. But this was no ordinary game. It was an attempt to get the "perfect game" and so the two sides were allowed to confer. Not only that, they could make trial moves on a separate board, and they were given plenty of time to discuss their moves - sixteen hours each spread over five full playing days.

The newspaper's reporter recorded the consultations and daily instalments appeared in the newspaper. A little later, these were compiled into a book. That was an entire book on just one game!

Just in case that was considered heavy going, the newspaper readers were also given frequent dollops of historical anecdotes. These did not always shed light directly on the consultation game itself, but they were  mostly not well-known stories and so they form a delightful sideshow. More than that, perhaps, they changed the pace of the commentary, and usefully both allowed and encouraged readers to absorb the different nuances of each player's comments, which not only revealed much about their style of thinking but also about their individual characters. This will be especially useful to readers of previous books by John Fairbairn, because these players have featured there frequently and in some depth.

Because of the generous space allotted to the commentary, readers could see how the top four active players of the time evaluated positions, how they chose their moves, how they thought about the endgame, how they managed their time - even how they still managed to make mistakes despite the generous time allowance and the chance to consult a partner! In particular, it seems that the biggest mistakes often arose because they were unable to predict the opponents' moves. But then we also see how they manage to recover.

The present book is based on the original Hochi Shinbun series, but contains many extras for the western audience. A attempt has been made to recreate the sensation that the original Japanese readers might have had, and so, as recommended by modern learning theory, follows the "effortful practice" format used in previous books by John Fairbairn. However, some of the effort is eased by the use of colour and extensive diagrams. Indexes are also included.

One intriguing aspect of this game is that the spellbinding attraction and utter bewilderment some people feel for go as played by today's AI bots matches rather well the almost orgasmic fascination the Japanese of the 1930s felt for New Fuseki. They too wanted to know how New Fuseki altered go theory. The Hochi Shinbun games (there were two later ones as well) at least showed them how top pros approached the problem of trying to make sense of new go theory. The lessons are still valid in the present AI age.

This unique book appeared originally in the GoGoD Encyclopaedia before appearing in a much truncated paper version published by Slate & Shell in 2007. The present 2024 version restores all the truncated parts and adds new material (in particular, an AI post-mortem is added to supplement the post-mortems by the four players), so that it now has twice as many pages in the same-size format.  The format, with many diagrams, the chatty text and the anecdotal material make this an ideal book for reading in bed. But, at a more serious level, it should be noted that this book in combination with the similar book Great Unexpectations gives a rare yet highly detailed - and surprising - insight into how professional players think. This insight carries over into how we have to view the human approach to what AI can teach go players.

2024 was chosen for the re-issue because it was a significant date for go. It marked the 100th anniversary of the Nihon Ki-in.

• ''GREAT UNEXPECTATIONS

In 1907, a ten-game match between arguably the world's best two go players of the time - Honinbo Shusai and Nakagawa Senji - began. It was of profound significance for professional go. Game 1 was the first game with commentary published by any of the newspapers or general magazines that had sprung up in Japan in the late 19th century, in imitation of the West. Its success led to almost every significant Japanese newspaper hosting a go column, and then sponsoring tournaments. The business model is the one that continues successfully in Japan to this day. The sponsoring magazine in this case was "Nihon oyobi Nihonjn" (Japan and the Japanese), indicative of the return to traditional attitudes and pursuits prevalent then in Japan, as fascination with western bling wore off. But it was a novel, not a traditional, approach that was taken. A journalist representing a panel of "duffers" watching the game gave the opinions himself and fellow spectators, and --  not unexpectedly, perhaps -- they expressed surprise at many of the masters' moves. But what was unexpected, when the masters' very substantial comments (as a conversation between just themselves) were given at the end of each game, was that the masters were also surprising each other with a vast number of their moves. Even modern readers will be astonished at the thought processes revealed. But the comments do also give a uniquely clear insight into what was going on in each game. This book of a little over 100 pages gives a translation, from the original classical Japanese, of all the comments on each of the six games played. The format deliberately follows the original format, which means no variation diagrams. But that worked in Japan, and even for us promotes the "effortful study" now so lauded in the West as the way to true mastery. But, quite apart from the undoubted value of the games in understanding and appreciating the thought processes professional go, the match itself deserves rather more than a mere milestone in go history. The book also reveals a rather unknown and attractive side of Honinbo Shusai, both in his humble comments on the game and in "reminiscences" of his youth when (and, more interestingly, why) he set out to run a missing persons bureau. His evident desire to emulate Pip in Great Expectations and amass a fortune somehow adds to his charm.

