(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:2]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[0.00]TM[144000]
GN[Master of Go, 11/8]PW[Honinbo Shusai]PB[Kitani Minoru]DT[1938-06-26,12-04]GC[Honinbo Shusai: 21st Honinbo (1874 - Jan 18, 1940)
]EV[Shusai's Last Game]PC[Tokyo, Hakone, Ito, Japan]SO[http://gobase.org/games/japan/masters/masters/shusai/game-3.sgf]US[J. Nievergelt, 11/1988]C[The Invincible Master's Last Game. Commentary and quotes taken from "The Master of Go". Recorded by Ron Reynolds using The Many Faces of Go and a text editor. In 1937, at the age of 63, Honinbo Shusai announced his plan to retire and that he would play one final game.
A tournament was organized among all 6-dans and above to decide Shusai's last opponent. Kitani Minoru won all 5 of his games, beating out such players as Kato Shin, Maeda Nobuaki, and even two of his
teachers, Kubomatsu Katsukiyo and Suzuki Tamejiro. This was the first game to adopt the sealed play system, meaning that the last move of a session was written down, unknown to anyone except the
player who played last, and only reveiled at the beginning of the next play session.
]RE[B+5.00]
;B[qd]CR[qd]C[First Session: June 26, 1939 - Koyokan A conservative opening for one of the pioneers of the New Fuseki. (The other pioneer being Go Seigen.)
]
;W[qp]CR[qp]C[Second Session: June 27 - Koyokan The Master's sealed move from the day before.
]
;B[dq]CR[dq]C[After 6 minutes of thought.]
;W[co]CR[co]
;B[ep]CR[ep]C[20 minutes of thought.]
;W[od]CR[od]C[41 minutes for White 6.]
;B[oc]CR[oc]
;W[nc]CR[nc]
;B[pc]CR[pc]
;W[md]CR[md]
;B[ne]CR[ne]
;W[oe]CR[oe]C[Third Session: July 11 - Hakone The Master's sealed move after 24 minutes of consideration.
]
;B[nb]CR[nb]
;W[nf]CR[nf]
;B[mb]CR[mb]
;W[nq]CR[nq]
;B[pf]CR[pf]
;W[ce]CR[ce]
;B[cc]CR[cc]
;W[ed]CR[ed]
;B[ec]CR[ec]
;W[fc]CR[fc]
;B[fd]CR[fd]
;W[gd]CR[gd]
;B[fe]CR[fe]
;W[ee]CR[ee]C[Fourth Session: July 16 - Hakone Kitani's sealed move.]
;B[gc]CR[gc]
;W[fb]CR[fb]
;B[eb]CR[eb]
;W[gb]CR[gb]
;B[ff]CR[ff]
;W[hc]CR[hc]
;B[ef]CR[ef]
;W[cd]CR[cd]
;B[bc]CR[bc]
;W[ch]CR[ch]
;B[di]CR[di]
;W[ci]CR[ci]
;B[dj]CR[dj]
;W[cj]CR[cj]
;B[dk]CR[dk]
;W[ck]CR[ck]C[Including the next move, Black 43, Kitani has used 6 hours 52 minutes. The Master has used 4 hours 38 minutes.
]
;B[dl]CR[dl]C[Fifth Session: July 21 - Hakone Kitani's sealed move. The Master began to have pains in his chest and loose his appetite.
]
;W[cm]CR[cm]
;B[dn]CR[dn]
;W[cn]CR[cn]
;B[dm]CR[dm]C[According to the Master, this was too conservative a play, but according to both Kitani and Go Seigen, this was the proper move, leaving Black with massive thickness.
]
;W[jp]CR[jp]
;B[jc]CR[jc]
;W[je]CR[je]C[The Master called this "the cap." It took him 16 minutes to make.]
;B[ie]CR[ie]
;W[jd]CR[jd]C[The Master called this the "dead end." It took him 20 minutes to make.
]
;B[id]CR[id]
;W[ic]CR[ic]
;B[kc]CR[kc]
;W[if]CR[if]
;B[he]CR[he]
;W[jf]CR[jf]C[Kitani called this move "the link." It took the master 35 minutes to make.]
;B[hf]CR[hf]C[Kitani took 3 hours 35 minutes for this move.
]
;W[jb]CR[jb]
;B[kb]CR[kb]
;W[ia]CR[ia]
;B[no]CR[no]C[Only a moment's thought for this move. Shusai considered this move unorthodox.
]
;W[np]CR[np]C[This one move took the Master 1 hour 20 minutes. He used a total of 3 hours 29 mintues for all 11 moves made this day. In total he's used 5 hours 57 minutes. Kitani has used 10 hours 28 minutes.
]
;B[lo]CR[lo]C[Sixth Session: July 26 - Hakone Kitani's sealed move.]
;W[lp]CR[lp]
;B[le]CR[le]
;W[lf]CR[lf]
;B[kf]CR[kf]C[This move was described as "a diabolical stroke." The Master had not expected such a violent attack.

