Guo Seigen

Life in China

Wu Qingyuan was born on June 12, 1914 in the Chinese province of Fujian . Comes from an impoverished aristocratic family. His father, Wu Yizen, studied in Japan, where he started playing go and attended the Hohensia Club, founded by Honyimbo Shuho (Murase Shuho, 18th Honymbo ). Father taught Qingyuan to play go when the boy was 8 years old. At the age of 10, he began to attend the Haifeng Weather Club in Beijing, a year later he beat the strongest players of this club, so he was invited to the Japanese go-club, where he played several games with 1 dan players, winning all of them.

The witness of the match against the Japanese players was Yamazaki Yumin, a businessman familiar with Sogoe Kensaku , a well-known Japanese professional. Yamazaki told Sagoe that a young genius had been discovered in Beijing; immediately the idea arose of inviting Wu Qingyuan to Japan to study go. After Ivamoto Kaoru , 6 dan, and Kosugi Tei, 4 dan, who were in China, played several games with the boy in the summer of 1926 (of the four games with Iwamoto, three played on three stones handicaps, U won, and the last, on two stones, lost with a difference of two points, the only game with Kosugi on two stones was also won by U), Sugoe made a decision and set up a trip to study in Japan, where his talent could be fully revealed. Influencers related to Nihon Kiin , such as Inukai Mokudo and Prince Okura Kishichiro, were involved in organizing the training. The efforts were crowned with success, Wu was invited to Japan for two years. During this time, the Japanese government agreed to pay him a scholarship of 200 yen (at that time - about 100 US dollars) per year, Prince Okura acted as a trustee. In Japan, Wu Qingyuan became known as Guo Seigen (the hieroglyphic spelling of his name is pronounced in Japan).

At the request of his father, who decided that his son was still too young, the trip was postponed for two years. In 1927, Wu Qingyuan became the Weizi Champion of China. In the same year, he played a match against Inoue Kokhei, a Japanese professional 5th dan, who came to Beijing specifically to test the strength of a young genius. In the first game, on two gems of handicap, W easily won. The following games were held without a handicap, Wu played black. In the second game on move 137, Inoue, in a much worse position, put down the game, and it remained undefeated. In the third installment, U won, and only in the last Inoue could win. Returning to Japan, Inoue said that Wu is even more talented than they talked about. After studying the party records brought by Inoue, Sogoe was convinced that U is a genius, and he needs to start serious training as soon as possible in order to develop his abilities. According to Segoe, Wu's playing style was reminiscent of Honimbo Shusaku , one of the strongest players in Japanese history.

At the end of 1927, Sugoe wrote to U and formally invited him to Japan. It is significant that such a respectful letter was addressed to a 12-year-old child.

I received your letter through Mr. Yamazaki. Thank you very much. Despite the fact that I do not know you personally, I learned from Iwamoto that you are a young but great player. After studying your three games against Inoue, I became convinced of the exceptional strength of your game even more. I was hoping that if time and health allowed me, I would come to China to see you in person. Unfortunately, and to my deep disappointment, this is most likely impossible now.

I sincerely hope that you will quickly grow up and be able to finally come to Japan. Then we could do go together. I also hope that one day you will become a Meijin.

I asked Yamazaki to forward you the 1st and 2nd volumes of my recent publication. If you study them before your arrival in Japan, it will be a great honor for me. I also attached my fake comments to the two games between you and Lee, the recordings of which were published in the June issue of Kido Magazin. I also send my article on the current state of go in China. I apologize for publishing these articles without your permission.

In conclusion, I would be very grateful if you would convey my best wishes to all the Chinese go players. I wish you the best of health.

In 1928, Sagoe’s pupil, Hashimoto Utaro , 4th dan, traveled to China to play with U. The boy won both games.

Finally, on October 18, 1928 , at the age of 14, Wu Qingyuan set off for Japan. Part of the money for the trip, 500 yen, was allocated by Chinese General Ga Yu-tan ^[1] .

Starting a professional career in Japan

After Guo Seigen's arrival in Japan, the question arose about his official qualifications. On the one hand, according to existing rules (as in the opinion of most players), a professional had to start from the 1st dan, and receive the subsequent ones, playing in tournaments. On the other hand, it was clear that he plays no weaker than the 3rd dan. An exam was specially organized - a match of three parties. In the first Go, Black defeated Sinohara Masami, 4 dan. In the second, playing on two stones the handicap defeated Honimbo Shusai, Meijin, the holder of the 9th Dan; Shusai was the strongest player in Japan, was considered invincible, for 3 dan to play with him on just two stones the handicap was a great honor. In the third installment, black with no handicap, Guo defeated Murasima Yoshinori with a difference of five points. As a result, Guo Seigen received the 3rd dan at the age of 14 (at that time, only a few of the Japanese professionals at that age reached at least the first dan).