• ''ARCHERS OF YUE

Go Seigen (Wu Qingyuan in Chinese; 1914 ~ 2014) has a reputation, rightly, of being a go genius. Almost all commentaries on his games, however, relate to the times when he was in the ascendant. Times when he made very few mistakes. This creates a slightly warped view of his long career. He was not so dominant when he began that career. Indeed, he made a plethora of mistakes then. But that is not to diminish him. Seeing the kind of mistakes he made and how he learned to overcome them adds richly to a true appreciation of his enormous talent.

Among the very first games arranged for Go when he arrived in Japan at the age of 14 in October 1928 was a series of 13 games in which Go (Wu in Chinese) was likened to Sun Zi, the military genius who helped the kingdom of Wu in their rivalry with the kingdom of Yue. His opponents. a different one in each game but all the rising stars of the Japanese go scene, were the archers of Yue.

In all these games, now very rarely seen, Go, as a lowly 3-dan, took Black. In fact, he had Black in nearly all his games until 1933. We therefore get to see how Go mastered the art of having first move in no-komi games. Much of the time he followed Honinbo Shusaku, whose games he studied in depth in China. But we also see surprising new ideas clearly based on his equally avid study of the old Chinese masters.

All the games are given here with commentaries in Go Wisdom format, based on comments from pros of the time, including the players themselves. Anecdotal biographies are given for each opponent. A full, indexed Go Wisdom appendix is included, so that the reader can study the games to a depth well beyond that of the commentaries themselves, and also use the concept data in conjunction with data in other Go Wisdom books. Go Wisdom is a new approach is a new way to study used in the most recent GoGoD books produced by John Fairbairn. There are several components. One is that the commentaries (all, as here, based on multiple pro opinions) are given without variation diagrams. Instead, variations are described in the text, using letters on the board as necessary. The idea - in line with the theory of effortful practice for optimal learning - is to force the reader to visualise the variations, both in their flow and their final shape, rather than just glancing at a diagram. A second major component is a large appendix in every book which discusses all the technical terms that appear in each book, and also very many that don't. The idea here is to offer the reader information that he may want but that does not appear in the text. It thus indirectly enhances and broadens the commentary, but through the efforts and thinking of the reader - again in line with best study theory. The third main component is that every technical term in the book is indexed in each book, in the GW appendix. This means that if the reader wishes to study the broader aspects of a particular concept (e.g. thickness or momentum), he can look up many commented examples in the various Go Wisdom books, which tend to be large and so have very many examples. Existing books with the Go Wisdom concept include "Genjo-Chitoku", "Games of Shuei", "The Teenage Meijin" and the various books on commented old Chinese games in the author's Museum of Go Theory project.

• ''FIVE-STAR KITA FUMIKO

Kita Fumiko of Japan was the world's first really strong professional go player. Unlike today's female professionals, her achievements were entirely against men. For her, 1911 was an annus mirabilis in which she achieved the relatively rare achievement of five wins in a row. In modern terms, that would represent winning a title match. But apart from her exploits on the go board, she was a major figure in general go history. She played a huge role in resolving the factionalism that bedevilled go in early 20th century Japan. She acted as a kind of surrogate mother for the young boy from China who was to become famous as Go Seigen. She taught most of the female players who became prominent in Japan after her. She remains the only woman to be inducted into go's Hall of Fame. This book is an account of her annus mirabilis, with commentaries on five of her games by the top players of the age, including Honinbo Shusai (whom she defeated). An in-depth, illustrated account of Kita's go life, style and influence is given, with full biographical details of her opponents and commentators. An important motive for producing this book was to provide a significant role model for female players in the west. But for go players in general, it also provides an even deeper look into go history already amply covered in the author's previous books.

