Souba

    Keywords: Go term

Japanese: 相場 (souba)

A term used in game commentary by Japanese pros. If a player makes a mistake leading to a bad position the pro may correct the mistake and show a natural resulting position and call this souba. There is an implication that this is the best both players can do in the situation.

Example:

[Diagram]

Souba

From [ext] this Japanese go magazine site, the commentary says that B1 and W2 are souba.


Bill: Hi, Velobici. I think maybe souba in this context means assessment. The pro is saying, this is how I assess the situation.

Bob Myers: Pending some of our experts weighing in I will comment. Souba means "market price", most often in the context of equities, commodities or currency markets. Its use in go is as the original commentator wrote, although the term could also be applied in a wider context, including describing a move actually played. If forced to choose a single word to translated souba, I might choose "reasonable (outcome)".

Bill: Thanks, Bob. I have been searching the web for examples, but have only found generalities, such as Go is souba, The Japanese style of go emphasizes souba, and This game is not souba. From some of what I have found I have gotten the impression not of best, but of not bad, or not greedy; or, as you say, reasonable.

Bob McGuigan: In my experience the term is used when explaining how things should turn out if mistakes are/were not made, so I'd pick "fair" as an English descriptive term. I don't mind "best" in the sense of "given the starting situation, with all it's flaws, this is about the best both sides can do" i.e. a result that is fair for both. This is consistent with "reasonable" and "market price", but these quibbles are only important for translators aren't they? I doubt that souba will be taken into English as a go term.

John F. I discussed this term in an article on Wang Xi in New In Go, item 20. Sometimes I translate as "par".

Bill: Thanks, guys. The New in Go article talks about souba as a style of go.


This is a copy of the living page "Souba" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2009 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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