Sixteen Soldiers
This was played 1933-10-10 in the Oteai, between Kosugi Tei (Black) and Go Seigen. White won by resignation.
The reputation of this game is based on the consistently unconventional opening, one of the most striking of the whole shinfuseki period.
White has a leisurely attack going in the centre now; but no secure territory at all. Charles Matthews
Lynx: Woh! How can black dare to leave such a group floating in such danger? Or am I overreacting? Is the danger not so big? But how to form eyes?
Calvin: Well, not to spoil it for you too much, but black in fact does live and in fact is never in much trouble because white doesn't try hard to kill. White's position is a bit thin, after all. But from what I can tell, the black group in the center isn't really useful other than preventing a total omoyo strategy from white. White eventually does get in some useful forcing moves against the black group, but perhaps surprisingly it doesn't seem to be the focus of the game. White winds up making a large corner in the lower left and prevents black from expanding too much. It looks to me like it developed as a moyo vs. territory game.
erikpan: This goban was so surprising I physically jumped slightly when I saw it :) Can anyone post the .sgf here? I need to find out what happened!
The complete sgf is available on GoBase and probably in other places.
See also: commentary at Shin Fuseki-Ho.
(;SZ[19]FF[3] PW[Go Seigen] WR[5d] PB[Kosugi Tei] BR[4d] EV[Oteai] RO[Autumn Session, Round 2 of 9] DT[1933-10-10,11] PC[Nihon Ki-in] TM[9h] KM[0] OH[B-W-B] RE[W+R] GC[Go won Round 1, scheduled for 4 October, by default because of illness of Segoe 7d] US[GoGoD95] ;B[qc];W[dp];B[qq];W[dd];B[jj];W[pj];B[cj];W[fj];B[jc];W[jf];B[jq];W[jn] ;B[lj];W[pd];B[pc];W[od];B[re];W[pg];B[qo];W[on];B[jl];W[np];B[gq];W[gn] ;B[cg];W[gd];B[gb];W[cl];B[gc];W[ce];B[di];W[ll];B[lk];W[kl];B[kk];W[ik] ;B[bl];W[bm];B[bk];W[eq];B[lq];W[kp];B[jp];W[jk];B[ki];W[ir];B[hq];W[kq] ;B[kr];W[jr];B[lr];W[lp];B[hr];W[mq];B[mr];W[nr];B[oq];W[nq];B[iq];W[ms] ;B[is];W[fr];B[ho];W[dm];B[go];W[lh];B[hi];W[fh];B[jg];W[bf];B[bi];W[kg] ;B[ig];W[qn];B[rn];W[rm];B[ro];W[kc];B[jd];W[kd];B[db];W[eb];B[ec];W[dc] ;B[fb];W[cb];B[ea];W[oc];B[rg];W[qm];B[cn];W[bn];B[co];W[cm];B[eo];W[do] ;B[fn];W[dn];B[il];W[hk];B[hl];W[gk];B[ml];W[mm];B[nk];W[qs];B[rs];W[gl] ;B[in];W[km];B[nm];W[gm];B[hn];W[nn];B[kb];W[lb];B[ke];W[le];B[jb];W[je] ;B[bg];W[ca];B[mn];W[lm];B[ko];W[lo];B[jo];W[om];B[nh];W[nl];B[qi];W[pb] ;B[qb];W[nb];B[qj];W[qd];B[rd];W[ng];B[pa];W[rk];B[oh];W[og];B[la];W[mb] ;B[ie];W[fe];B[bc];W[cc];B[ee];W[ed];B[fd];W[fc];B[if];W[kf];B[fd];W[pp] )