]
;W[me]CR[me]C[His reponse took 1 hour 46 minutes. "A brilliant holding play."

]
;B[lg]CR[lg]
;W[mf]CR[mf]
;B[kd]CR[kd]
;W[kg]CR[kg]
;B[ke]CR[ke]
;W[lh]CR[lh]
;B[jg]CR[jg]
;W[mg]CR[mg]
;B[ph]CR[ph]
;W[jh]CR[jh]C[Seventh Session: July 31 - Hakone The Master's sealed play took 44 minutes to make.
]
;B[ig]CR[ig]
;W[ql]CR[ql]
;B[qj]CR[qj]C[This move took Kitani 1 hour 48 minutes. "The match was entering its middle phases. Every play was a difficult one. It was fairly clear which territories White and Black had staked out, and the time was approaching when a calculation of the final score might be possible. Proceed immediately into a final showdown, invade enemy ground, challenge to close-in fighting somewhere on the board? -the
time had come for a summing up, and for projecting the phases to come."
]
;W[rj]CR[rj]
;B[ri]CR[ri]
;W[ol]CR[ol]
;B[rk]CR[rk]
;W[ko]CR[ko]C[Eighth Session: August 5 - Hakone The Master's sealed move. At this point in the game the Master's heart condition had grown so bad that the playing sessions were reduced in time to two hours.
]
;B[hq]CR[hq]C[This move took Kitani 48 minutes. The Master deliberated his response for 2 hours 7 minutes. His slowest move of the entire match. It was sealed and the session ended.
]
;W[hp]CR[hp]C[Ninth Session: August 10 - Hakone The Master's sealed move. At this point the Master could no longer walk. Up to this point White has used 10 hours 31 minutes and Black 15 hours 45 minutes.
The Master took an extraordinary 2 hr 7 min for W90 - his slowest move of the game.
]
;B[gp]CR[gp]
;W[gq]CR[gq]
;B[hr]CR[hr]
;W[iq]CR[iq]
;B[ho]CR[ho]
;W[ip]CR[ip]
;B[gr]CR[gr]
;W[kl]CR[kl]C[Kitani sealed the next move and the session ended.]
;B[ki]CR[ki]C[Tenth Session: August 14 - Hakone Kitani's sealed move - a "peep" to divide the Master's stones. By prior agreement, only one move was made this day. The Master thought for 33 minutes, the move was
sealed and that day he was placed into St. Luke's Hospital. The game was put on hold for 3 months. Up to this point, White had used 14 hours 58 minutes and Black 17 hours 47 minutes.
]
;W[kh]CR[kh]C[Eleventh Session: November 18 - Dankoen at Ito The Master's sealed move. Later the Master felt that white 100 was "ill-considered" and that he "...should have ignored the peep and pressed ahead at S-8(x) and so secured the White territory off toward the lower right. Black had threatened, to be sure, but there was no immediate need for him to cut my line, and even if he had I would not have been in great difficulty. Had I used White 100 to protect my own ground, the outlook would not have been such as to permit sanguineness on Black's part."

The last move at Hakone, sealed on August 14, before the Master's 3-month hospitalization. In Chapter 30, 125-128, Kawabata presents an assessment of the game so far. The game resumed on November 18.
"Even considering that I was very ill and that W100 was my last play before going into the hospital, it was an ill-considered play. I should have ignored the peep and pressed ahead at 'a' to secure the White territory in the lower right". But the bystanders considered the link at W100 to be natural.
]
;B[rm]CR[rm]C[
This one move took Kitani 3 hours and 31 minutes after the three month recess. After making the move, Kitani said, "See what an idiot I am. It shouldn't have taken me a minute to make the jump. Three and a half hours deciding whether
to jump(A) or to swim(B)." "Black 101, invading the White formation in the lower right-hand corner, was an offensive play demanding a response and worth a potential fourteen or fifteen points."