• ''ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF CLASSICAL GO PROBLEMS Volumes 1 and 2

Volume 1: Wangyou Qingle Ji and Xuanxuan Qijing

by John Fairbairn

You want a book that makes learning life & death go problems fun, that helps you understand and remember all those wrinkles, that makes sense of all those knotty themes, that provides comprehensive solutions at pro level? In short, a book that can be considered definitive?

Well, here it is. This is the first volume of a projected series of problems from the Chinese classics. Japan and Korea often rehashed these works - as did the Chinese themselves, of course - but their main sources were the Chinese editions that go back a millennium. 

This definitive volume goes back to the earliest two known collections, the Wangyou Qingle Ji (Carefree & Innocent Pastime Collection) and the truly seminal Xuanxuan Qijing (Gateway to All Marvels). It thus covers over 500 problems, ranging from super-hard to cute. Each one was named. Many are beautiful, difficult, highly practical - or all three - but all are memorable. The names enhance the interest, understanding and memorisation of the problems, while also usually offering a clue to the solutions. The name of every problem is explained here, often in some depth (so giving a unique insight into Chinese history and culture). The fullest possible solutions (over 1,400 solution diagrams) are given on the basis of several centuries of opinions by the most expert players of the time in China, Japan and Korea. Sometimes the professionals differ among themselves! Some problems have over twenty variation diagrams. All known variants of each problem are given. This sometimes means a different solution to each alternative! This, too, promotes deep understanding of the problems.

In addition, all the various themes - around 70 - that occur in the problems (many newly identified here) are listed and explained in the solutions and in an overall thematic index. Not only are problems categorised, but the themes can be seen in order of frequency and thus importance. The combination of names, interesting allusions, and identifiable themes further ensures that the reader can truly absorb both the shapes and the dynamic principles inherent in each problem. The large number of variants further allows the reader to understand and remember the wrinkles within each theme.

The modern Chinese characters for each name are given and indexed, and a character-conversion appendix is also provided for those familiar with traditional characters via Japanese or Korean. There is also a very comprehensive general index (10 pages) to the text.

The book is in a large and well illustrated "coffee-table" format of 500 pages, and employs colour. It is the sort of book that graces and justifies that expensive kaya board you invested in.

WYQLJ = 37 problems, 90 solution diagrams XXQJ = 466 problems, 1,313 solution diagrams Total = 503 problems, 1,403 solution diagrams

Available worldwide on demand from Amazon/Kindle Publishing from May 2024.

Note that, in some respects, this book is a paper representation of the e-book Gateway To All Marvels (GTAM), but has been significantly expanded as regards problems, and the Wangyou Qingle Ji section is new. It does, however, exclude the old texts and other GTAM material not relating to the problems.

Volume 2: Shishi Xianji and Xianji Wuku, both Leather and Wood sections became available in December 2024. In the same format as Volume 1, it has well over 500 problems. The themes section has been extensively developed, as the problems are by and large rather different from Volume 1. Where problems are versions of those in Volume 1, the configurations are normally different and they have the benefit of editing by the great guoshou Guo Bailing.

Volume 3 is planned to be the Guanzi Pu.

• ''Eminence Grise - the Life & Times of Segoe Kensaku (available on Amazon as ISBN 9798856518459) was published in November 2023.

