Go in the 20th Century

May 24, 2013 8:32 PM

What were some of the most important events that took place during the 20th century that changed the way players think of the game of Go?

I'm mostly just trying to remind myself of a change in the style younger players used which beat the older players in a way akin to the full-court press was used as described in Malcolm Gladwell's article below.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell

posted by slowlikemolasses to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Best answer: There's a Wikipedia page on this that might help.
posted by gerryblog at 5:28 AM on May 25, 2013

You might enjoy Yasunari Kawabata's novel The Master of Go.
posted by oulipian at 1:39 PM on May 25, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks. I see that there are several important events that took place, but was there one that changed the game in a way that some players believed was to the game's detriment?
posted by slowlikemolasses at 2:37 PM on May 25, 2013

If you're trying to remind yourself of a big style change in Go, it was probably the New Fuseki in 1930s Japan, where players suddenly started experimenting with opening strategies after centuries of ossification. For example, playing on the 3-3 point, which had not really been considered a valid strategy, became popular. It wasn't really a case in which suddenly the Davids started trouncing the Goliaths with their crazy new strategies, but it did revitalize the game. Playing this way was certainly seen as disrespectful by some, especially given that tradition is valued highly in Japan.

More recently there seems to be a trend to consider standard patterns (joseki) more concretely and less in terms of principles, leading to some ugly-looking moves that nonetheless function well. This seems to most prevalent in Korea.
posted by dfan at 6:07 PM on May 26, 2013