In Japan, Guo began to speak actively and continued his in-depth study of the game. His tournament successes were phenomenal: by 1932 he had 44 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw in the 50 official games he played. In 1932, Guo Seigen received the 5th dan, becoming one of the strongest players in Japan (at that time, except for Hongimbo Shusai, there were no players above 7 dan in Nihon Kiin).

After the “Manchu incident” (the invasion of Japanese troops in China on September 18, 1931 ), Guo Seigen’s position in Japan became twofold: he was Chinese, while he lived and played in Japan, which attacked his homeland. Because of this, the tournaments and matches in which Guo Seigen participated were perceived, to a greater or lesser extent, as competitions between China and Japan.

The development of "new Fuseki"

Japanese go has long been dominated by the theory of fuseki (the beginning of the game in go), which considers it most correct to make the first moves in the lump (the intersection point of the 3rd and 4th lines from the corner of the board). The moves to the san-san (intersection of 3 lines), point 5-5, and even more so to the center of the board were considered uniquely bad. Guo Seigen was one of the first to experiment with non-standard first moves, starting the game with “forbidden” moves. The “high” moves (farther from the edges than tradition demanded) allowed the party to more actively influence the center from the very beginning and thus gain an advantage in development. The “low” move to the san-san gave a solid occupation of the corner, and in combination with non-standard moves to other corners, it could also be very strong. New beginnings required serious study, invention of new variants of joseki . This work was done by Guo Seigan in collaboration with another talented young player - the Japanese Kitani Minoru . It is believed that the theory of “new fuseki” was developed by Guo and Kitani at the hotel of the resort town of Jigoku-dani in Shinshu province.

Having begun to actively use the “new fuseki” in tournament parties, Guo and Kitani made excellent innovations for their innovations with victories, interest many players. The appearance of the “new fuseki” was compared with the fresh wind, which brought an update to the Japanese go.

Match of the Century

In 1933, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper organized a tournament of the 16 strongest professionals in Japan. The winner of this tournament received the right to challenge the strongest Japanese player, Meijin Honjimbo Shusai , to the match. Guo Seigen won this tournament by defeating Kitani Minoru and Hashimoto Utaro . The match from one game between Guo and Hongimbo Shusai was called the "match of the century", and there was every reason: on the one hand, the strongest of the old players participated, the hereditary head of the Hongymbo school, 59-year-old meijin, who represents the traditional, "old" Japanese on the other hand, a young 19-year-old genius, one of the authors of revolutionary changes in the theory of go, and even a Chinese by origin.

The match began on October 16, 1933 . He played according to traditional rules, without using the innovations of the 20th century: Guo played black, Komi was not used. The time control was very large - 24 hours for each player, and the game was postponed at the request of the meijin, during his course, without recording a secret move, which gave him the opportunity to think about his moves outside the playing time. The breaks between the playing days were long, several days, the players were not forbidden to spend this time at home, so the meijin had the opportunity to postpone the game in case of a difficult situation and slowly analyze it outside the official time limit.

The start of the match aroused general interest and even indignation of many old players. Guo Seigen turned the party not only into a match between the “old” and “new” players, but also into a competition between traditional theory and “new fuseki”: he started the game with moves to the san-san, diagonal khoshi and tengen. All three of these moves were considered unacceptable by the old Hongyimbo school at the beginning of the game. Shusai responded with “classic” moves in a ball, contrasting the new trends with the strength of a proven tradition.

The party was almost equal, with a minimal meijin advantage. Honimbo Shusai actively used his privileged position. So, on the eighth game day, only two moves were made: Shusai made his move, postponed from the previous game day, Guo answered two minutes later, and then, after thinking for three hours, Shusai postponed the game again. During the match, Shusai fell ill, which is why the game dragged on even more.

By the 159th move, the position still remained equal, opinions about it were different, some commentators preferred Guo. The turning point was White’s 160 move, also made after many days of deliberation. This move immediately received the most enthusiastic reviews. He turned the tide of the fight, allowed Shusai to get ahead and win the match with a two-point advantage. The game ended on January 19, 1934 , taking more than three months, due to constant postponement and multi-day breaks between playing days. During these three months there were only 14 gaming days (the game was postponed 13 times).

Despite losing the “match of the century”, Guo’s game was very much appreciated. It was obvious that Guo was playing almost equal with Hongimbo Shusai.

Subsequently, there were rumors that the 160th move was not found by Shusai himself, but by his student Maeda Nobuaki, 6th dan. Sagoe Kensaku spoke about this in a private conversation, his words were quoted in the Yomiuri Shimbun, contrary to the informal nature of the conversation, which caused a scandal. There has never been official confirmation of this version, but the very fact of the appearance of rumors was one of the reasons for adopting a more stringent time control procedure and postponing the game with a secret move , which does not give any player time advantages in considering the move.

