American Go E-Journal
February 14, 2021
by Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister Hashimoto On February 2 Ishida Yoshio finally played his third game – picking up his second win -- in the Honinbo League, over Sakata Eio. By the end of the month, Kato Masao had played…
February 7, 2021
by Keith L. Arnold hka with Patrick Bannister Ishida (r) defeats Takemiya Hashimoto Utaro vs Otake, with Miss Miyashita and Liljana Atanasova Ishida Yoshio won the second game in his defense of his Nihon Kiin Championship Title on…
December 26, 2020
by Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister As of December 17th, Fujisawa Hosai 9 dan and Honda Kunihisa 8 dan hold the early lead at 2-0 in the 10th Meijin League. Only one round has been played in the 26th Honinbo league. As we…
November 28, 2020
This month's mystery pro question turned out to be much harder than I thought. I asked you to identify the man in the picture at right, share his importance to Western go and finally, explain why we celebrate him this month. Well, we…
November 11, 2020
by Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister Fujisawa Shuko Meijin followed up on his victory with another title final. However, perhaps exhausted by his effort against youthful Rin Kaiho, he was defeated by his longtime rival, Sakata…
October 16, 2020
by Keith Arnold, ska, with Patrick Bannister Sad news on October 8, Germany’s Dr. Felix Duebell ( left ), passed away at age 90. Known as the “German Honinbo,” Dr. Duebell studied under Shusai and was the recipient of the first Okura…
September 17, 2020
by Keith L. Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister On September 9 a young man traveled to Japan from Seattle, intending to stay for one year. That man was James Davies, and I think he has been there ever since, producing many of the true…
August 22, 2020
Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister Fujisawa Shuko (left) defeats Sakata Eio I was pleased that I was not the only one to struggle with identifying Takagi Shoichi, pictured last month. It takes a pro to know one,…
August 9, 2020
We have a winner! The mystery go player shown in the last 50 years aGO is Takagi Shoichi, 9-dan. We had a number of incorrect guesses, including Noriyuki Nakayama – well-known for his wide and infectious smile -- and Takagawa Kajiwara,…
August 4, 2020
“Is the photo a very young Ishida Yoshio?” wonders Shai Simonson, in response to our recent 50 years aGO stumper: Who’s pictured in the photo at left? Hints were that he attended a U.S. Go Congress and wrote an Ishi Press book.…
July 12, 2020
Keith Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister Our feature photo this month was originally captioned "Clash of the Titans: Takagawa vs. Go Seigen in the 18th Ōza Tournament," 9 July 1970. Takagawa (left, in photo at right) was by this time…
June 25, 2020
Keith Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister On June 4 the Nihon Kiin Igo Festival was held. There were a variety of events, but the greatest excitement was created by the 2nd place finish in the All-Japan Ladies Amateur Championship of…
May 30, 2020
by Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister May was dominated by Rin Kaiho's defense of the Honinbo Title against challenger Sakata Eio. Already down a game, Sakata lost a bitter half pointer in the second game (top right) on May…
April 24, 2020
by Keith Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister Deprived of face-to-face go, we gaze with great longing at this fantastic photo of the climax of the 24th Honinbo league on April 8, 1970 (right) . In the foreground at left is my favorite…
March 22, 2020
by Keith Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister The Third British Go Congress took place on March 21 and 22. A visiting Japanese 4 dan, a Mr. Akiyama, won the British Open Championship, narrowly defeating John Diamond 3 dan who was…
February 22, 2020
by Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister Humbled by drafting this column in the midst of John Power’s latest excellent reports from Japan , we bring you a slightly less up-to-date view of the Honinbo and Meijin leagues. Fifty…
January 28, 2020
Keith Arnold, hka with Patrick Bannister Perhaps the best evidence of time flying appears in an ad in the January issue of Go Review. A Deluxe Go set is offered for sale - Cherry bowls, 7.5mm Clamshell and Slate stones and a two inch…
December 24, 2019
Keith Arnold (hka) with Patrick Bannister On December 10 we see the daughter of the great Kitani, then Kitani Reiko 6 dan (right), defeating Honda Sachiko 4 dan to even up her defense of the 16th Ladies Honinbo Title. She would lose…
November 20, 2019
This month we start a new feature, as we look back fifty years in world Go. by Keith Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister On November 14, 1968, the Nihon Kiin celebrated Rin Kaiho’s victory as the 8th Meijin. He towers above the…