]
;W[rl]CR[rl]C[The Master took only 5 minutes to respond.]
;B[sl]CR[sl]
;W[qm]CR[qm]C[Kitani sealed the final play of the session after 42 mintues. During this day Kitani used 4 hours 14 minutes and the Master used 10 minutes.
At this point Kitani has used up 21 hours 20 minutes of his alloted 40 hours.
]
;B[rn]CR[rn]C[Twelfth Session: November 25 - Ito Kitani's sealed play]
;W[qo]CR[qo]C[2 minutes for this move.]
;B[bp]CR[bp]C[1 hour 3 min Though this move doesn't require an immediate response, it extends Black's territory toward the lower left and is worth about twenty points.
]
;W[dg]CR[dg]C["Now the offensive had passed to White. A stern, intent expression on his face, the Master closed his eyes and breathed deeply. In the course of the session his face had taken on a coppery flush.
His cheeks twitched. He seemed to hear neither the wind nor the drum of a passing pilgrim. Yet he took forty seven minutes for his next move." Go Seigen said that White 108 was a very difficult move. It has the double aim of threatening Black in the upper left-hand corner and cutting away at Black's inner fastnesses, and of defending the White formation at the left of the board. Black 109, Kitani's sealed play, took 2 hours 43 minutes.
The Master took 47 min, his longest deliberation during the Ito sessions, for this move with a triple purpose: attack Black's corner, reduce Black's center, and defend White's group on the left.
]
;B[bd]CR[bd]C[Thirteenth Session: November 28 - Ito When his sealed move was opened, Kitani said "I must do something about that corner. It's on long-term loan, and the interest is high."
]
;W[be]CR[be]
;B[dc]CR[dc]
;W[go]CR[go]
;B[fq]CR[fq]
;W[hn]CR[hn]
;B[oj]CR[oj]C[This was not an easy play for Kitani. "The time had come to stake everything on a grand assault." White has to defend his center against the threat of invasion. Kitani "had not seemed prepared to play before the noon recess, but at eight minutes after the hour there came the smart click of stone on board. The Master grunted. He had been leaning on an armrest. Now he brought himself upright, his jaw drawn in, his eyes rolled upwards as if to bore a hole through the board. He had thick eyelids, and the deep lines from the eyelashes to the eyes set off the intentness of his gaze. White now needed to defend his inner territories against the clear threat presented
by Black 115."

]
;W[nj]CR[nj]C[White 116 took 22 minutes.]
;B[ni]CR[ni]
;W[mj]CR[mj]
;B[ok]CR[ok]
;W[nk]CR[nk]C["The plays down to White 120 came in quick succession. The standard
pattern would have had the Master falling quickly back with White
120, but he chose a firm block even though the result was an unstable triangular formation. The air was tense, for a showdown was at hand.
If he had given ground it would have been to conceed a point or two, and he could not make even so small a concession in so tight a match. He took just one minute for a play that could mean the fine difference between victory and defeat, and for [Kitani\] it
was like cold steel." "Games can be won and lost by a single point.
If White was clinging stubbornly to a mere two points, then it was for Black to step boldly forward." "[Kitani\] seemed to be fighting back a reckless impulse. 'I have a feeling I'm going to make a mistake.
Make a botch of the whole thing.'" He took 1 hour 44 minutes to seal the move.

The standard pattern at 'a' would have avoided an unstable empty triangle, but would have conceded a point or two. The Master could not afford even so small a concession in this tight match.
]
;B[hd]CR[hd]C[Fourteenth Session:  December 1 - Ito Kitani's sealed Black 121 was met with much resentment. "...it had the look of a play from the ko situation to a distant part of the board. A wave of revulsion came over me[Kawabata\]. Had [Kitani\] taken advantage of the fact that Black 121 was a sealed play? Had he put the device of the sealed play to tactical use? If so, he was not being worthy of himself."
]
;W[hb]CR[hb]
;B[qn]CR[qn]C["Black 123, which took three minutes, brought [Kitani\] back to the task of cutting into the White formation. He first invaded the lower right corner."
]
;W[pn]CR[pn]
;B[sp]CR[sp]
;W[rq]CR[rq]
;B[mi]CR[mi]C["Black 127 turned once more to the center of the board..."]
;W[li]CR[li]
;B[nl]CR[nl]C["...and Black 129 finally lashed out to decapitate the triangle the Master had so stubbornly put together with White 120." Go Seigen: "Firmly blocked by White 120, Black embarked with resolution upon
the aggressive sequence from Black 123 to Black 129. It is the sort of play, suggesting a strongly competitive spirit, which one sees in close games."