Callimachus, an Alexandrian Librarian under Ptolemy II, preferred shorter forms of poetry and expressed his disdain for long epic poems with the Greek phrase 'mega biblion, mega kakon' - big book, big bad. But Homer proved him wrong. This book hopes to prove Segoe Kensaku also deserves an epic. A case can be made for saying that Segoe was the most significant player ever in professional go. For a time, he was probably the strongest player in the world. He nurtured three dominant geniuses from the three main go-playing countries, Japan, China and Korea. He was pivotal in founding and then running the Nihon Ki-in. He kept the Honinbo tournament running during the war despite being a victim of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. After the war, his links with politicians enabled go to grow again and reach new heights. In retirement, he laid the foundations for expanding go worldwide, with personal visits and books. All this was done under the burden of an eye disease which, at the end of a long and eventful life, was probably the main factor in his dramatic suicide -- he could no longer play go. Just to describe his own, richly textured, life would take many words. But to understand it needs even more. After all, his long life spanned the three eras of Meiji, Taisho and Showa, in a culture we in the West are not really familiar with, given the rather different times and land he lived in. Considering also Segoe's central role in go's principal organisation, the Nihon Ki-in, a mega book about him seems especially appropriate. Be warned. First, the book is 466 pages long. Apart from a profusion of images, it is solid text. There are no games. However, as the text describes 100 years of the main activities in go, the games which feature at each point are highlighted in the text, and the corresponding games can all be found in the GoGoD database, so you can play your way through the story. Second, the book is about the "life and times" of Segoe. While the main focus is obviously on him and his role in all the big events, the text does wander off to explain those times he lived in, so that you can understand why he acted as he did. The result is that very much will be new to you. The proofreader (who is a 4-dan with several decades experience of the go world) said 80% to 90% of the content was new to him (the index alone is over 20 pages). This ranges from how the live-in pupil system worked to how politicians used go players for PR, from the atom-bomb game to playing go in prison, from how go in China and Korea differed in real practice to how Segoe and other pros were startled at how Japanese go was transmogrified in Hawaii, the USA and Europe (not always to their approval!). A further point is that 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the Nihon Ki-in. Segoe was central to the founding and running of this organisation. Twice, really, because he had to start all over again after the war. And in both cases, apart from finding resources and money, he had to deal with stroppy go players - jealousy, wayward pupils, rebellions, court cases. This book is also a salute to that centenary.

• ''Go in old Okinawa is a historical survey of go in the Ryukyu Islands, now usually just referred to as Okinawa, were once a major trading post on the "Silk Sea Road" midway between China and Japan. Both countries demanded tribute and so the Ryukyuans had to learn to please two masters at once for much of the time. They were also intermediaries between the two cultures, especially when Japan closed itself off to most of the rest of the world in Edo times. Culture in this case included go, which also had a diplomatic role, a role that involved hairpins.This book recounts what is known about go in old Okinawa itself (and about Ryukyuan chess), but also covers the Ryukyuan missions to Edo where go was a major theme. There are six mission games, all commented. There are also 12 ancient games from within Okinawa itself. Half feature a player who has been considered as of pro level. The ISBN is 979-8395940476 and the book (112 pages, medium format, in colour) is available on the usual Amazon on-demand outlets.