1934-1938

In 1936, Guo Seigen, who had by that time already 7 dan, received citizenship of Japan. At the same time, he took the name Kureizumi, but later again replaced it with Seigen. In September of the same year, Guo became seriously ill, but he only went to the doctors in early 1937. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was hospitalized for more than a year, which is why he did not play in 1937. In 1938, barely leaving the hospital, he published comments on the “farewell party” - a one-party match between Honimbo Shusai and Kitani Minoru. Guo’s opinion about the match of the strongest players of that time aroused great interest.

Jubango Series

The pinnacle of Guo Seigen's go-career was a series of matches of 10 games (the so-called jubango ) against the strongest players in Japan.

• Kamakur jubango - September 1939 - October 1940 - against Kitani Minoru. Having won five out of the first six games, Guo forced Kitani to the tournament handicap (consisting in the fact that the loser of the two out of every three games plays black - this is considered evidence of the winner's serious advantage) and, ultimately, won the match.
• Against Karigane Junity, 8th dan (1942). After Guo won four of the first five games, the match was suspended without an official announcement of the result, for reasons of maintaining Karigane’s reputation and health. After this match, Guo Seigen received 8 dan.
• Against Fujisawa Kuranosuke (later changing his name to Fujisawa Hosai), 6th dan. Due to the difference in Danes, Fujisawa played all games in black. Guo lost the match with a score of 6-4, but Fujisawa failed to force him into the tournament handicap (more precisely, in this case, to reduce the tournament handicap), which confirmed the difference in two dan between the players.
• Against Hashimoto Utaro, 8 Dan (1947). The match was played by Guo Seigan after more than a two-year break - he has moved away from go for the last two war years. The first two games he almost failed, but in the third, Hashimoto made a mistake already in the yosé and lost by one point difference. After that, Guo began to win and brought the score to 6-2 in his favor, forcing Hashimoto to the tournament handicap.
• Against Iwamoto Kaoru, Hongimbo (1948). Guo won by a score of 5-1, forcing Iwamoto to the tournament handicap.
• Against ten players, 6-7 dan (1949). The match was played against four players of 6 dan and six - 7 dan. Against everyone except Takagawa Shukaku and Maeda Nobuaki, Guo played white without a Komi. He won 8 games, lost one and tied one. According to the results of this match, Guo Seigen received 9 dan, becoming the second player of 9 dan in post-war Japan.
• Against Hashimoto Utaro, Hongimbo (1950). Despite the Hashimoto tournament head start, adopted on the basis of the previous jubango, Guo won again, now with a score of 5-3-2.
• Against Fujisawa Kuranosuke, 9 dan (1951). Guo won with a score of 7-2-1. Fujisawa as a result was put on a black-white-black head start.
• Against Fujisawa Kuranosuke, 9th dan (1953). Guo won again, this time with a score of 5-1, forcing Fujisawa to black-black-black.
• Against Sakata Eyo (1953). Guo won by a score of 6-2 forcing the opponent to black-black-black handicap.
• Against Takagawa Kaku, Hongimbo (1955). Guo won with a score of 8-2, taking the opponent to the tournament head start.

Thus, over 15 years, Guo Seigen played 11 jubangos against the strongest Japanese players, in which he lost only once, moreover, if the opponent had a handicap. He forced most of his rivals to the tournament handicap, some even black-black-black, which then corresponded to a difference of 2 dan. Fujisawa Kuranosuke, after losing in the 1953 match, was forced to write a letter of resignation if he lost again. The only player to win the match against Guo Seigen on an equal footing was Sakata Eyo (he won the match of 6 games), but in their next meeting in jubango in 1953, he was defeated.

Retirement and Death

After the war ended, Guo Seigen lost his Japanese citizenship and lost membership in Nihon Kiin. He retained only the rank and title of "guest Nihon Kiin." This situation did not allow him to officially participate in competitions for the highest titles, so, despite the outstanding achievements and the proposals made to declare Guo Seigen as a meijin, he had few official titles. He won the Ooteai tournament six times, in 1958 and 1961 he won, respectively, the first and third places in the tournament "Strongest Player".

In 1961, Guo was seriously injured - he was shot down on the street by a motorcyclist and after that he could not fully recover. He participated in the first Meijin title, but did not succeed. Beginning in 1964, he played less and less, due to worsening health conditions. Formally, he remained an active player until 1983 , although he had played very little over the past 20 years and had no other notable successes. With official departure in 1983, he received the title of "Honorary Member of Nihon Kiin."

In 1987, I-go Club magazine conducted a survey among the strongest Japanese players, asking them to name the greatest player of all time. It was Guo Seigen who came first, ahead of such great Japanese players as Honimbo Dosaku and Honimbo Shusaku .

Guo Seigen died at the age of 100 at a hospital in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture ^[2] .

• “ Go Master ” - a biography film about Guo Seigen

• Guo Seigen Biography. Article on the website of the Federation of St. Petersburg
• Guo Seigen at go library
• The article "Guo Seigen - the greatest player of the XX century"
• Guo Seigan Parts