]
;W[ro]CR[ro]C["But the Master pulled away from this slashing attack, and, counterattacking to the right, blocked the thrust from the Black position. I was startled. It was a wholly unexpected play. I felt a tensing of my muscles, as if the diabolic side of the Master had suddenly been
revealed. Detecting a flaw in the plans suggested by Black 129, so much in [Kitani's\] own characteristic style, had the Master dodged away and turned to in-fighting by way of counterattack? Or was he
asking for a slash so that he might slash back, wounding himself to down his adversary? I even saw in that White 130 something that spoke less of a will to fight than of angry disdain. 'A fine thing,' [Kitani\] muttered over and over. 'A very fine thing.' He was still
deliberating Black 131 when the noon recess was called. 'A fine thing he's done to me. A terrible thing, that's what it is. Earthshaking.
I make a stupid play myself, and here I am with my arm twisted behind me.'" White 130 turns out to be the fatal move for White. After this move Kitani's victory is certain. "The Master lamented the play in his review of the match. 'White 130 was the fatal error.
The proper sequence would have been to cut immediately at P-11(A), and see how Black replied. If for instance he replied at P-12(B), then White 130 would be the correct play. Even if he extended, as
with Black 131, White need not hurry with the oblique extension at Q-8(C), but could quietly consolidate his ranks with M-9(D). Whatever variations might have occured, the lines would have been more complex than on the chart as we have it, and an extrememly
close fight would have ensued.' During the noon recess the Master was quoted as saying, "The match is over. Mr. [Kitani\] ruined it with that sealed play. It was like smearing ink over the picture we had painted. The minute I saw it I felt like forfeiting the match.
Like telling them it was the last straw. I really thought I should forfeit. But I hesitated, and that was that." Go Seigen, however, had this to say: "White need not respond as the Master did with 122 even to Black's 121, but could defend himself at H-19(X). Black
would thus find the possible plays from ko more limited." "A year later, however, in 'Selected Pieces on Go,' from Collected Works of the Master, he[Master Shusai\] spoke out quite openly. 'Now was the time to make effective use of Black 121. We must note that if
[Kitani\] proceeded at his leisure (which is to say waited until White had linked diagonally), there was a chance that Black 121 would not suffice.'"

The Master ignores White's slashing attack, and instead counterattacks on the right. But W130 assured the defeat of the invincible Master.
During the following recess the Master complained about the sealed move W121. "Kitani ruined the game with that sealed move. Why? He means to use two days to think things over. It's dishonest".