• ''100 Games of Chen Zixian is Book 5 in the Museum of Go Theory project, which looks at the evolution of go theory, mainly in the period 1600 ~ 1900, and mainly in China, which has by far the greatest amount of source material. The original was published in 1890. Chen was one of the two great guoshous of the 19th century. The other was Zhou Xiaosong. Zhou is sometimes referred to as the Chinese Shuwa (partly because he was born in the same year, 1820). The slightly younger Chen might be considered the Chinese Shusaku in that he too died tragically early. But rather than teacher and pupil, Chen and Zhou were great rivals who respected each other. They beat everyone else down to two stones, and when Chen died, that vacuum took the drive out of Zhou's go. He still made great contributions to late 18th century go, as he lived a rather long life, and the most notable was a great book of longish commentaries. The original book of Chen's games, compiled by an amateur fan, lacks commentaries, but does contain over a dozen games with Zhou, other even games (some very famous) with top players , and more than a sprinkling of handicap games, from two to four stones. But the milieu in which Chen and Zhou plied their trade was very different from that of Edo players in Japan. The opportunity has therefore been taken to add text to this new book by describing this milieu of Chen and Zhou and showing how it evolved. The book has thus become something of a fascinating romp through China’s go history. It goes back a long way at times, and scurries down some rabbit holes, but always with the aim has been to show how and why the 19th century scene evolved. Although the main focus is on anecdotes illustrating the lives of Chen and Zhou, the topics ranged over are the history of go in Yangzhou (the equivalent of Edo in Japan) and the history of Chinese grades, from the time of Mencius to Deng Yuanhui's comprehensive survey of 1895. You will meet the original Mulan, Stinky Toes, a chrysanthemum muncher, Iron Head, a carnivorous monk, a lovesick emperor, and a welshing viceroy, as well as everlasting sorrow, dreams. poetry clocks, broken sandals, 2x2 boards and silversmiths. And more! As a result, the go players of the past really come alive. The ISBN is 979-8393428563.

• ''In the early days of modern professional go in Japan, there were few players and the traditional handicap system was still in use. There were, therefore, next to no tournaments of the type we are used to: leagues and knockouts. The usual format was a win & continue. Because of the levelling-up implied in using handicaps, it was difficult to win a long sequence of games - no wins over weakies to pad out the sequence. Winning even five games in a row was quite rare, and when it happened it was marked with a special prize. It can be viewed rather like winning five games in a row in a 32-player knockout - except that it was somewhat harder. In a knockout, you can guarantee from its inexorable process that someone will end up with a five-star performance. But in a win & continue, when a player on 4 wins lost a game, the whole process had to start of all over again. But in 1911, Kita Fumiko did achieve the magic five. In effect, she won the equivalent of a tough modern title-match. On top of that, she did it by beating only men, and elite players at that. She was the world's first really strong professional go player. In addition, she played a pivotal role in go history, through easing the formation of the Nihon Ki-in and looking after Go Seigen. She also had a host of pupil, One of those is still playing, Mrs Sugucihi Kazuko. Kita remains the only woman to be inducted into go's Hall of Fame. This book describes her annus mirabilis, with commentaries on five of her games by the top players of the age, including Honinbo Shusai (whom she defeated in the W&C). It is an in-depth, illustrated account of Kita's go life, style and influence, with ample biographical details of her opponents and commentators. There is a special reason for this book. A reason which also explains why it is a small (i.e. very affordable) book. My hope is that it will give easy access to a significant role model for female players in the west. Mind you, she's a great role model for go players in general. It is available on-demand in Amazon. The title is "Five-star Kita Fumiko" and the ISBN is 979-8390858912.

• ''Brush, Ink, Go is the fourth book in my project entitled the Museum of Go Theory. It is a translation of Ji Xinxue's i?Yi Mo/i? 弈墨 which was published in China in 1662. It was the first truly significant book of go commentaries. 100 games are given, covering all the best players of the age (26 in all). This edition is presented both in the original classical Chinese and in English. Extensive notes on the players and the terminology (including Go Wisdom index) are provided.

