Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day. A 2016 survey by the International Go Federation's 75 member nations found that there are over 46 million people worldwide who know how to play Go, and over 20 million current players, the majority of whom live in East Asia.
Wu Chuan, courtesy name Wu Ching-yuan, better known by the Japanese pronunciation of his courtesy name, Go Seigen, was a Han Chinese master of the game of Go. He is considered by many players to have been the greatest Go player in the 20th century.
Shusaku was a Japanese professional Go player during the 19th century. He is known for his undefeated streak of 19 games during the annual castle games; his thirty-game match with Ota Yuzo; the eponymous Shusaku opening; and his posthumous veneration as a "Go sage". Next to his teacher, Hon'inbō Shūwa, he is considered to have been the strongest player from 1847/8 to his death in 1862. He was nicknamed Invincible Shusaku because of his castle games performance.
In go and shōgi, a jōseki or jouseki is the studied sequences of moves for which the result is considered balanced for both black and white sides.
The nadare jōseki is one of the most celebrated jōseki in the opening stage game of Go, and the one that has been most deeply studied in modern times. Hundreds of unique variations have appeared in high-level games. Aside from the taisha joseki, which has traditionally been said to have more than 1000 known variations, the avalanche is thought to be the most complex joseki; but the nadare fits much better with current ideas on opening strategy and is often used, while the taisha has been quite unfashionable for a generation as the 5-3 corner opening has gone out of favor.
Masao Kato Honorary Oza, also known as Kato Kensei, was a Japanese professional go player. A late bloomer, Kato won 46 titles, including the Oza eight times in a row. He also became the second player to reach 1,200 career wins, behind Rin Kaiho.
Fuseki is the whole board opening in the game of Go.
Honinbo Jowa served as 12th Hon'inbō from 1827 and Meijin Godokoro from 1831 until 1839, when he was forced into retirement.
Eio Sakata was a 9-dan Japanese professional Go player.
Masaki Takemiya is a professional Go player.
The Chinese opening is an opening pattern in the game of Go. It refers to the placement of Black 1, Black 3 and Black 5 at the start of the game; and so, depending on White's plays, is a complex of whole-board go openings.
The Shusaku opening, or Shusaku fuseki (秀策流布石), is a famous traditional fuseki for black stones in the game of Go. It was developed to perfection by Honinbo Shusaku and passed down to the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras.
A Go opening is the initial stage of a game of Go. On the traditional 19×19 board the opening phase of the game usually lasts between 15 and 40 plies. There is some specialised terminology for go openings. The precise meanings of Japanese language terms is often misunderstood.
Akaboshi Intetsu was a Japanese professional 7 dan Go player.
Hon'inbō Shūwa was a Japanese professional Go player, and also the fourteenth head of the Hon'inbō house from 1847 to 1873.
In the game of Go, shape describes the positional qualities of a group of stones. Descriptions of shapes in go revolve around how well a group creates or removes life and territory. Good shape can refer to the efficient use of stones in outlining territory, the strength of a group in a prospective fight, or making eye shapes so that a group may live. Bad shapes are inefficient in outlining territory and are heavy. Heavy groups cannot easily make eye shapes and are therefore good targets for attack. Understanding and recognizing the difference between good shape and bad is an essential step in becoming a stronger player.
The ear-reddening game is a game of go of the Edo period of Japan, played on September 11, 1846, between Honinbo Shusaku (black) and Inoue Genan Inseki (white). The game is probably Shusaku's most notable game as it contains the "ear-reddening move"—so named when a doctor who had been watching the game took note of Genan as his ears flushed red when Shusaku played the move, indicating he had become upset.
There is an abundance of go software available to support players of the game of Go. This includes software programs that play Go themselves, programs that can be used to view and/or edit game records and diagrams, programs that allow the user to search for patterns in the games of strong players and programs that allow users to play against each other over the Internet.