]
;B[nm]CR[nm]C["[Kitani\] seems to have been by no means as startled and confused
by White's withdrawal as the rest of us were. If White took the
four black stones to the right, Black would quite simply overrun
the White ranks toward the center of the board." "[Kitani\] pondered
over Black 131 for 1 hour 15 minutes... At two in the afternoon
he took up a stone. 'Shall I?' He paused and finally played. The
Master, seated bold upright, thrust his head forward and rapped
irritably on the rim of the brazier. He glared at the board. He
was counting up points."
]
;W[om]CR[om]C["White returned to the defense at the center with White 132."]
;B[lj]CR[lj]C[After the match, the Master was quoted as saying, "The coup de grace
came with the assault following Black 133. However desperate he
might be in his search for remedies, White was powerless to send
the crushing wave back." "The White triangle that had been cut off
by Black 129 was cut on the other side by Black 133..."
]
;W[mk]CR[mk]
;B[lk]CR[lk]
;W[ml]CR[ml]
;B[ll]CR[ll]
;W[mm]CR[mm]
;B[lm]CR[lm]C["...with white stones in check play after play down to Black 139, the 'earthshaking' changes of which [Kitani\] had spoken took shape around and below the three white stones. Black had invaded the very
heart of the White formation. I could almost hear the sound of the collapse."
]
;W[mn]CR[mn]
;B[ln]CR[ln]
;W[mo]CR[mo]
;B[jj]CR[jj]
;W[ir]CR[ir]C[Black 145 was the sealed play.]
;B[so]CR[so]C[Fifteenth Session: December 4 - Ito "'I think I would like if possible to finish today,' the Master said to the managers on the morning of December 4." "The faithful battle reporter, I felt a tightening in my chest at the thought that after more than half a year the match was to finish today. And the Master's defeat was clear to everyone." "The tension of the final encounter at close quarters is unlike that through the opening and middle stages. Raw nerves seem to flash, there is something grand and even awesome about the
two figures pressing forward into closer combat. Breath came more rapidly, as if two warriors were parrying with dirks; fires of knowledge
and wisdom seemed to blaze up."
]
;W[sq]CR[sq]
;B[sm]CR[sm]
;W[bo]CR[bo]
;B[bq]CR[bq]
;W[ik]CR[ik]
;B[ij]CR[ij]
;W[hj]CR[hj]
;B[ii]CR[ii]
;W[jk]CR[jk]
;B[hl]CR[hl]
;W[hk]CR[hk]
;B[fo]CR[fo]
;W[gn]CR[gn]
;B[gl]CR[gl]
;W[il]CR[il]
;B[cl]CR[cl]
;W[bl]CR[bl]
;B[nh]CR[nh]
;W[mh]CR[mh]
;B[qk]CR[qk]
;W[og]CR[og]
;B[pg]CR[pg]
;W[ea]CR[ea]
;B[da]CR[da]
;W[fa]CR[fa]
;B[ba]CR[ba]
;W[hm]CR[hm]
;B[is]CR[is]
;W[js]CR[js]
;B[hs]CR[hs]
;W[jr]CR[jr]
;B[ae]CR[ae]
;W[af]CR[af]
;B[ad]CR[ad]
;W[cf]CR[cf]
;B[pl]CR[pl]
;W[pm]CR[pm]
;B[pk]CR[pk]
;W[nn]CR[nn]
;B[fm]CR[fm]
;W[fn]CR[fn]
;B[en]CR[en]
;W[ao]CR[ao]
;B[km]CR[km]
;W[jm]CR[jm]
;B[fk]CR[fk]C["When [Kitani\] played Black 191, the Master's head fell forward, his eyes were wide, he moved nearer the board. Both men were fanning themselves violently."
]
;W[do]CR[do]
;B[eo]CR[eo]
;W[hi]CR[hi]
;B[ih]CR[ih]C[The noon recess.]
;W[fj]CR[fj]
;B[dd]CR[dd]
;W[ej]CR[ej]
;B[ek]CR[ek]
;W[de]CR[de]C["The last stages of a grand match, I had heard, were so horrible that one could scarcely bear to watch. Yet the Master seemed quite unperturbed. One would not have guessed that he was the loser."
]
;B[bg]CR[bg]
;W[bf]CR[bf]
;B[cg]CR[cg]
;W[bh]CR[bh]
;B[df]CR[df]
;W[ag]CR[ag]
;B[dh]CR[dh]
;W[fh]CR[fh]
;B[eh]CR[eh]
;W[cg]CR[cg]
;B[fi]CR[fi]
;W[gi]CR[gi]
;B[ei]CR[ei]
;W[kk]CR[kk]
;B[kj]CR[kj]
;W[gg]CR[gg]
;B[ka]CR[ka]
;W[ja]CR[ja]
;B[kn]CR[kn]
;W[jn]CR[jn]
;B[gj]CR[gj]
;W[gk]CR[gk]
;B[fj]CR[fj]
;W[gm]CR[gm]
;B[fl]CR[fl]
;W[ap]CR[ap]
;B[aq]CR[aq]
;W[cp]CR[cp]
;B[cq]CR[cq]
;W[oh]CR[oh]
;B[oi]CR[oi]
;W[pe]CR[pe]
;B[qe]CR[qe]
;W[nd]CR[nd]
;B[sk]CR[sk]
;W[lc]CR[lc]
;B[lb]CR[lb]C["He[the Master\] was utterly quiet when [Kitani\] made the last play, Black 237. As the Master filled in a neutral point, Onoda [one of the judges\] said: 'It will be five points?' 'Yes, five points,' said the Master." "What would have been the outcome, then, if the Master had not blundered and the 'earthshaking' changes had not come? A defeat for Black? An amateur like myself cannot really say, but I do not think that Black would have lost. I had come almost to believe as an article of faith, from the manner, the resolve, with which [Kitani\] approached the game, that he would avert defeat even if in the process he must chew the stones to bits." For the entire game the Master had used 19 hours 57 minutes and Kitani had used 34 hours 19 minutes. A year and 45 days later the 21st and last of the hereditary Honinbo, Shusai Meijin, passed away. To quote the first Honinbo, Sansa Meijin, "If [life\] were go, I'd start a ko fight and surely live, but on the road to death there's no move left at all."
])