• ''Go Seigen versus Archers of Yue. From November 2021, available on demand from Amazon. Go Seigen (1914 ~ 2014) has a reputation, rightly, of being a go genius. Almost all commentaries on his games, however, relate to the times when he was in the ascendant. Times when he made very few mistakes. This creates a slightly warped view of his long career. He was not so dominant when he began that career. Indeed, he made a plethora of mistakes then. But that is not to diminish him. Seeing the kind of mistakes he made and how he learned to overcome them adds richly to a true appreciation of his enormous talent. Among the very first games arranged for Go when he arrived in Japan at the age of 14 in October 1928 was a series of 13 games in which Go (Wu in Chinese) was likened to Sun Zi, the "Art of War" military genius who helped the kingdom of Wu in their rivalry with the kingdom of Yue. His opponents. a different one in each game but all the rising stars of the Japanese go scene, were the archers of Yue. In all these games, now very rarely seen, Go, as a lowly 3-dan, took Black. In fact, he had Black in nearly all his games until 1933. We therefore get to see how Go mastered the art of having first move in no-komi games. Much of the time he followed Honinbo Shusaku, whose games he studied in depth in China. But we also see surprising new ideas clearly based on his equally avid study of the old Chinese masters. All the games are given with commentaries in Go Wisdom format, based on comments from pros of the time, including the players themselves. Anecdotal biographies are given for each opponent. A full, indexed Go Wisdom appendix is included, so that the reader can study the games to a depth well beyond that of the commentaries themselves, and also use the concept data in conjunction with data in other Go Wisdom books.

• Wizardry from the Stone Chamber (c. 1590). A translation, with extensive notes, of a Ming dynasty go anthology attributed to Xu Gu. This is the second book in the series, Museum of Go Theory, designed to show how go theory evolved in China, but it can also be considered the foundation volume in that it appeared on the cusp of the main period coveted by the Museum series (1600~1900) and so presents a sort of benchmark of the level from which high-level theory evolved. The contents are old games (some with the first-ever inklings of commentary), old theory texts, an extensive openings (josekis and fusekis) catalogue, and a large life & death section (named problems, the names being explained by the translator),

• Evergreen Go Records (1682). A translation of the commentaries of 66 master games by Wu Ruizheng, himself a master. Over 20 players are featured, including Huang Longshi. With extensive notes on old Chinese go and the players. The original Chinese is also included. This is the second book in the series, Museum of Go Theory, designed to show how go theory evolved in China.

• Game Records from Evening Fragrance Pavilion (1754). A translation of the commentaries of 15 games by Cheng Lanru, one of the Four Great Masters of the 18th century in China and much admired by Hayashi Genbi in Japan. With extensive notes on old Chinese go and its players. The first book in a planned series, Museum of Go Theory, designed to show how go theory evolved in China, especially in the period 1600-1900.

• ''The Incident Room: Transgressions on and off the go board. A collection of historical incidents of rules transgression, rules dispute, rules etiquette, go diplomacy, and sometimes just plain daftness.

• ''Games of Shuei: with Commentaries: 133 commented games involving the Meijin of Meijins, Honinbo Shuei. In Go Wisdom format, a new colour enhaced format designed to encourage, facilitate and improve private study.

• ''Meijin of Meijins: The Life and Times of Honinbo Shuei. A full-length biography of perhaps the past player most admired by modern pros. (This book is also available in e-form as part of the trilogy below, The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei.)

• ''Genjo-Chitoku: Friends and Rivals at the Pinnacle of the Go World. All the games between two players of Meijin strength during the Rfo Golden Age of Go. Almost all commented, in Go Wisdom format, a new colour enhanced format to encourage, facilitate and improve private study.

• ''Peerless Pioneer: Games of the Great Senchi, Yasui VII Senkaku – commentaries on six games by the great Edo player hailed as the “Father of Modern Go.” There is also an authorised German edition - see below.

• ''The First Teenage Meijin: a detailed account of the 2019 Meijin title match in which Shibano Toramaru became the first teenage Meijin. All the games are fully commented, with colour background, and Game 5 is also comprehensively annotated with AI evaluations. The history of the Meijin is also covered in depth.

• ''Kamakura: There is now an Amazon n-demand version (in Go Wisdom Format) of the now out-of-print Slate & Shell version.

• ''Ogawa Doteki: Go Prodigy: Doteki, the foremost pupil of Honinbo Dosaku, has the brightest reputation of all go prodigies. This books looks at him and some other prodigies and gives a commented collection of all his known games

• ''Survivors: Matches between Go Seigen and Iwamoto Kaoru, 1948 ~ 1953.

Books available in e-form via Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon:

• ''The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei (three separate volumes). The original source of the present paper book. As of April 2019, paper versions are being prepared, with almost double the number of games.

• ''Inoue Genan Inseki. A short biography of one of go’s most fascinating characters.

• ''Gateway To All Marvels. See the SmartGo interactive version below.

Books available originally published by Slate & Shell. As Slate & Shell have ceased paper publications, these are harder to track down. But several have been converted to digital form by them for SmartGo, and work on conversion or re-printing is continuing.

• ''The Go Companion (with T Mark Hall). A pot pourri of articles on just about every aspect of go. A sort of bedtime book of go.

• ''The Go Consultants (with T Mark Hall). Detailed coverage of a famous consultation game featuring the actual thoughts of the players, including Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru.

• ''Kamakura. Extensive commentaries on the entire ten-game wartime match between Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru, with long biographical sections.

• ''Final Summit. Similar treatment for matches between Go and Takagawa Kaku.

• ''9-dan Showdown. Similar treatment for matches between Go and Fujisawa Hosai.

• ''The Meijin's Retirement Game: Honinbo Shusai versus Kitani Minoru. Includes extensive discussion of the Kawabata novel Master of Go based on this game.

• ''Old Fuseki versus new Fuseki: Honinbo Shusai plays Go Seigen. Includes extensive discussion of the famous Shin Fuseki-ho book.

• ''Power/Brilliance. A combined ‘flip-book’ that includes commentaries and historical background on (a) The Insha Game: Honinbo Shusai versus Karigane Junichi, and (b) Jowa’s Three Brilliancies: Honinbo Jowa plays Akaboshi Intetsu.

Available (as of April 2019) for SmartGo (gobooks.com) interactive books on PCs, Apple and Android devices:

• ''The Life, Games and Commentaries of Honinbo Shuei. This book combines all six books previously published on the Kindle: Life, Games (four volumes), and Commentaries.

• ''The Go Consultants. A version of the original Slate & Shell paper edition.

• ''Go Seigen's Ten-Game Matches, Volume 1. Four selected games from the original thirty games in the Slate and Shell paper edition of 9-dan Showdown.

• ''Gateway To All Marvels. A major treatment of the most influential go book ever produced, the Xuanxuan Qijing. All 466 problems from every known edition of this ancient Chinese classic are given, their names are explained, the various solutions are given and discussed (including many mistakes by pros), and the ancient accompanying texts are translated and annotated, including the Go Classic in Thirteen Chapters. The themes and key techniques of all the problems are also discussed and indexed.

• ''Unfinished Symphony. Extensive commentaries on the shortened ten-game match between Go Seigen and Karigane Junichi, with comprehensive historical background.

• ''New Ways in Go. A complete translation, with notes, of Honinbo Shuho's classic Hoen Shinpo.

• ''Today We Have a Splendid Feast. All the surviving problems from the 17th century graduated tsumego course devised by the Meijin Inseki, Dosetsu. An introduction describing Dosetsu and the story of the book is included.

• ''Wonders of Life and Death. Honinbo Shusai's 1910 tsumego classic, Shikatsu Myoki, with an introduction by me as the editor. It includes 120 problems (with solutions), most original and many taxing and ingenious.

• ''Honinbo Tournament – The Early Years. The Honinbo Tournament is go’s oldest annual tournament. This book describes in detail how it came about, and goes carefully through each of the early years in the 1940s and 1950s. The games of each title match up to Term 6 are given with rich commentaries (32 games), showcasing also the most famous players and anecdotes.

Book available in German:

• Die Partien des Großen Senchi. Yasui VII Senkaku

Translated by John Fairbairn

Links

• interview with John Fairbairn by Keith Arnold
• Amazon author biography